January 27, 2014

Great News! This man has been coming to church the past couple weeks who knows Clay Christensen. We were trying to figure out who this man was - then we get a phone call from a great member in our ward Bro. Johnson (he's a convert from THE book): "sisters! this guy named Ali has been researching the church for a very long time. He has had a long progression and came to me expressing his desire to be baptized and my advice for him on what he should do! So I told him I would have him over with you sisters this week!" We then connected that it was this man who had come to church last week. This week when we saw him at church I introduced myself, saying that we would be meeting with him on Wednesday at the Johnsons. [He is a literal professional. when i talked to him i felt like i was talking the president of the united states. ive never had to be so careful with my grammer :)] I told him that we usually share a similar message of what we believe with people on the first visit but in a way that answers questions they have about life or what we believe. I asked him if  he had any specific questions he would like us to address for wednesday. he smiled and said "I've read all of that book Preach My Gospel...so I know what's coming for me".
Woa, is this a challenge? Bring it on Ali.  Another member said that after talking to him he told them he was looking into getting baptized and becoming a member. I was like Brother Johnson what do you want us to do? He already knows EVERYTHING! He laughed and said "Yeah thank goodness you guys are set apart - i have no idea...im turning this one over to you."
We are flipping our entire teaching style - we are prayerfully considering questions we can ask him so that he can guide the teaching and teach US.

The Lopez family are similar. they know EVERYTHING and want to get baptized but they want to do it as a family and are waiting for their 14 year old. Again, reverse teaching. Its HARD.

The funny part is, a couple weeks ago I was praying and thought "i cant ask others to set goals or encourage them in their efforts to set a date if i dont." So i set a date for January 31st that we would find a new investigator who is ready to accept the restored gospel. We had no one on our plate that we knew of that people were working with but i knew that didnt matter. Now we have the Lopez family, Ali, and another woman Maria who is so excited about the Book of Mormon - she said shes read it before when she lived in Bolivia! she is hoping her family will want to join in the lessons. Heavenly Father, I didnt ask for a million people...I just asked for 1. But hey, I wont complain.
 In the mean time we've been doing lots of exchanges. I want to send pictures - ill have to get another cord because i think my camera cord is official lost...not just misplaced. :/

Another fun moment was dinner with the Romneys this week. We love their family because theyre house is always normal...as in crazy with a million kids. As soon as we all sit down for dinner bro Romney slices his finger so deep. We hear yelling from the other room "oh my gosh...oh my gosh..oh my gosh. i think i might need stiches." We look at their kids and are like "is he going to be ok?" They shrug and say "yeah - this happens all the time. he burnt his finger this morning and has cut himself like 3 other times before. we're used to this." He came in and sat with us  - it was hilarious. The kids were like dad you really need to learn your lesson. I told him to stop being a baby and to just superglue it back together. Their daughter wants her boyfriend taught the lessons but we connected her with the elders so that he would feel more comfortable. He showed off his finger to us on sunday. Needless to say, we have a great relationship with the romneys :)

Pray for me as there is a lot to do this week and a lot of important decisions to make. Happy as can be - but very busy. Heavenly Father is blessing this area so much - I feel so so lucky that I get to be a small piece in the puzzle and get to watch it all happen.

Every night i feel like i have an empty bucket of requests and not enough time to give thanks for everything i've been given.

Thank you for the wonderful birthday surprises as well. Ive never been so happy!

Love,

Sister Bell

Keepin it real...because it is real.

January 13, 2014

picture: before transfers at the Perry's house. we love the perrys. Id send more but i cant find my camera cord :/ The perrys are having a birthday dinner for me on my b-day and i get to invite all the potential investigators and lonely members i want. itll be fun!

Guess what? I have roomates! It's not a 4 person apartment but the 2 sisters that are temporarily with us (who know what "temporary" means) are the 2 i would have chosen - they're very very easy going and easy to get along with, so it's actually been kind of fun.

This week was great - we definetly have our hands full. We did splits for the first time I've been in Belmont and its already created miracles. Sister Kendall and I are getting along great. I am so so happy. I have so much to learn still but I feel like more and more principles of the gospel and being a missionary are starting to crystalize more.

 

Learning moment for the week: Our mission is reading the book of mormon as a mission and have been asked to finish it by a certain point, using a floppy copy and highlighting in different colors: refrences to Jesus Christ, his words, and his attributes. It's been an amazing experience so far counting the references to Christ. While reading in 1 Nephi this week again when Lehi tells Nephi that him and his brothers have been commanded to go back and get the plates, i learned something new (of course). Nephi had just had a vision hearing the words of the Lord teaching him the principles of obeying commandments and the promised blessings that come as we do so. IMMEDIATELY following this experience he talks with Lehi and Lehi tells him what God wants him to do. I never had thought about how the Lord loved Nephi so much and wanted to give him the promised blessings of obedience so strongly that he prepared Nephi to accept a difficult requirement. I wonder how Nephi would have responded if he hadn't been prepared in the way that he had. He was so excited to obey and didnt think twice and now I can see why. God loves us - he is ready and willing to give us blessings that come from responding to difficult circumstances. It's neat to see how he prepares us in ways we don't even realize. I was prepared with the desire to serve a mission so that when the call came I was excited to obey and didnt think twice. When challenges arise or circumstances change that we havent experienced before, do we remember how much the Lord loves us that he has prepared us? We are promised that he won't give us anything that we wont be able to handle and that he has and will prepare a way. Nephi knew this and so he trusted God enough to move forward even in the unknown circumstances.

The second thing I learned was later on when they are trying to take the records from Laban. We know they try 2 times and fail. Just before the 3rd time it says the Lord will deliver Laban into their hands. I thought this was interesting because so many times we pray that trials and burdens will be OUT of our hands. Laban was definetly a burden and it would have been a lot easier if God would have made it so Laban was OUT of the way. But he didnt do that. He said that he would allow him to get in their hands, but with the promise that it would be ok - they'd know how to work through it. As a result, Nephi was a completely different person for the rest of the book because of what he ended up having to do. Do I pray that I dont have to experience a trial anymore, or do I pray that I will know how to handle the trial?

If Nephi didnt experience what he learned in that crucial moment of decision, I dont think he would have been prepared to make other decisions later in the book of mormon. again, a sign of God's love. The whole book of mormon is just pouring out with evidences of simply how much God loves us!

I know that he does - I feel his love everyday. Some days are still really hard, and some days I dont know why bad things happen to good people, and sometimes i'm not super excited to go and obey...but sometimes I think that's ok. But I do know that days are just filled with opportunities - opportunities to turn those circumstances into feeling God's love, opportunities to remember that we know we have been prepared for this time and we are being prepared now for future decisions and circumstances. We are prepared for this life as well as decisions and circumstances we are going to face in the next life.

I know that God provided a way that our families can be literally sealed together, that this life is not the end, but the beginning. This is a life of choices and no matter where we are at physically or spiritually, we have each been given the light of christ to make those choices that lead us to feeling the love of the Savior. I'm so grateful for the choices i've made, especially the choice to be baptized by the true authority and power of God so that it doesnt just have to be the light of christ anymore where the light switch turns on and off, but a constant ray - a sun that never sets - that allows me to feel God's love more readily and helps me with those circumstances I face. I am grateful that it prepared me to make more promises in the temple so that I get to receive even more blessings!

Aren't we just a blessed people?

 

Love you all and I hope you have a blessed week too.

Love,

Sister Bell

 

 

January 6, 2014

I am sorry I didn't write last week - p day was switched to wednesday because it was transfer week and since it was new years day, the library was closed. I got sick last week but nothing like a whole bag of Doterra drops to seal the deal. We also got red-dotted on thursday. That means you aren't allowed to really leave the apartment. We had "Blizzard Hercules" come in. People were so dramatic - it wasn't even bad.

Sister Crane got transferred - we knew it was her time and that it would be too weird to stay together longer. My new comp is Sister Kendall. Holy cow, I could spend the rest of my letter talking about sister Kendall. She is the most humble hardworking and likeable missionary/person on the planet. Im not just saying that either. I have a feeling this is going to be my favorite transfer of my mission. So much good is happening in Belmont we just have to pick up the pieces and put it together. Sis. Kendall is THE perfect person. I think we'll work really well together. Heavenly Father keeps spoiling me. Im hoping if i just continue to say thank you thank you thank you he'll keep it coming :)

It's almost exhausting how many miracles occur. MIRACLES ARE THE NEW NORM. They happen to each of us every day, I think we could do a better job at recognizing them and realizing the source. People always say they are "coincidences". Think again kids.
Here are just a few:

1. Christmas evening we went to the Baratta's home to share a spiritual thought and turns out they have family in town. As we sit down, their older son said, "Are you from Camarillo?"

"Maybe"

"I think i've been in your house...."

After i'm sure he saw the creeped out look I had on my face he said, "I served there about 2 years ago on my mission." Anyone remember an Elder Baratta december 2011-may 2012?

2. Helped at the mission home for incoming new missionaries last week and guess who i see? ALYSSA WESTOVER. She is doing very well - I told President she will be one of the best missionaries in the mission and he very seriously looked at me and said "oh i know, there is something to her - i was very very impressed in our interview" So tell the westovers shes in good hands :)

Then i see this kid from my BYU ward who's a visa waiter in our mission! Small world!

3. MATT - you know the staples?!?!? Derek Staples? He looked at me in their house and was like wait camarillo? Holy cow i can totally see it! You look like matt bell!

those are just the lame examples too. If i had time i would expound on all the spiritual miracles.
Farah (the Farci woman we are teaching english) came to church! she said she had a dream of the inside of the buildling.....maybe thats miracle #4

I know that i am apart of these miracles not just because I have a name tag on but because I am actively engaged in the Lord's work and I know that as we each become more engaged and more diligently act upon what we feel God is prompting us to do, we will see and be apart of more miracles.

Love you - ill try to send pictures next week!

Love,
sister Bell

"Miracles are expecting certain things to happen and actively seeking to bring them to pass" - roger terry

December 16, 2013

I thought freezing rain was an expression.....evidently, its real. It snowed like crazy over the weekend. I spent over an hour shoveling out our driveway sunday morning before church. if you dont do it right away it gets very wet and rainy/snowy (combined...not just either one). as a result, anything thats snowy and looks like marshmallows are harder than ice. we were getting mounds of snow off of someones car and i decided to be smart and use my elbow to push off the snow because my gloves were in the car. i used my momentum of course.....and almost broke my arm!

I HAD to start out my letter talking about the weather because thats all anyone talks about here. not only do we talk about the weather, but we talk about how we talk about the weather so much. its quite ridiculous. but it goes to show that you can bring up anything dumb like the weather to start talking to people and its very readily accepted. "Did you know its snowing? did you also know that there are living prophets on the earth today??" it flows in quite nicely if you think about it.

We are staying very busy despite the fact that our teaching pool is getting SMALLER. We have amazing relationships with our ward leaders and they keep us so busy that we scheduled an interview with president this week to talk to him about getting another set of missionaries here. We cover 2 wards and friends are starting to catch on to the reality of the blessings they receive when they invite their friends to meet with the missionaries. with double the ward counsels, double the meetings and 6 hours of church each week on top of the fact that we do exchanges with sisters....its gettin pretty busy. we really hope we get another set - now is the perfect time to do it while sister crane is still here who has spent the past 6 months developing all these relationships.

I've never been so loved and so hated in my entire life. I know its a life principle but its more directly here because people are so straightforward with their feelings. We got reamed into one minute and then 2 seconds later someone approached us saying theyve never trusted missionaries more. Dont worry - the next minute someone hates again. People are very funny creatures. Moral of the story is you just have to be perfect. When you dont have time for that, you just decide to take everything with a smile.

at the end of a very long day this week, heavenly father gave me a very spiritual experience that i couldnt have been more grateful for at that time. at one of the ward christmas parties they had a small live nativity set up in a classroom. it was very simple - a sheet over the chalkboard, mary (who looks like ashley.(so gorgeous and the perfect mary), joseph and their baby, soft music in the background, and the lights were off with flashlights taped to the wall to create a spotlight. I went in with low expectations thinking it would be very "sweet". I was never so wrong. i was glad the lights were off because we went in there and the spirit was so so strong. I looked at "baby jesus" and was swept over with emotion. It was so real. And I thought, "This is what its all about." In the room next door was santa clause, but the little kids were more attracted to this reverent scene than jolly santa. I felt a strong sense of love for the simplicity of the savior's birth and all that he sacrificed, not only the atonement, but in ever way that he lived his life. What became an even more tender experience was that a nonmember family was there and they had a 6 yr old daughter who wanted to see it. we offered to take her over there. She didn't have a huge background on the true importance of the savior im sure but when she walked in that room she KNEW it was something special. She leaned over and looked at baby jesus and her FIRST response: she turned to us and said, "I have to go show my friend". She darted out of the room and brought in more friends that reverently were in aw as they looked at baby jesus. Sister Crane and I talked about it later how funny it was that her first response was to share the joy with others. She was sharing the gospel! We have a testimony and are in awe at the beauty of the real truth that the gospel provides.  i hope and pray that we follow the example of the 6 year old who isn't even a member and have the same first reaction "to go show our friends".

Get to go to the temple this week for our missionary christmas day! we are so excited!! Love you all! Thanks for all the love youve sent my way!

Sister Bell