March 17, 2014

What an amazing week!

We now have a new deadline for the PVC - we want to get Phase 1 out by Easter so that we can have it for the easter fireside. We are under the hot press and constantly feel behind. it will be an outright MIRACLE if we get it out by then. outright miracle.

This week I also got to go on an exchange with Sister Crane. We laugh all the time about how I am always just a day behind her in what she learns. Heavenly Father always know the perfect timing to put the perfect people in our path. I was able to talk through some of the things I've been feeling and working on and she was able to teach me a lot. It was also nice to have fresh eyes on the project and Sister Wagner enjoyed being out in the real world again for the day.

Highlight of the week was on friday. Sister Wagner and I got to spend half of the day with president and Sister Packard. We went to look at dispays (Bre - does Mark still work for skyline?) That was our favorite that sister wanger and I found so the packards and us got to go on an hour roadtrip to go to their showroom. We picked out the displays and were able to make some solid decisions to move forward. What a special and unique experience to be able to have a personal lunch with your mission president. woa. Also, on a hilarious note, the city had a huge prom dress warehouse and S. Packard promised their daughter who is going to prom that we'd stop by and see if it was worth coming back to. President and Sister Packard have the funniest relationship 'whatever the queen bee says we do' is the way president works...so needless to say we made a stop. The packards and us in prom dress warehouse with our nametags on....just picture it. Hilarious. I turn to President, "Hmm...I dont think ive been prom dress shopping on my mission yet."

Pray for us as we have a lot to do and not enough time to do it all. Love you all! Count your many blessings!

Love,

Sister Bell

March 10, 2014

Hi family!

Great news this week on the project! Salt Lake called President Packard back - they're of course really busy with the Rome Visitors Center and a few other new ones that are top priority but really want to help. They said they've really wanted to do what we're talking about but just don't have the man power at the moment. President's like well you give us a few things and we'll be your man power and then you can take what you want and change it and make it better if you dont like it. So supposedly they're supposed to send us almost any video content and such we want from visitor centers. As always, we have to keep moving forward assuming we're not getting anything which is annoying. 

Other great news is, guess who got the lead designer who works for Covenant on their team? Woot woot - 2 points for the sistahs. Of course we did. 

It's a hard balance working on this project - we want it out there as soon as possible but at the same time we want to make sure we get it right. Yesterday in church this guy gave THE most amazing talk and we thought "he'd be so perfect for one of the videos." Do we get a videographer to do a few videos? That would take longer but it would help bless the lives of those that are working on the project....Do we just use the content the church has already published so we can get it out faster? See how screwed my mind is now? Im starting to have psycho missionary dreams.

Want to hear a few other miracles? You may want to go grab a plate of cookies and glass of milk to get you through the rest of this letter.

1. We are grocery shopping and walking down one of the aisles this guy keeps looking over. He just looked like he wanted to talk, it was almost too weird. We said, "Hello" and just as we're about to cross paths he turns to s. wagner and tells her that she looks like a friend who passed away almost 30 years ago. Welp, thats a statement to stop us dead in our tracks. He pulls out a picture of her and good ol S. Wagner testifies on the spot and tells him that we have a message that is evidence of the truth that he will see her again. We pulled out a card but i realized all the cards I had was Belmont's phone and email on it. But I was like eh  what are the chances he's gonna call anyway. He laughed and said he'd think about it. We grab his name and talk about how cool it was but nothing more. Belmont texted us and asked us if we knew I guy named Ernie? That some guy emailed thanking for the conversation and left his phone number. I was thinking of when i was in belmont and i thought "no, i dont remember anyone we met but we had lots of random conversations i dont know" I didnt think about anymore then yesterday in sacrament meeting it was the most random thing ever. Not even thinking about anything and then all the sudden 2 words pop into my head. Ernie - grocery store. Ok thats 3 but you get the point. I turn over to sister wagner "Ernie is the guy at the grocery store!!" I've never had a thought like that so simply and so fast. Right then we texted Belmont to have them forward us the email. 

2. The second is when the guy gave his talk - Bro. Farmer. He shared a recent experience - he just finished his physicians assistant schooling. He said he was so busy that it pulled him away from church. He had just moved into the area and started getting emails and phone calls from the bishop. He's like "eh, i can dodge this for a little while longer." He then was working at a military base and in the clinic was stuck inside for one of their practice lock downs. He ended up having a conversation for over 1 1/2 hours with this patient who was of course a member of the bishopric in another ward. despite this, he still was reluctant to go back to church. While this is all happening his brother in NYC was moving and needed help. He said, "I just sent him $3500 and called it good because thats all i could really give, not that it can get you that far in NYC anyway..." He then begins to cry. "That was the last contact I had with my brother". He said he got a call from his sisters of his missing brother and he's like "just file a missing persons report, he'll come up - its fine. i felt kinda bad about how i responded but at the time it was just easier to shrug off" 

He decides to drive to NY to check on his brother..on the way there he gets a phone call saying the report came up...instead of going to the apartment, he now had to go to the police station to identify his brothers body. He now drives to Louisiana to take the ashes to his family. On the way there he gets a phone call from his home teacher and says "the bishop really felt like we needed to call you." now he's thinking "do i tell them what just happened? i dont even know them." He decided to tell them and the bishop called immediately. He said, "Brother Farmer, do you need a blessing? Turn around, come to my home." Long story short, since this past fall, now he's come back to church and realized what he was missing from skewing his priorities. Hes realized that trials are for our good and necessary for us to return to our father in heaven. 

 At the end of the talk, before i could even think about what i was going to say i turn to s. wagner "He should be the video for the 'do challenges bring us closer to god' button." Turns out his wife who was came to hear him speak is less-active and his parents visiting aren't members. "If he was in the video, think about what it could do to their family!"

3. Last example i'll share is the silver bullet of the chocolate chip cookies principle. We decided to take a new route to the office and this lady on the new street we walk on stops her car! She introduces herself and says she doesnt really go to church that much anymore. She asks what ward we're in. We say that we work in the office and attend the 1st ward (not the ward she lives in). Shes like "well i live in house 11 and you can stop by anytime if you ever need anything!" Yesterday i thought, "Bring cookies to janette." (the woman we met). Not sure if it was inspiration or the fact that chocolate chip cookies sounded pretty good on a sunday night. :) Sister Wagner who served in the ward she lives in said she was impossible to get ahold of and everyone said that missionaries wouldnt be a good outreach right now. We drop by, and they let us in. turns out her husbands not a member of the church. We talked for quite a while - shes a return missionary. She asked how our day was, and what we did. Perfect lead in, today we went to church. We shared brother farmer's story. She was pretty open about why shes stopped coming to church and just had the best gospel conversation with her. I thought "this woman has forgotten the doctrine of the gospel! if only she heard the missionary lessons again from a new perspective!" We invited her to do so. And she said she wouldnt be actively opposed but she's not quite ready. We bore our testimonies and i said, "Youre right, you have to be ready. Because it's a lot of work to seek answers to questions. It requires going on a bit of a spiritual diet. When you want answers bad enough to spend the time to seek what truth is, you know where you can go." The spirit was so strong. It ended really well and we left our phone number and said if she needed a cup of sugar or just someone to talk to, the office sisters are always looking for real human contact. she laughed and said "i actually might take you up on that." 

1st lesson in 3 weeks. I feel more like a member missionary referrin all my friends at the grocery store and my neighbors who i give cookies to on a sunday night to the missionaries. And im like wait IM the missionary...tables are a little turned these days. 

It was a blessing to feel the spirit so readily. I feel like it hasnt been as noticeable lately even though its always there. I felt the blessings not only of a full time missionary but a member missionary. i get the best of both worlds. 

Also, Sister Crane is my STL these days and we get to go on exchanges this week which means i get to be her compy for the day again. so excited. WOO gonna be a good week. 

Love ya'll - spirits there

Sister Bell

March 3, 2014

GUESS WHAT?

So after running sprints in the parking lot one morning, I am lying down on the floor out of breath and hear the phone ring. So glad I decided to get up and get it because it was Sister Barney calling saying Don (Remember Don from Ellington who we taught) is getting baptized - in may probably! The other week they had a great sunday school lesson and the sisters were at their house afterwards and he's like "so what does it take to become a mormon anyway, just get baptized?" the sisters light heartedly said "yup, basically. so when do you wanna do it?" It spun onto a conversation about the word of wisdom. He's like, i just dont get it. I could never ever live that. Audrey his wife who is a member but has been less active for quite some time said "well if you dont believe the word of wisdom is true then you dont believe the church is true!!" This is interesting considering she has trouble living the word of wisdom. The spirit must have really worked through that one. A week later, Don said that he wants to learn more about the commandments and wants to get baptized in may. What was interesting is I felt like writing them an email last p day and gave them a little mini spiritual thought based on my family email about recognizing answers and how god's answers dont have to be grand. Im sure it would have happened regardless but id like to think that i was able to bring in the spirit to their week just an inch more. Definitely the highlight of my week.

I miss my ellington family so much, but its so exciting to hear of their progress. 

PVC is coming along. We met with some people this week that have a lot of insight and made 1 display similar to what we are looking for just on a smaller scale. We've hit a couple roadblocks with trying to figure out the video content situation and gathering the right pieces. I feel so inadequate to be working on it. I have no idea what i'm doing. ever. We meet with a couple more people this week so keep us in your prayers extra this week. 

We've been doing a Book of Mormon challenge as a mission, highlighting references to Jesus Christ and his attributes. Its been such an amazing experience focusing on Jesus Christ and realizing what an impact he had on the people in the book of mormon regardless if they attributed it to him. I think of how that's so relevant to our lives - how often God is intertwined with our lives and what few times we acknowledge him for it. immersion in the book of mormon brings miracles! 

Love,

Sister Bell

February 24, 2014

Well, i'd say Natick is great, but I haven't seen too much of it! But W Central st out the office window still looks good..thats pretty much all we see. I got to go out to lunch with the Dowlings - Brandon spent Christmas at their house. They said they remembered him..they dont remember all the missionaries but he stood out (they said because of personality..who knows if thats good or bad :) ). They also said I look just like him.....I dont know if thats good or bad either ;)

The PVC is coming along! We are trying to push Salt Lake who thinks its a great idea, to send us the content from the other visitors center so we dont have to go the round about way, but until then we just have to keep moving forward assuming we're not going to get it. President Christensen met with 10 of quorum of the 12 last week and we're hoping that's one of the items on the agenda they talked about.

Just got a call from President as I type! We got a graphic designer in mind who will be hired to do the layouts! We are meeting with President tomorrow morning at 8 am to run through it all. So....say goodbye to the rest of our pday to get ready for it. Yikes. pray for us. 

Ill share just one experience I had this week...

On Saturday morning we got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time with Sis. Wagner's recent convert. It was nice to be in Belmont again, even if it was just driving through. I had a very special tender experience in the temple. We had joined another ward's youth group and to be considerate of their group size S. Wagner and I chose not to do any baptisms and just watched Mary (the RC) and the member friend that came with her too do them. We were just sitting in the chapel watching them through the glass, when a young women came and sat down beside me. She said, "Hi, i'm Lexi! What's your name?" As I began talking to her and told her my name, it was evident that she was mentally handicapped. I had my arm on the back of the pew around her and she just smiled at me and then put her head on my shoulder. She told me she was about to "do blessings". 

A few of the young women left to get dressed and told her it was time to go get ready now. She said no, that she wanted to stay. The girls looked at me apologetically and I said it's ok she can stay while you get ready! We just sat there and every now and then Lexi would remind me how excited she was to do blessings (confirmations). We always talk about being confirmed as receiving the gift of the holy ghost. And it very much is a gift..but I never had used the word blessing to describe it before. But it is that too...a literal gift and blessing from Heavenly Father -that we dont have to have the option to feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, feelings of peace and comfort and answers to questions, just sometimes, but what a blessing it is that we can have that ALL of the time.

Lexi knew that. I encouraged her to go get ready and she did. By the time she was done, Mary was done as well and we were back in the chapel just sitting with Mary for a few more minutes. Lexi came in and squeezed in between me and Mary so she could sit by me. "Sister Bell I got to do blessings!" She gave me a hug and we sat there again with my arm around her as we looked out at those getting baptized. "Oh, look, there they go!" she'd say as they went in the water. As I had my arm around her I felt such an overwhelming sense of love, and all that I had left to say was "Lexi, Heavenly Father is so happy you are here" over and over again to her. 

We finally had to go and I said bye to Lexi. The next morning in my personal study I found this quote:

"I believe that if we could have the privilege of walking physically with the Savior, that we would feel His arm draped over our shoulder just like that. Like the disciples heading toward Emmaus, our hearts would “burn within us” (Luke 24:32). This is His message: “Come and see” (John 1:39). It is personal, inviting, and embracing in its invitation to walk with His arm around our shoulders."

I'm not sure why Lexi sat by me instead of the 20 other people in the room, but i'm sure glad she did. I got such an inch more of a glimpse of how the savior feels about us. When we return I think that's all most of us will need, is just for him to put his arm around our shoulder and say "I'm so glad you're here." I think that will be enough, because our hearts will "burn within us" that tells more than what you could ever say.

I've learned even more, especially in this project, that the Lord doesn't have to work in grand gestures to show his love in a grand way. We wish for that, or at least I do. Big gestures are cool, can be life changing, recognizable, and solidifying. We sometimes feel like we deserve them too or that we have a level of faith that earns them like "but i have an important calling" or "but i have a very important question" or "im worthy and living in the best way I can that i could receive it that way".But I think it sometimes takes an even higher level of faith to recognize that when God gives you an umbrella instead of taking away the rainstorm...when heavenly father help us work through our problems instead of giving us the answer to the equation...or when you put your arm around someone and tell them you love them...that it's just as grand, and just as much heaven's hand.

Love you all! I hope you can feel the Savior's arm around you this week, and in return, act as the Savior and put your arm around someone else this week. 

Sister Bell

February 17, 2014

Hi Family!

Congratulations to the newest member of the family, Jaxon! What a cutie! 

I am settling into the Weston area. You can send my mail to the mission office: 

182 west central st. suite 203, natick, ma

It is a new experience working in the mission office. We have a nice new renovated apartment and 2 senior couple missionaries live in the complex as well and make sure we're taken care of. Theyre the cutest to work with. WE LOVE THEM. Theyre a blast in the office. Makes me ssoo excited for mom and dad to be a senior couple. Sis. Wagner is my new companion. She is great - shes the most upbeat positive person, sometimes its scary how happy she is. She is a firefighter - legit right?? The office likes to make fun at the rugby/firefighter companionship. She has 21 nieces and nephews - way surpassed me. didnt think thatd ever happen! shes also only a few transfers away from going home which is weird - i told her shes not allowed to get trunky on me and she agreed :) 

There was a crazy storm this weekend. Im so glad i have warm shoes and warm clothes to bundle up in! makes you grateful for the pioneers! 

The portable visitors center, PVC is coming along. We did our skeleton outline and tons of research from other visitors centers. We called salt lake to try to get access to the christus recording that we are thinking we'll put with a short video of christs ministry - no we're not bringing in a 30 ft fragile statue. Now that we have it outlined we are working on dissecting each auxiliary and gathering clips and quotes for content for the boards and interactive videos. Needless to say we're really excited to attend the presidency meeting tomorrow for all our work to get sent to the shredder.....

Its a little hard because we were given no direction accept go do it. Im excited to receive more specific direction tomorrow as we counsel in a group. I feel really inadequate to be working on it - i dont know why they asked us because i can think of a million other people who could come up with way more brilliant ideas. I feel ok though because I feel like I'm giving my all. I know that means good things will come regardless of the source. In sacrament meeting yesterday there was a talk about revelation and how a lot of times God closes a lot of doors, and what a blessing that is because it guides you to the one that is open with SURETY its the right door. I felt like thats our project in a nutshelll. Sister Wagner are going to research and put together a million things for 9/10ths to "go to waste" because of one comment in a meeting that will change it all, and put it together the right way. But we'd then know with surety...we'll know we did all we could and thats enough regardless if it reaps direct results for the project. We've been given an immense amount of trust to be the only missionaries with an ipad....without securities too. I feel this overwhelming sense of duty (in a positive way) to The Lord. I dont want to spin my wheels to do busy work, but i do want every second to count. I have no idea what im doing but i already have an addiction to the project. As soon as I wake up...after i want to kill the alarm clock...i get super excited and continue my content and video dissecting for each of the topics. As i watch all of the videos and read piles of info on lds.org I feel such an overwhelming spirit and sense that this is going to bring so many people to Christ. How could you not be addicted to that? :) 

Im happy - im trying to show how happy i am on the outside so i wont seem like a crazy psycho thats addicted to the office work. Ive learned about myself that when im around social happy people when theres a lot to do it makes me go into over compensation of the flip side of being boringly diligent. so im working on being....funly diligent? yup - thats a word. im also working on my english skills........

picture: sis wagner and i taking a pic on the ipad. i know - woa.

Love ya! Keep us in your prayers that we'll know what to do!  

Sister Bell 

Keepin it real...cuz it is real!

 

 

 

1. meeting the new comp

2. our new toy

3. our new office

 

 

February 12, 2014

Transfer week - sorry it comes on wednesday instead of monday!

Sister Kendall and I were thoroughly convinced we were staying together. We both are so new here and based on interviews with Pres. we had this transfer we both were very confident we were staying. We were very very confused when we saw on "the phone call day" President Packard calling.

Sister Kendall gets to train a brand new missionary in Belmont! I am excited for her because that is her favorite thing to do but I really really didn't want to leave Belmont. Also means we are released from being Sister Training Leaders.

The good part about it is me and my new companion Sister Wagner have been called on a special assignment! I know sister wagner from leadership meetings and she is one of the best missionaries ive met. Shes cute and fun so im excited. We are going to Weston....talk about getting a pay raise....oh wait, we're not paid....Whats up Danny Ainge.

There are already 2 sets of missionaries in Weston 1 so we aren't technically assigned there....as in we are not active proselyting...weird.

My new home is now the mission office. One of us will work on an Ipad and the other is working on presidents computer. We are assigned to get rolling.........A PORTABLE VISITORS CENTER!!!!!

The stake president is the retired CEO of Dell and has generously donated funds to get this going. The idea is so that when there are special events in church buildings around the mission such as special firesides, baptisms, etc we can bring our "portable visitors center" so that nonmembers in attendance can learn about the church in a nonthreatening way. A few women like Sister Haight and Sister Christensen have gotten ideas started for the process but everyone had such different ideas that nothings gotten rolling. There are so many directions we should go...should there be one? Should we provide one for each stake and have them take responsibility? How should we lay it out - all in one location in foyer or room or make it a church tour? There are a million pros and cons for all options. We have to figure out that and mostly figure out the CONTENT for what is going to be on whatever we decide to display it on such as flat screens, projectors, etc. President said he called Salt Lake for ideas and they said they havent really done much like that before so they couldnt provide much information. We have a missionary here that is on her 6 month leave for Nauvoo Temple Visitors Center and so we are going to collect content from what shes done and from mormon.org and see what happens. It's really really exciting - I feel so lucky i get to be apart of it! I get to advertise for the church? Heavenly Father knew that was my dream job and i get to live it early! I am nervous about the new experience and a lot of pressure from a lot of people who want to be pleased who have different ideas of how it could be done. I asked President Haight his advice and he said just worry about pleasing God and be bold with what we decide to do.

When we aren't working on the visitors center, we will be doing all the office dirty work for the assistants and potentially at night we get to be in the portal for the digital mission to chat with people online! Here we go for being an office sister. President said he plans the project will probably take us 2 transfers (3 months).

Ill miss teaching at the Haights. Ill miss doing activity days at President Christensens and ill really miss going on splits with the Romneys to teach people on the cover of national geographic. Ill miss Ali's baptism and spiritually packed lessons (although we're so close ill probably get to go). And of course ill miss sister kendall!

Im excited to focus more on receiving specific revelation from God for what he wants on this project. Im also excited that this means i wont have a car and will get to walk to and from the office each day. since we dont really cover a ward it means no dinners so ill get to control my potions and what i eat - hoping this will burn off a few pounds. :)

Love you all! Send your ideas for the visitors center! Pray for me! P.S. Shout out to Ashley and the new baby this weekend!! Cant wait for pictures!

Sister Bell

1. The sisters we covered for the transfer!

2.Saying goodbye to the Zanattas - one of my most favorite families. S. Zanatta is LITERALLY identical in every way to Ashley so it was fun :)

3. Enough Said.

January 20, 2014

1-20-14

Family!

Because of the stinker MLK holiday, I’m handwriting my weekly letter. 

I think I say this every wee, but this was seriously THE BEST week ever. Ew, I’m 20 nowL But I’ve never had a better birthday. Thank you for all the cards and packages! Mom, I CAN’T BELIEVE you found my necklace. I opened it at the end of the day right before I went to bed and seriously almost cried. I told Sister Kendall I feel like the most spoiled daughter of God ever! I must have been a major kiss up in the pre-existence because I feel like that guy from that awful cheesy Disney movie, “Luck of the Irish”, where he just has things seem to go his way! I lost my planner which contains my brain. I prayed all day and what do you know, of course my planner showed up! An appointment cancels and then someone calls and needs our help, I’m telllin you…weird stuff happens.

We had the fullest Saturday on my birthday and the BEST birthday present I received?? THREE NEW INVESTIGATORS. We are now teaching a family!!

I haven’t done that yet on my mission. They grew up in the church and have been to our ward before, but usually go the Spanish unit. The dad said he’s always felt like he was ready to get baptized but no one really pushed him into it. The mom was so sincere and tender as she said, “sometimes I’m just not sure if I’m worthy enough” and their 14 year old daughter said, “I used to want to get baptized….but I just haven’t really thought about it since.” They are an incredible and beautiful family. We are so stoked to teach them.

Now that you really do think my life is perfect…it’s rally not. You better believe we get chewed out on a daily basis from members and nonmembers and sometimes appointments cancel and I really do struggle too fill the time and most of the time it feels like you’re doing everything wrong. But the point is…how can all the blessings and miracles that DO happen not beat all the small, silly , sad things??

Our Bishops are on fire and members are catching on quick. We really are a part of the “fabric of the ward’ as our mission calls it. We get weekly assignments from ward leaders and the new mission plans we are starting to implement are simple, focus, and specific. We are starting to have more than we can say grace over. We talked to Pres and Sister Packard about really wanting another set of missionaries so each ward can have their own. Its hard to balance—wards slightly overlap on Sunday with the time chance and we are constantly running. But yes, I try to act peacefully as the Savior did.

Everything just feels really good and I have a lot of work on, but I like who I am. I always have, but it’s just a little different now. I like having complete trust in the Lord and being able to really not stress about anything. Salvation can be pretty stressful and I think it kind of made me feel that way before, but now I don’t feel that way. Missions should be the least stressful time in our lives because God gets to control the results…in fact, all of life should be pretty stress free. Learning how to be stress free AND diligent and proactive is a talent!

With all that being said, the moral of the story is that I’m happy. Very, very happy. I’m learning a lot from the tough, rich crowd and feel so lucky to be here.

Love you all!

Sister Bell