September 21, 2015

Kim only had a few minutes online this week.   She is faced with being sent home again and has struggled with this.  She fasted twice this last week and knows via that process that she is meant to come home early.  Here is a short note and some pictures that Kim sent me and her Dad:

I have truly been blessed as a missionary here in Chubbuck Idaho, I have seen so much good and so much pain. I have seen people change through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I have truly been changed because of this experience. Will I miss it? Yes! Will it affect my life for the worse if I go home? Not really, because I know now that life does not revolve around not finishing a "full time" mission. I know that life is a "full time" mission. You don't have to have a badge to share something that has helped you! 

A mission does not define who you are, only you and God define who you are as a person! 

                                              This was Kathy's Baptism on Saturday!

You must get on your knees! And fight with prayer!!

First of all when you read the subject line you should read it in a older and wise voice, its even better that way! :-)

Wow I can't believe its already been another week!
                                                                                

Me and sister Brough found a new investigator this past week, she is from Texas and just moved here to Pocatello 6 weeks ago. Her daughter is a recent convert so she knows a little about the church. But when we talked about the Book of Mormon she said "I always knew that there was something more in this world!" WHAT!!!

Anyways the other exciting news is.... Oh wait for it.... thats right...

KATHY IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my smurf and she is so ready and on fire about the gospel! I don't know how, but I am so blessed to have her in my life!                                                                      

                                                            (Kim playing music to wake up Sis. Wooten)

Also this week we attended a women's conference for the Pocatello North stake and let me tell you just how awesome it was! It was centered around the attributes of Christ (here is a video)  http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages-for-youth/christlike-attributes-1

Watch it! It only takes 3 minutes of your life, and it is well used time ;-)

I learned so much about the life of Christ and how to become more like Him. Because that is the goal; to become more like our precious Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. There is no better goal in life, there is nothing more glorious that can be shared then the message that, He lives and He has payed the price for all of us to be able to become like Him and our Heavenly Father, to be able to be with our family's forever, to have eternal happiness!   Why wouldn't we want to share that with others?! It is the greatest message and gift you could ever give anyone!
                                                                           

I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that He died for me personally so that when I am going through hard times He will know exactly how to help me! I know He lives and that He can be with us everyday, but we must open our hearts to receive Him! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God who restored His true church to the earth, and I know that He will never again take His church off the earth again! The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, it testifies that He lives and that we can become like Him! I know that President Thomas S. Monson is our modern day prophet! He is truly God's messenger and will and is guiding us through this world!
                                                                               

I love you all very much and I know the gospel can and will bless you!!!

Hermana Bell Xoxo

"Careful there are hobos in these rocks"

Hey family and friends!! How are you?

Goodness its been a good week, I mean it usually is. 

                                                                             

  

So  this week we have been working a lot with our wards to set up a ward mission leader training. We all get caught up in the idea that missionary's do all the finding, but in reality its really the members there in the area. We as full time missionary's are only in an area for 6 weeks to a couple of months. We don't get enough time to get to know every single person in a city or a town. We depend on members more than anything. You are the ones who know your friends and neighbors, your family and acquaintances. So take the time and get to know them. Invite them over for dinner or just over to get to know each over more :-)

So bad habits.... yeah I have a lot of those hahaha :-)

My worst one; technology 

                                                                             

  I didn't realize how dependent I was on technology until I came here on my mission. But I realized how much time I actually did spend on my computer, my phone, the TV, an I-pad, etc, when I finally made it here to Idaho. I was to concerned about TV to get to know people around me. Like it was slightly more important then my friends and others. I realize that this isn't a problem for everyone, it was just one of my bad habits. 

  I was able to replace bad habits such as watching 8 hours of TV a day with an hour of scripture study or getting to know people around me. 

  I have looked back at the difference it made in my life. Even though I wasn't watching or listening to things that were bad or anything it was just the amount of it! It was making my attitude towards others sour and mean at times! When I cut this out my attitude changed, I was happy and felt good. I wanted to talk to others and be around them!

So what it your bad habit? Is it stopping you from being who you could be?

                                                                                       

So funny quote of the week. This is from our 11 year old investigator; "Careful there are hobos in these rocks." and ten minutes later "Today a hobo crawled over my feet today. But it's okay he was nice."

So you can only imagine the images going through my head right? All I can really think is "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL'S HOMELESS PEOPLE!?"

Well come to find out that she wasn't talking about homeless people. There is apparently a "hobo" spider out here hahaha Pretty crazy right? 

                                                                                   

Anyway everyone I miss you tons! 

And remember this quote from Cinderella "Have courage and be kind." Because what more can you be then kind? 

We could all use a little more kindness in our lives!

Love you all!!

Hermana Bell

Life in Idaho

                                                                               

So we had the amazing privilege of getting to meet Elder Martino of the 70 yesterday! He spoke with us for 6 hours and let me tell you I feel so uplifted and inspired afterwards! 

  He talked with us about missionary work and working with members and then talked about life in general! I have to say I left really inspired!
                                                                      

Anyway me and Sister Brough have been working all week to find more people to teach, and on Wednesday of last week we called our dinner appointment to confirm and he happened to be in a bishopric meeting and told us that they had a referral for us. So we called the family and she said that her and her daughter had been going to church off and on and that they wanted to be baptized! So we went over the next day and taught a lesson and by the time we had left we had already set a baptism date with them!! Heavenly Father really does answer prayers and hard work does pay off. Maybe not as soon as you think it will or in the way it will but it will happen!
                                                                                           

Let me tell you about my amazing companion sister Brough. She is from Memphis Tennessee, we have debates about which BBQ is better; Memphis or Kansas City. Neither of us can win because neither have tried the other cities BBQ. She is super funny and has amazing personality and connects with other people very well. 4 months ago she was serving here in Pocatello when her and her companion were hit by a car in a cross walk. She went home and found out that she had not only broken her leg, some of her toes, but that she had also broken her neck! 

  She made a remarkable fast recovery and came back out. She has worked harder then anyone I have ever met! 

  My first 3 days with her she made me breakfast. 

We both love Harry Potter (Score!) and Lord of the Rings. And we just get along very well.
                                                                               

Well family and friends I love you more than I can say, and miss you tons!

I hope all is well and I love reading your emails and letters! 

Stay strong!

Hermana Bell   

Hola mi rama familia!

?Que pasa? 

So its been another crazy week, after transfers last week we were covering two stakes here in Pocatello with our little trio, but my new companion sister Brough finally got here on Tuesday! She is amazing, and one of the most inspiring people I've ever met! She was out for 10 months before going home for health reasons and then came back out! So we both of a lot of stuff in common. 

  We are now covering a whole stake instead of just 4 wards, so it's been fun going and meeting new people and finding more people to teach! 

                                                                              

Pocatello I'm pretty sure is where pintrest was invented! Peoples homes are so beautiful here!!! Like right off of Pintrest! And the people are amazing!  I'm so glad that I got called here so I can come back one day and see everyone again!! 

Anyway sorry its a really short email today! But I love you all tons!

Hermana Bell

PS: So last Monday me, sister Wooten, and sister Smith went to this cute little music shop... And this happened... Hehe ;-) 

Crazy Week!

So another week has come and gone, and to say the least it was a crazy one!

But we finally got word about my new companion and she will be coming out tomorrow, so I will no longer be in a trio and covering 2 stakes (Yay!)

It has been super fun white-washing the other half of the stake that the Elders had before they moved them out, so that has been taking most of my time this week.

Kathy is doing great, she has been coming with Sam and Emily to their new member lessons, and we have been going over and reading the Book of Mormon with her. 

  On Sunday we had another missionary fireside and Kathy, Emily, and Sam came and Kathy told me after that she really needed to hear the speakers that spoke. Kathy is amazing and so ready to be baptized! 

  Sam is heading to college and the bishop and missionary's will be finishing his new member lessons there with him.

  We found a couple new investigators this week and will be teaching them the first lesson on Thursday! Super excited for that.
                                                              

On Saturday I got to go to a Fiesta with the Spanish Branch here in the Stake and help serve nachos. And then we played "Futball" for 2 hours hahaha. Hispanics can play soccer for forever and never get tired holy smurf! But it was a lot of fun and I loved being there!

  Everything is still great and everyone is doing well.
                                                                               

For the spiritual thought of the week go watch this video http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages-for-youth/reach-out-with-love

I love you all tons!!!

Hermana Bell   

Wow what a busy week!

Wow what a busy week!

We got our transfer call this last week and.. I'm staying in Pocatello! Yay! I will be taking over the whole stake though since they are taking the Elders out.

Sad news: Sister Worrall is going home tomorrow! I will miss her so much! She has been an amazing friend and trainer!

Exciting news of the week: We set a date with Kathy for September 19th!!! Kathy is perhaps one of the most loving people I know! I'm so happy that I will be here to see her get baptized!!
                                                                                      

Random things of the week: I actually forgot to tell this story a couple of weeks ago hahaha! We were out trying to contact people and we saw this one guy that we had been trying to see outside. Well he saw us and ran inside and locked the doors, closed the blinds, and pretended to not be home. So we went to go see someone else. Well on our way back to the car we saw the guy open his door and throw something and

BAM!! It was a grenade!!!!

Hahaha I'm just kidding, they were just fire crackers!
But they were loud. Guess we won't be trying him again ahahaha!

                                                                   

t's just going to be crazy busy now that we have the whole stake, but its a good busy :-)

  We are mainly just trying to find new people to teach at the moment... Umm not really any other earth shattering news to share this week...

Oh wait!!! I almost forgot!! SAM BLESSED THE SACRAMENT ON SUNDAY!!!!! I was proud of him! He did so well!
                                                                              

Spiritual thought of the week: 

  Alma 32:12,16, this is the chapter where Alma is teaching the poor people of the Zoramites. The poor people have built all these synagogues (places to worship) and the rich people have told them that they cannot worship in them at all! So they go to Alma and ask him about it, and he tells them... "...it is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble, and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye are despised of your brethren because of your exceeding poverty, that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble....therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble."

  To quote my sister, Karmen Bruner who just gave a talk regarding being Humble...
     "Humility minimizes arrogance and removes pride. It is understanding our fallen nature and tendency to think we are better than we are, and our striving to lift up ourselves above others and God. It is admitting that others and more importantly God is responsible for our achievements. Humbleness will enable us to be a teachable person who is willing to have the attitude of acceptance and servant hood, one who confesses sin and remembers how Christ served us!

                                                                                      

Humility isn't a weakness. It is a modest view of ones own importance. Not proud or arrogant.

Arrogance is to have or reveal an exaggerated sense of ones own importance or abilities.

Make no mistake about is: pride is the great sin. It is the devils most effective and destructive tool."

  To be humble is to be teachable, to be loving to others and to love oneself. To have a true desire to follow the words of Christ. Being humble allows us to gain wisdom as well. When we are willing to accept faults or mistakes and eager to learn or fix those things, then  you are humble.
                                                                                     

  This has been a hard lesson for me to learn through out my life so far, but I know that with help from our Heavenly Father and hard work and a good attitude on our part we can achieve this.

I love you all so much and miss you tons!!

Mucho amor, Hermana Bell 

Mid-week news

Won't lie, this week has been a blur! 

Me and sister Worrall have been looking for people to teach, and getting ready to send her home next Monday :( 

We had a baptism on Saturday!! Sam's adopted sister Emily got baptized! She is so amazing, I love her, and her testimony is so strong! 

We were able to take Emily, her mom Kathy, and the stake presidents daughter to the Idaho Fall's visitor center. We watched "Meet the Mormons" and then took a tour of the visitor center. I was so touched, both me and Kathy cried while we watched the movie! Haha at least I wasn't a lone crier! 

  Kathy is amazing! She is taking the lessons, and I'm pretty sure she is my second mom! One day we were running late to things, and we ran over there to give Emily the baptism interview questions and she said "hope your hungry I made a veterinarian pizza!" without even knowing that we had to skip lunch that day because we running to meetings! 

  So Saturday was a bitter sweet day, they had stake baptisms (I didn't know this existed before coming here! They take all of the kids who turned 8 that month, and have the baptisms, because there are so many of them!!) And then as soon as they were done, we ran to get things set up for Emily's baptism. 

  When she came out of the water she was just smiling and glowing! She was so happy! 

The day was bitter sweet because right after the baptism we had the funeral for a 17 year old boy. He had a muscular disease where his muscles over time dissolved. So sad and heartbreaking! He was such an amazing person. He spent his whole life serving others. Even when he was in pain! He was such an amazing example to those around him, and I learned so much from him in the time that I did get to know him. 

  The days before he died he wasn't able to swallow or eat food, but he was always smiling and comforting those around him! One of the last things he did was take all of his money and bought his younger brother a gift, and told his parents to give it to him after he passed. 

I cried.... 

I learned more about kindness and attitude from him in the last 5 weeks than I have in the last 22 years of my life!! 

  

Emily was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, and her brother Sam was ordained with the Priesthood! 

 And Kathy came up to us after and told us that when we are ready, she is ready to be baptized!! 

Kathy is another amazing example of kindness. She works with special needs children all day and loves and cares for everyone around her. 

Anyway we are getting transfer calls this Thursday, so we shall see what will happen.

I love all of you and think about each of you constantly!

As the recent Cinderella movie taught us... 

Have courage and be kind!

Hermana Bell.  

Life in the Mission

So much good happening here!

  We are finishing teaching Emily the lessons this week and then she will be getting baptized on Saturday! I'm so excited for her! 

  Kathy (Sam's mom) has been taking the lessons, but she wants to take it much slower, which is understandable. 

  

Sister Hatch, one of my trainers, went home on medical release on Friday, I was sad to see her go but she wants to go home get better and come back out. What's funny is, me and her were supposed to come out at the same time last year, back in September, but then I went home, and then I ended up being her companion! 

 

   We have just been super busy trying to find more people to teach, and visiting a lot of less actives. 

  

   It's been weird adjusting to it just being two of us now, but we get along very well, and Sister Worrall is amazing! She will hit her 18 month mark this week and be going home August 11th. Which I'm kinda nervous because that means I will be leading out the area! Unless they whitewash it (They transfer me and put two missionary's who have never been in this area) Which I hope they don't do, I really want to stay here for at least one more transfer! But when I met with President, he was talking about moving me back to a Spanish area.

Anyways other then that not much going on.

I miss everyone like crazy!!

Spiritual thought of the week is Mosiah 7:33

"But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage."

 We can be in bondage to many things; fear, people, work, food, anxiety, ect. 

I used to be in bondage of fear and anxiety to the point that it controlled my life! I couldn't do anything! I was constantly letting it take over and freaking out! I didn't want that but yet I let it! I tried taking medicine to help, and nothing. I tired becoming so busy I wouldn't notice it. However that made it worse. It came to the point where I was being hospitalized because of this. And that night I just remember being so alone and turning to God and praying. Never before have I felt so much peace and love and comfort. I turned back to the Gospel and put my trust in Him. I didn't know where life would take me, I just knew that I had been saved out of this cage I had been trapped in for so long! 

So whatever your in bondage to, just know that Heavenly Father loves you, and if you will turn to Him and put all your trust in Him, he will save you from the "cage" that your trapped in.

   

I love you all like crazy!

Hermana Bell.

Sam's Baptism

What a crazy week, it went by so fast I can't even remember the details! 

So we finished teaching Sam the lessons and he got his baptism interview on Thursday. And we started teaching his mom the lessons. 

Sam was super excited for Saturday he kept trying not to smile the whole time! Oh goodness he is so amazing and so prepared.

The baptism was amazing, me and sister Worrall threw together a musical number 20 minutes before and it went well. The printer broke in the middle of printing the programs and so we only had 12 programs. Sam was super surprised and happy because there was so many people who showed up to support him.

  Then on Sunday we started going to ward correlations at 7am and ward hopping until 2pm and then we ran over and grabbed lunch and then ran over and saw some people and then that night we had a Fireside for investigators, and some recent converts spoke. They were amazing and I love the spirit they bring. Me and three other sisters performed a musical number. I've played the piano so much since being here its insane! But I love it! 

Anyway I'm sorry its super short today! But we are crazy busy. 

I love you all and you are all amazing! 

Tres semanas y un baptizado!

It's been crazy! 

Sam our investigator we started teaching on July 1st is getting baptized this Saturday! He is the most prepared person in the whole world! His teaching schedule is crazy, we are teaching him a lesson every single day this week, and one right before his baptism on Saturday. He is so excited though. He will be the first member in his family, and he told us last night that his mom and sisters will be coming to the baptism! We were hoping they would, not only for support but also to see the Church and to meet us. 

  We started teaching a 14 year old girl, Emily, this last week. She has been going to church with a friend for a while and she finally expressed her interests in taking the lessons. 

  We had interviews with our new Mission President on Tuesday morning. And it was so awesome to get to know him and his wife, who is probably the cutest person in the whole world. We are having a district activity today and we wanted to make waffles but no of us had a recipe for waffles and of course we don't have internet access here so I texted our mission presidents wife and she had us come over and gave us a amazing recipe for waffles (She's a pintrest addict like me haha) 

  It's so awesome living just 3 miles from the mission home, so that we have the chance to get to know her! 

  

Spiritual thought: 1 Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

I love this scripture so much! It's true, we will have trials in our life, sometimes we will have so many trials in our life we will feel like we can't handle them, like we are trapped in this darkness that seems so inescapable that we lose all hope and direction. However God knows you better than we know yourself sometimes. He gives us trials, no one enjoys them, but He also provides a way to climb that wall, to wade the river of darkness. So no matter what happens in your life, the good and the bad, keep a smile on your face. Stay positive and be a better person because of your trials. 

As one of my mentors used to say "Bitter or better" 

The choice is yours, you are the writer of your story, you can be whoever you want. It all starts with a thought. Those thoughts turn to action, which will decide who you are. 

I love you all so much and look forward to your emails all week! 

Hermana Bell.   

The photo is me and my district after our interviews. From left to right in the back is: President and sister Hancock from Arizona, Elder Anderson from Lenexa KS, Elder Torina from Jijian islands, Elder Edgerly from Alabama, Elder Yates from Canada, and then the Mission President's assistants, Elder Haws, and Elder Funchie from Brazil. And in the front is Me, Sister Worrall from Tulsa Oklahoma, and Sister Hatch from Arizona.

Birthday Fun July 8th!

Let me tell you about my birthday.... When it rains it pours!

We had a zone training that morning so we show up.... fashionably late... And sit down. And our Zone leader announced that there was very exciting news to announce.... "It's Hermana Bell's birthday" 

  I have no idea how they found out but they did. And they sang me a very off key birthday song. The Sister Training Leaders took me to chilies for a birthday lunch and then we went to a lesson. 

So I get back to the apartment and open the door and.... Our whole apartment was decorated. It looked like a wedding hahaha! And they baked me a cake and everything! Hahaha I love my zone they are so awesome and they made my whole day so special. 

So later that night we were planning and it was around 10pm and we heard a knock and went down and answered it (and I really wish I had this on video, it was glorious! Bahaha) It was my zone leaders, and they sang happy birthday to me and then threw some stuff at me, and then danced this really crazy dance in the parking lot... It was amazing! I was laughing so hard that I cried! 

Dos semanas en Pocatello norte primera!

It's been super crazy this week because.... WE GOT A NEW MISSION PRESIDENT!! 

We met them on Wednesday and I love them! They are amazing! And I'm super excited to have just one mission presidente my whole mission!

Anyways,

Monday: We had a half p-day because of the 4th of July, so we emailed real quick and did our shopping. And then we just went and saw some people. By the way door to door knocking doesn't work here, I haven't gone tracting once hahaha! We walk a lot but we depend on referrals mostly. Here in Idaho everyone knows who you are and thinks they know everything they need to know about the church, so tracting doesn't work here, we really depend on members. 

Tuesday: We got a new investigator. He is 18, no one in his family is a member and his dad is very Anti-LDS, but he has a couple of friends who are. And one of them got his mission call a couple of months ago to Japan. So Sam asked him about the church and was very interested. So his friend told him to pray about it, thinking that he probably wouldn't do it. But he was wrong, Sam got a hold of us and and told us that he had prayed and heard a voice saying he needed to learn the lessons. So we taught him the first lesson, which I feel like we aren't really doing anything. He is so prepared! So we invited him to a baptism that was the next day.

Wednesday: We met the new mission presidente and his amazing wife. They are from Arizona and I love them so much! I'm excited to get to know them! 

Sam came to the baptism (Which was awesome, and Elder Anderson from Lenexa KS, performed the baptism) Oh yay hahaha to all of my friends from the Lenexa Stake I finally met Elder Anderson, he is actually in my district. By the Way our district is pure awesome ;-)

Anyway after the baptism we took Sam on a church tour and invited him to be baptized.... 

And he said yes!! So July 18th he will be getting baptized, he is so amazing and has such a strong testimony of the gospel already, we have literally done nothing! But its also going to be crazy because we have to teach him all of the lessons and get his interview and baptism planned in less then 2 weeks! 

Thursday: We went and saw a lot of people and visited a lot of inactive members. Everyone here is so amazing! I love them! 

Friday: Much like Thursday. 

Saturday: All day p-day! We slept in until 8:30, which was amazing and much needed. And then Our zone drove up to the mountains and started hiking up, we only made it like 2 miles before we decided to head back down. On the way back down I was talking to the other Spanish missionary s and this snake came slithering, very fast (I literally thought it was running bahahaha!) towards me and just stopped. I won't lie me and one of the hermana's were screaming hahaha! Scared me half to death, anyway I think it was more scared of us then we were of it. But no one was hurt and no one fell off the mountain so all is well! 

Me and my companions went and got lunch with the Sister Training Leaders and then we drove over to one of the stake centers with our zone (I say one of them because there are 11 stakes in just Pocatello!) And dragged all of the couches and tvs and took them to the gym and got a bunch of snacks and watched Big Hero 6, Despicable me 2. and Night in the museum 3. (Yes these were approved before hand :D) 

We then watched fireworks and had a amazing 4th with our whole zone!

Sunday: We were able to meet Sam and discuss what days would be good to teach lessons (Which is at least one lesson every other day!) And he is actually super excited!

So anyways I still have a couple of personal emails to send so 

Adios for now!