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.