The power of Companionship

So today I just flipped open to one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon it is the story of Alma and Amulek teaching the people of Ammonihah. I started in chapter 8 were it talks about how Alma has received the holy order of God or in other words the Priesthood. The power of the priesthood is how he was called to become a prophet and being teaching. He teaches the people in Melek and everything goes as planned, he starts to teach the people and they all believe. Now this story I like to think of it as Alma is a missionary. So he just got sent to the perfect city no one rejects the teachings because they were already searching for the truth, and he was able to provide it for them. So now Alma is on what we like to call a spiritual high. This happens when everything clicks the Spirit is felt, and you know the person you are teaching is ready for baptism, you feel like nothing can get you down and you could literally teach everyone. Well Alma does baptize everyone and it seems like there is nothing left to do in Melek, so he gets transferred to another city. However this city isnt so perfect the people are wicked they havent been doing what they are suppose to and they dont listen to Alma at all. They throw him out of the city, they spit on him, and reviled him. Now I dont know about you, but I would feel pretty bad if that just happened to me and I hadnt baptized a whole city just days before. So Alma is really bummed, and he is doubting his abilities as a missionary. Thinking if he has done something wrong or was it just the city. I know I felt like this a few times on my mission. What can I do to help these people? Did I teach the lesson the wrong way? Did I not listen to the Spirit? Well what do you do when you have questions? YOU PRAY. So that is what Alma did. He prayed. However something that doesnt usually happen to an everyday missionary an angel of the Lord came down to talk to him. Now i know there were some times and there still are now that I would love to see an angel of the Lord, but I highly doubt that will happen in my life here on earth, well unless the millennium happens soon. Who knows it could. I would be a little scared if that happened though. Alma though just get praises for what he is doing right on him mission, and basically gets told to not give up and to keep trying something will happen with the people of Ammonihah. So he goes back, but this time he gets some help. He meets Amulek. A good guy in Ammonihah, who helps Alma by giving him food and rest. Well guess what they become companions because the Lord has commanded us to go preach two by two. There is also that saying that two heads are better than one. Amulek is a man on Ammonihah. He is a MEMBER of the city. The people know and trust him. So they are willing to listen to him. Just like on a mission when you bring a MEMBER from the ward, because they will always be there for when we get transferred out to another area. Well the idea of a member might not have worked out as well as they thought in the beginning because they did get arrested. However when they are in there they are able to use the power of God to show the people that they have been called on God.
Not only did I read in Alma but in the Missionary Handbook the section i read really went along with this chapter in Alma, the scripture is Helaman 3:35 which talks about fasting and praying to strengthen the faith in God. The sections tells us to focus on the mission and not learning the things of the world. I feel that can be applied to us RM at home too. Dont forget what you learned while on your mission. The Spirit that you felt and the love of Heavenly Father you have. Keep those things close and dont focus on the things that you can have because that is what the world is telling you to do. I think that is really hard. I know at work my coworkers dont have the nicest language or thought, and I have found myself every once and a while thinking like that or saying something I am not supposed to and then I fell horrible because I know that isnt what the Lord wants me to do. So no matter what the world is telling you remember you are still a representative of Jesus Christ, because you are a member of His church.
Well yesterday was only a day at work. We had to take our last assessment and I got a 100 on even though I thought I was going to fail it. Dont know how that happened. Then  we took calls in the system that we just learned. It felt like I was having mini heart attack the whole time because I thought I was going to mess something up. We are taking calls in that system all week long and I am dreading it.
However I did make a goal this week to go to the temple so hopefully that will help with my stress level.
Well I hope everyone has a great day and I will write tomorrow.
P.S. We always have the companionship of the Spirit be worthy to have it with you to guide you

Coming Back

So I know I havent posted on here since coming home, but since it is a new year and all I have decided that I am going to post my daily scripture reading on here along with what happened the day before. So this will become my study journal and my real journal as well.

Well yesterday was Sunday of course, and with it being the first of the month it was Fast and Testimony meeting. This used to be the most nerve racking Sunday out of the month as a missionary. Especially if you had brought an investigator. What if someone went on a tangent about something controversial in the church, or said something only long time members would understand. As a normal member( which I am still not used to. I freak out that I dont have my nametag on half the day, and I still dont like wearing pants.) it is just nice and you can feel the Spirit no matter what. Yesterday was just what I needed to get my butt into gear, and be doing everything I needed to be doing. Like study my scriptures for an hour, having sincere non repetitive prayers, enjoying the gift of the Atonement, and remembering that I am still a missionary even though I am home, and I better start acting like it.
Well the ward I go to now is a YSA ward. For those of you who know me, I hate the YSA wards because they all are there just to get you on a date and get you married, the main focus is not on learning the gospel. Well that's exactly what I thought the first time I went to this ward a few weeks ago. The bishop didnt come and introduce himself to me, all the people were all cozied up to one another during sacrament meeting, and no one was genuinely listening they all had their phones out. Well yesterday was different, I actually talked to the first counselor and the bishop. I met another newly returned missionary during sacrament, I talked to the first counselor's wife. Then I went to a new member class during second hour. Were I met a lot more RMs one of which is form Josh's mission. So fun. in the first class we talked about how we can learn about God's will for us, and how we can make a plan to follow it. I realized that I had truly been lazy since coming home, and I have really slacked on scripture study, and praying sincerely. So I began to develop a plan that I could start to help me to get back on the same track I was on while I was a missionary. That plan was simple just wake up the same time i did as a missionary although I did change the schedule around a little. I am first going to read my scriptures then eat the exercise and then get ready for the day. I felt like i could still follow my routine if I did it this way.
The Relief Society lesson was even better. It was about repenting. Well who doesnt need a reminder of how important it is to repent so that we can get back to Heavenly Father and His plan for us. Cause I know that lesson was perfect for me. Especially since I hadnt been doing everything that I needed to be doing. I was also able to pay my tithing, talk to my bishop and start to make new friends.
Now to my scripture study well I decided to start where i left off which was in 2 Nephi. I know that is everyones favorite the Isaiah chapter. Now I read the Book Of Mormon about 3 times on my mission but I never took the time to really look up every footnote and understand the Isaiah chapters well I started to do that the last could months of my mission. It takes a lot longer but I actually started to get a greater understanding of it. So today I was in chapter 13. This is when Heavenly Father begins to punish Jerusalem and Judah for their disobedience. And HF takes about the gospel from their lives because they are no longer willing to listen. They use their own wisdom instead of what the Lord has taught them. However in verse 13 something that stood out to me was that it says the Lord will still stand with us in the last days to plead for us. He is never going to leave us for our actions. We only leave Him. Then it talks about how the natural man has taken the people over and they only care about the things of the world instead of the things that will take with them in the next life. The Lord is going to take those things away from us, and show us that they have no meaning, because we can lose all that we have obtain by material wealth.
In chapter 14 it talks about how we can become cleansed in the millenium because the Lord is our refugee in the world and He will save us.
Chapter 15 is the parable of the vineyard. How we are compared to the branches and grapes ,but the grapes are wild and that they are not worth saving. The Lord is no longer taking care of the wild grapes because they are growing and doing what they want. The people are drinking all day long, buying wealth, and forgetting what the Lord has done for them. in verse 12 it says they regard not the work of the Lord. So the people become scattered,they get taken, and times are once again hard. All because they have taken the Lord for granted. The pride cycle has started. Until one day the people once again turn their hearts to the Lord, and repent. They become a humble people again. The Lord always has His hand stretched forth to His people.
Chapter 16 tells of how Isaiah becomes a prophet. He sees the Lord and is purged of his sin.Then volunteers to tell others. The Lord asks him to go convert the people, so he goes and does what the Lord asks. While Isaiah is prophesying it is told that there will be a sign that the Lord will send his only Begotten to a virgin. His son will be named Imannuel, and he will be the rock of defense. He will testify to all about the glory of HF and those will follow Him.
I also read in Preach my Gospel this morning about the importance of the Book of Mormon. How Heavenly Father gave it to us. The only way to truly know that the BOM is true is to honestly seek it, and pray to know. Then the power of the Holy Ghost will come upon you to testify of the truthfulness of the book. However the only way for the Holy Ghost to testify to you if you ask if the book is true or not. You have to know by the feelings that you have had the whole time reading, and the Holy Ghost just confirms those feelings to tell you that you are true. That is how it is for any question that you ask Heavenly Father about. You have to know what you think the answer is and then you just get a confirmation that you are right or wrong. That is one of the greatest gifts Heavenly Father could have ever given us, is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Without the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost we would never know the will of the Lord or when we are doing right or wrong. He is our constant companion in this life. Just like it says in one of my favorite scriptures D&C 121:46.
Well I hope that you have an amazing day and remember the importance of repentance and being worthy to always have the companion of the Holy Ghost.

My Last Week

I seem to just be in a daze as i think about the fact that I only have a week left of my mission. What am I suppose to accomplish, what am I suppose to do. Time really does go by fast. I cant even believe that it is already Monday. Not to mention this week is going to go like the speed of light. Tomorrow we have our meetings, Wednesday we are watching the new movie 'Meet the Mormons', Thursday we have service, Friday is weekly planning, Then this weekend is General Conference. Writing it down makes it look even smaller.

This week when I told those in my ward I was leaving that they didn't want me to go. They were all in denial, and felt as though I haven't accomplished everything that I needed to get done in my mission yet. Though one member told me that I have accomplished more in the 8 months that I have been out then most do in the 2 years that they are given. Although I am so sad to have to say goodbye to those in the Victoria Ward, I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing. Ever since I have made the decision I have been filled with a sense of peace and comfort. The Holy ghost has witnessed to me that Heavenly Father is happy about the decision that I have made. I know that there is something in store for me.

I am willing to put all my faith in to His plan. Especially since I literally have no plans now. This is the first time in my life that I do not know the next step. I don't know where I am going, or what I am doing. For most this would be stressful, scary, and a bit overwhelming. Well I at times feel that, but then I remember that I am doing this because Heavenly Father wants me to. So I know that everything is going to be Okay. This week in Sunday School we were reading the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon. Our teacher kept telling us that Isaiah is telling the people that everything will be okay. Then our Relief Society lesson was all about how everything will be okay. Making decisions now doesn't mean that they have to be scary because we might have more responsibility than we did as children making the choice of what we wanted to play with. Because all we really have to do is rely on the Holy Ghost telling us where we need to go and what we need to do.

Not only was Sunday filled with lessons of comfort, and knowing what I need to do and where i need to be, but so was the Women's conference. All of the talks were on the temple, and how we need to prepare ourselves to go there, and that we need to visit the temple frequently. Well the only plans that I have made from the moment I knew I was going home was that I was going to go to the temple as much as I could possibly go. Including going to all of the temples within a 4 hour radius of my mom's house in Tennessee. Come to find out that there are 7 within 4 and a half hours of here. Then when I go to Utah, I can basically go to all the temples there and I would only have to travel an hour to go to at least 10 temples. The comfort that came from knowing that I could finally visit the temple again on a weekly basis brought joy to my heart, and I know that this is what I am suppose to be doing.

I know that my mission has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father. I know that I have been able to be more in tune with the Spirit, and to come to understand the doctrine of the church because of the decision to serve the Lord. I know that this literally is the best thing that has happened in my life, and I know that the blessings that come from serving the Lord will continue to bless my life even when I am home. The willingness and the desire to serve the Lord will not stop when I have to take off my little black badge. Although this is a sad moment I am not going to dwell on it, but make it more of a life long habit than a calling for a few months. It has become ingrained into who I am, and I am not willing to let it go. I will continue to read my scriptures, pray, and grow my conversion story for the rest of my life because I have truly come to realize this is a life long commitment to my Father in Heaven, not just a Sunday thing.

I want to continue to receive the blessings of the covenants I have made, and I know the only way to do that is to be faithful, obedient, diligent, and endure to the end.

I hope all of you have an amazing week, and know that Heavenly Father really does love you. He knows each and everyone of you and wants to help you. His arms are outstretched you just have to make the effort to come unto Him. I will see you all soon.

Love,
Sister Bell

What makes me happiest

We were able to meet a great new investigator this week while contacting at the park. I know without a doubt it was because we were guided to her through the Holy Ghost. Her name is Liz. So we were about to leave the park because everyone was busy playing soccer and tennis and didn't want to talk to us, when we spotted her. She was watching her kids in the park, and I knew that I needed to talk to her. She is great, we went from talking about weather, to movies, to missions, to plan of salvation, the whole time talking about her family. We gave her a book of Mormon, and she told us that this is what she has been looking for, she even asked us to come talk to her again, and gave us her phone number. It was an amazing opportunity, and I was so glad to finally be able to see Heavenly Father's plan.

Not only that, but we were just able to see the beauty of the temple, or serving, and of working to the best of your ability.

This week has been hard with my health we have had to take a lot of down time, and I'm sick of being sick. If you know me, I work as hard as possible and then some. So when I can't do that, or I have to rest, it makes me feel weak. It makes me feel that I am not worth much here. I realized something though: I just have to make the best of the time I have and think of the scripture in Ether 12, that He makes weak things become strong. I have to humble myself, and know my weaknesses, and help people because of it. I have really tried to do that this week. I think that it has really helped. We worked, but not more than I could handle. I had a hard time when I got home. I laughed, I taught, and I endured. The few members that do know that I am sick told me that I don't act like I am sick. I am so grateful that I can mask my pain to be able to work.

The members are really helpful and try whatever they can to help me in whatever way that I need. I am so glad that I am still in the Victoria ward. I love it so much, and I really do love the people that I work with. They are the best. I wish that they would finally understand how important their role is in missionary work. Do all of you realize it? I know that we have had so many lessons, so many firesides, and so many talks given about how we are commanded to do missionary work. I mean that was what my farewell talk was on, but do you understand that missionaries literally have to knock on 1,000 doors to get one baptism out of tracting? That it takes 7 touches from members of the church before anyone becomes willing to even open the door to missionaries? We can't do it by ourselves. We had to drop all of our investigators this week besides Liz because they weren't progressing.  They won't answer the door; they won't answer our phone calls. Well all of them were found though our efforts. So no wonder they weren't progressing - they needed more people to support them and lift them up. So please help the missionaries in your area, because we need to always be helping because who doesn't want to share what makes them the happiest in the world? I know without a doubt that this gospel, this mission, and the Book of Mormon is what makes me the happiest. So share it with others.

Well I love all of you so much and hope that you have a good week. I will see you soon.

Love,

Sister Bell

P.S.  I am coming home from my mission early for medical reasons. I don't want to leave 'til the end of the transfer, so I will be home October 6th. Please don't feel bad; I am still doing the Lord's work, and He must have another plan for me. Just like Paul said, you might not have a black name tag, but we need it to be written with ink on our hearts. Just like all of us, I will still be the missionary the Lord needs me to be.

I love to see the temple

This week has been a hard week. I wish that I wouldn’t have so many health problems on my mission. Right now I am in an extremely large amount of pain, and it won’t stop. I have been working through it this week, so that we could actually do some missionary work. We went contacting in the park this week, and met a football coach named Donne. He was really great and we were able to teach him all about the plan of salvation. He told us he lives in Ontario so as soon as he calls us we will be able to send him as a referral.

I was able to go and see Silvina, the investigator we had to give to Terra Vista ward because she wasn’t in our ward boundaries. It was her son Isaiah's first birthday on the 9th so my zone leaders let us go over and wish him a happy birthday. He is getting so big and she is progressing so much. I hope that she will get baptized soon.

We went on splits this week with the relief society, it went really well, we were able to see a lot more less actives, and a lot of them are progressing. I had a lot of fun going to see Patricia. She read the wrong chapter in the Book of Mormon this week, and it was no coincidence that she read the chapter that she did. It helped her so much, and she completely understood the repentance process. She told me that I really know how to make her think, and want to be better. I don’t even remember what  I say in the lessons with her, so I know that it is completely by the Spirit that I am teaching her. I really do love her though. Isn’t it weird the love that you have for people you have only known for a few months, because they are Children of God, and that you are just interested in helping them to become closer to their Heavenly Father. I really do have a genuine love for everyone that I meet.

We also got asked a lot of weird questions this week. One was about one of our less actives, she is trying to do surrogacy for a gay couple. We didn’t know what the stance of the Church is on the subject of surrogacy so we had no idea what to say, So we asked our ward mission leader, and he looked it up, apparently the church doesn’t approve of it. The same less active asked us if she could still wear crosses, because she loves wearing them, and she wouldn’t let us explain why we don’t choose to wear them.

I cannot describe how amazing it was to be able to go to the temple once again. I love the temple. The joy, peace, and overwhelming feeling of the Spirit. I was able to receive revelation, and just be able to really feel the Spirit more than ever. I was so excited, and have been looking forward to it for weeks. Now that it is over it is kinda sad. I just want to go every single day. Hopefully when I get home I will be able to do that. Have you ever really listened to the blessings and the covenants that we make in the temple. The next time you go to the temple just listen to the blessings. It brings you so much joy, to know what Heavenly Father wants to give to you.

I hope everyone has a great week! I love all of you! Talk to you later!

Love,

Sister Bell

Spiritual Prescriptions

This week has been so hot, and really hard. So I have had to go to the doctors again this week. No surprise right? Lol. Well I have had a few health problems this week, and I was finally able to go and get them checked out. They almost sent me to the emergency room they were so bad. It is so nerve racking and hard to go through these challenges on a mission. All I want is to do missionary work. I want to go out and find people to help come closer to Christ. Except I can't because of my physical limitations. It made me really mad, because I feel like I am wasting the Lord’s time.

 

The time that we are on a mission is so short to begin with, and then to be spending so many hours and days not being able to go out and help the ward. I really didn’t think about it on Sunday, but it was fast Sunday and so I was fasting, and I couldn’t even complete my fast because of my physical limitations. I had to break my fast and drink water and eat something so that I wouldn’t pass out. I even tried to go out and do missionary work when I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t tell my companion of all of my symptoms because I am good at hiding my pain or hiding the things that were wrong. She didn’t know until I told the nurse to make sure that it wasn’t more serious.

It made me realize that, that is how we are sometimes as members. There isn’t a doctor to tell us what is spiritually wrong, and even if there was that the doctor couldn’t do anything until we confess it ourselves. We have to acknowledge when there is a problem in our lives spiritually. Then we need to pray to our Heavenly Father (Doctor) and tell him all the things that are going wrong in our lives. Then we need to follow the prescriptions that He gives us which are following the commandments, reading the scriptures, going to church, and praying to our Heavenly Father. Then there are others that are willing to be there to help you through your illness or problems. Like my companion, the bishop, other ward members, and much more.

Sunday was so amazing because one of the less actives I have been working with really closely since I started serving here bore her testimony of the Book of Mormon this week. It was amazing because she just barely started reading her scriptures in the last three weeks. She has seen the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to see the difference she saw in her life and that she wanted the change to take place.

Then I saw more blessings from reading my scriptures this week. I was able to finish the Book of Mormon again, and the Doctrine Covenants. Then I was even able to start on the Pearl of Great Price and to read a little more in the New Testament. My knowledge of the scriptures has grown so much in the six months I have been out. It has been amazing to even see the change in me, along with the people I am teaching.

Well I hope all of you have had a great week and let me know if there is something that I can do to help you.

Love,

Sister Bell

A Great Week and a New Companion

This week has been so great I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with seeing an apostle. Elder Nelson is so funny and happy. Seeing him you could see the Light of Christ exuding from him. He talked to us about being obedient. He said that when we stop making mistakes we will be dead. That we will always make mistakes, but when we repent He will forgive us, so just move on keep working and everything will work out in the end. Then he said, "I know that I shouldn’t talk about marriage because you all are missionaries and shouldn't be thinking about that, but we are going to talk about marriage." He spent 30 minutes telling us about how we need that companionship and that we shouldn't postpone getting married. But that we shouldn't rush into it either. We have to make sure that the person we marry has a good relationship with Heavenly Father, and that he will put Heavenly Father before us. 

Not only did we get to see an apostle, we got two baptismal dates one with Candace and the other with Ashley. Candace is so prepared and ready. Ashley was a lot more tentative about the baptismal date. The other good news is that Anna set up an appointment with us for this Friday. This week really was filled with appointments and we were so busy. It was great. 

Sister Broderick is now almost home from her mission. Which is CRAZY! I miss her so much. It was weird saying goodbye to her last night and knowing that I wasn't going to see her again until I get home. I was put in a trio with two other sisters whose companions also went home. They were both Spanish speaking so I was the odd ball in the bunch who only can understand a limited amount of Spanish in the first place. Luckily that was only for a night. This morning I got my new companion. Her name is Sister Fa'alolo. She is so great I am so excited about being companions with her. I know that it is going to be a great transfer. 

We went up and helped with Mt. Baldy on Tuesday, and you would not believe the difference it was to see it from the very beginning til now. It looked so great. There is still so much to do, but it is getting there. We helped scrub the walls of the house that I worked on that had mud all on the inside. Because all the mud was out. I got to know Cari and Collin really well. They are so nice, they love rock climbing and skiing just like I do, and they are really good people. Apparently when the mudslide hit Collin was out back, and Cari didn't even know if he was dead or not. She didn't care about the house or anything she just wanted to know if he was okay, because she realized that he was the only thing that mattered. We helped Gloria as well. She still had mud behind her washer and dryer, and under all of her shelves. So we had to move everything else. We also had to kill a brown recluse. That wasn’t too fun. 

There was a huge rain storm with actual thunder and lightning. There was some hail too. It was SOOO good. It made me miss home a little though. I wish it would rain more like that. It only rained for around 40 minutes, but it was a good downpour. 

Other than that it was a normal week. Everyone was excited that I was staying in the ward. Now they said they are starting to pray that I stay next transfer... That isn’t for another 6 weeks! I guess it is a good thing that they love me so much. Well I hope that everyone is having a great week and I would love to hear from all of you soon.

Love,

Sister Bell

 

This is my new companion and me. Her name is Sister Fa'alolo. She is from New Zealand.