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.

Broken Finger, Harry Potter, and an Upcoming Baptism

This week has been kind of strange.

Monday we had a great day. We played ultimate football. Before we even started to play the game I started throwing the football around with a few of the Elders in the zone. Well I broke my pinkie while catching the football. I didn’t want to tell anyone, so I played for another two hours until we were done playing then I told Sister Broderick. By that time it was bruised swollen, and I couldn’t even bend it. It looked just like it did when I broke it at the MTC. We then went to dinner at a member’s house, and their three year old daughter gave me a picture that she was drawing while we were there. I asked her what it was, and she told me it was me when I wanted to be a unicorn. I had to laugh because I had no idea what she was talking about.

Tuesday we had district meeting, and then we went to the doctor to get an x-ray of my finger. We sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half, then when we got called back the doctor hit on us. He was in his late 60s early 70s. Finally we got an x-ray, and all the x-rays were not of my pinkie. So they couldn’t even tell if it was really broken or not. But I have to wear a brace for 6 weeks. So yet again I have to shake another apostle’s hand with my left hand (Elder Nelson is coming this Saturday, and 6 months ago Elder Andersen came). Then we had a lesson with a family of 3 crazy children. It didn’t really work out, but then they fed us homemade pizza and no bake peanut butter cookies.

Wednesday we had zone conference, where we had people give us lessons on how to find people to teach, and how to contact better. We also really talked about the story in Luke with the rich young man. We talked about how we need to have a desire to know what we need to do to be able to get eternal life. "What lack I yet?" was the question that President Hobbs kept asking. So I am asking all of you, what do you lack? What can you work on to help you get into the Celestial Kingdom? I know that there is a lot that I need to work on. I think there is a lot that we need to give up so that we can do what the Lord wants us to do. We don’t want to be like the rich young man, and give up the blessings that Heavenly Father can give to us, just because we like our riches a little too much.

I have been reading the New Testament a lot this week, and that is what most of the parables are about - us doing something to be able to receive the blessings that Heavenly Father is willing to give to us. Wednesday we also helped one of the sisters in our ward who is about to leave on her mission teach her family the Plan of Salvation. It was great. She completely memorized a lesson and it was funny to think that was how I was before I left as well. It makes me realize how important it is to be able to listen to the Spirit. To ask questions. Also to not have a rote presentation, because everyone needs to know about a different point of each lesson and people don’t learn the same way.

Thursday we tried a whole bunch of people, and no one was really home. Our dinner was with the family that loves Harry Potter, and that we had the Harry Potter lesson with a few weeks ago. Well they told us during the week that they had some big surprise for us. Well, it was an entire Harry Potter themed dinner! They had candles hanging from the ceiling and posters of Harry Potter everywhere. The theme song for Harry Potter was playing, and they had butter beer and the flavored jelly beans. They had a sorting hat for Sister Broderick and I and we got sorted into the different houses. It was great! I am part of Ravenclaw apparently. Then we had a lesson with a sister who has gone out with us all the time, whose husband just got back from Afghanistan this week. He has so many great stories, and she is so happy to be able to see her husband after 3 years of being gone. 

We did a lot of service it seemed like, but in reality we really didn't. We helped with an eagle project on Saturday. We painted lamp posts on a bike trail in Rancho Cucamonga. Then we helped the recent convert in our ward clean out her mother’s garage. Her mother is a hoarder, and we didn't even make that much of a dent in it, but it was good to help. We helped her on Friday as well. Then we went and met a woman in our ward who has been in China for two months. She speaks very little English, but we had a pretty good lesson with him.

Sunday was great! We had a lot of great lessons at church about the Holy Ghost, and about community service. I love being able to partake of the sacrament. I know that when I partake of the sacrament that I have truly repented of my sins, and that I am cleansed again. So I just got some great news! Sister Hopkins, my last companion, told me that one of the investigators that we had up in the desert is getting baptized on Saturday! I am so excited and proud of her! She has progressed so much. If you remember Areeana, she is the 9 year old that we worked with whose parents are completely less active. I hope that I can go and see this great thing happen!

Well I hope all of you have a great week! I love you all. This is the last week before transfers! So next week you all will find out if I am staying in Rancho or moving somewhere new. I will have a new companion no matter what, since Sister Broderick is going home! I am going to miss her!

Love,

Sister Bell

Service and Scriptures

Wow. Service really does bring happiness. I can’t even describe the amount of joy I felt when going to shovel mud out of a house. I wanted to go back every single day, but they wouldn’t let us. I didn’t care about the soreness of my muscles, the dirt all over my everything, and the blisters on my hands. I just wanted to see the smile and knowing that I was really helping someone. I wanted to keep doing that.

I know that it was just manual labor, but I really enjoy it. That is Charity! That is a way of showing love. We had a great sacrament meeting from a mission farewell about charity. It really made me think. Everything drops when there are those natural disasters, and everyone wants to help during those times. Who is willing to help when it is just something small like cleaning a kitchen, or pulling some weeds.  No one thinks if the little things, but that is almost more important than the natural disasters. I thought of something yesterday as well. We are told that we need to bear one another’s burdens. We need to be willing to do anything to help one another. It might be as simple as a smile or as hard as shoveling mud out of a basement. No matter what we are following God’s commandments and helping His Children. It is what makes us the happiest, being able to really help, using your talents and strengths for someone else.

Other than the service we haven’t done a lot to report on this week. I have been seeing members and just developing a relationship with them. We are trying to help them to start missionary work on their own and just getting to know them. People are amazing and each of us has a story. I love hearing those stories and seeing how the Lord has blessed not only my life, but the lives of all those that I get to meet. I love getting to meet new people! I also am almost done reading the Book of Mormon. I am in Moroni now. And this week I got back to reading in the New Testament. I am learning so much! I love searching and studying the scriptures. Understanding really does come the more that you read and study.

Well I hope that you are all having a great week, and can’t wait to hear from you soon!

Love,

Sister Bell   

P.S. Here are some pictures of how dirty I got doing service this past week.

Understanding Christ-like Attributes More

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to serve. I know that it doesn’t sound like much because I am a missionary and we serve all the time, but it was an emergency service project.

It rained here, and although that doesn’t sound like a bad thing especially since we are in a drought, but because it rained so severely and it hadn’t in such a long time there were flash floods. The creeks near the homes in Mt. Baldy got severe mudslide damage. That happened Sunday night, so Monday we got a call and were asked if we would be willing to give up our Preparation Day to go and help them. Of course we accepted, so from 10 am to 3 pm we were up helping.

Sister Broderick and I were able to help some cars that got buried and carried away with the mud, and also a garage that had at least 3 feet of mud and debris that had gotten inside. We have the opportunity to go back tomorrow as well.

When we were there we were able to meet some of the residents and others who volunteered their time and service to help those in need. It was an amazing experience to be able to see the charity of others and to see how humble those people whose homes were damaged, or who were in it. We got to meet some amazing people. The man whose garage we were helping clean out for the majority of the time bought us pizza to thank us for the service that we were doing. All of us were working as hard as we could. We only took a break to eat the pizza. Today, I am so sore, but I don’t care because I saw all the damage and I saw all the help that they needed and I just want to go back and help some more. You could see how much they needed the help.

It reminded me a lot of how Heavenly Father is with us. He sees the trials and the mental disasters that we might be going through and He wants to help us clean those up. He wants us to be humble enough to ask for help, and to be willing to get down and dirty to work to change our lives and the way that we are living. I can tell you right now that I definitely got down and dirty! I had mud from head to toe. I sunk down into a pile of mud in the garage half way up my calf. That was fun. :) I know that we can make a difference in our lives and we will feel accomplished and willing to continue to keep our lives clean of mistakes because that is how I felt after finishing the garage. I felt happy and not thinking of myself the entire time we were there. Not dwelling on the fact that my muscles were sore or that I was getting blisters all over my hands from the shovel. I was helping others. 

Not only this week was I able to see how helping people can really make a difference, but I was able to see how being on a mission has really given me patience. And how important it is to develop the quality of patience. Before my mission I had the mentality that I wanted everything now. Why do I have to wait for it? I didn’t understand why it was necessary to have to wait for things. Think of all the blessings Heavenly Father gives to us if we wait though? If we take the time to think of the little things in life. To appreciate all that God has given us.

This transfer really has been about patience. We lost all of our investigators, well there has to be a reason for it. The members haven’t been giving us referrals, and so many other little things that I have had to wait for. Well this week we were able to talk to two of our investigators, and we are going to be able to see them this week. Then I was able to receive an answer to my prayers that I have been waiting for, for almost two transfers. Good thing Heavenly Father doesn’t have instant messaging or else I wouldn’t have been strengthened because of the trial of waiting for my answers to come. Everything happens for a reason, and I am so glad that we don’t always have to get a reason or an answer now. Especially when it comes from a patriarchal blessing, just think when you have that blessing you get to know of all the blessing you are going to receive if you just stay diligent and faithful to the commandments God has given us. That definitely takes patience to wait for all of those, but you know that they will come when you need them the most. 

Nothing major really happened this week though. We were able to meet with a lot of less actives that are really progressing. I went on exchanges with Sister Price! She came down from the desert this transfer and is my STL again. We went and had 6 lessons and got a potential investigator from the Philippines named Rodrigo. He is pretty cool. We were able to Help Maddi Estrada with her personal progress, and learn a little more about faith and the Atonement. All in all this week went by really quickly, and was a really good week. I hope that everyone else had a great week as well. I love all of you, and you all are in my prayers. 

Love, 
Sister Bell  

July!

This week has been really unusual. So Tuesday I went into the doctor for a follow up and to know the results of the biopsy that they took 3 weeks ago because of my rash. Well I get in there to find out that the results say that there is a possible chance for a connective tissue disease such as lupus, a drug eruption, and some other things. The doctor was freaking out at me, and wanting me to see a doctor that specializes in autoimmune diseases, and going to get a blood test done right away. So we rushed over to the blood testing place, they took my blood, and told me that it would be a few days until the results come in. This whole time, we couldn't get a hold of anyone in the mission office. So we didn't know if it was okay to go to the other office, if I should get the blood test, and the fact that the doctor made me a little nervous since she was freaking out so much, and I just wanted to talk to someone with a little more knowledge or at least could tell me it would be alright. The only time that I actually almost called my mom on the mission. Also Sister Broderick sprained her ankle really bad on Monday, so she was having to hobble around to all these doctors offices when she should have been icing and elevating her ankle. 

We had a really fun lesson on the armor of God. WE made the kids put "their armor" aka their parents clothes on, while we read the scripture about it. We helped them to know that they always need to wear the armor of God and that you have to grow into it. 

Wednesday we met one of the new families that just moved into the ward. They are from San Antonio Texas and they have a Southern accent. It made me laugh. They are a great family. We also had a great lesson to a family that is getting their son ready for baptism. We are going to start the lessons with them, before he turns eight.

Thursday we got TWO new Investigators, they are actually former investigators that we decided to try. The one is Ashley, she is 15, and she really interested in the fact we have a modern day prophet. She understood so much of the Restoration, and said that she already believes that it is true. She told us that she would still pray to know though. The mother, Edith, said that she is Catholic, and that she only is interested in us talking and learning more about Jesus. She doesn't want to be converted. Little does she know that the conversion will come by talking about religion. :) 

Sister Broderick and I came up with a really creative lesson for one of the member families here. They are obsessed with Harry Potter. So somehow we remembered all the details for the fourth movie. The goblet of fire. And we had a gospel topic for each one of the challenges. The Dragons was all about knowledge and how that is the only thing we can take with us when we go to heaven. The second challenge was about the resurrection and the Atonement. Then the third challenge was the Maze and that was the fourth article of faith.  IT WAS AWESOME! The gospel really can be related to everything. :) 

This week we also found a lost less active member, well actually she found us. She has had a tough life. She has been a member her whole life, but she got addicted to drugs, got put in prison, lost her kids, she had a baby right after getting out of jail and is now living with her brother. Who went on a mission, but is now gay. She really wants to turn her life around, and she knows the church is it. We had a lesson with her, and she had great insight. She even came to church on Sunday with her 18 month old boy. 

Then our recent convert Gabrielle has had a tough but good week. She let us come with her when she got her patriarchal blessing this Sunday, and it was amazing!!! She is so loved, and is so blessed. If only she didn't have to go through this tough time right now. She basically got kicked out of the house she was living in, which wasn't her house, but someone was letting her stay there, she found out Friday that she had to leave by Monday. She has no money, has no where to go, and has an 18 month old girl who is the most adorable thing I have ever seen. She is in school right now and her finals are this week. She has no family she can live with either. So Friday we were running around trying to help her get boxes, and see if she could maybe find somewhere to live. Then today she got a Uhaul packed up everything and had no idea where she was going. A little over an hour ago she said she might have found an apartment. Everything is so expensive here though I have no idea how she is going to afford it. She is on welfare right now too. I hope that everything is going to be okay for her. Please pray for her and her daughter Emelia. 

This week we also helped with a less actives sons Eagle Project. We painted the United States onto the asphalt at a school. It turned out really well and was a lot of fun. I had never helped out with an Eagle Project before and I hope that he will get it. He is a great kid, and has been working really hard to be able to finish it before he turned 18. 

Well I hope that you all have a great week and don't melt with all this hot weather!!! 110 degrees here with 60 percent humidity. Yay! Well I love you all! 

Love, 
Sister Jessica Bell  

I love the Book of Mormon

This week I have been absorbed in reading the Book of Mormon! Have you just gotten so into reading that you don’t want to put the book down. I have never been able to do that with the Book of Mormon until this week. Instead of writing in my journal at night I picked up the Book of Mormon and began reading again before bed. I didn’t want to go to sleep. During personal study instead of reading talks or something else. Instead of really studying up on a topic that we might be teaching I read and read and read. I love the Book of Mormon.

So I began reading this week in Mosiah. The story of King Noah then the wickedness Noah. That Abinadi came and told the people they needed to repent. I love how bold Abinadi was, the people wanted to kill him because he told the truth, but he wouldn’t leave until he told the people ALL of what the Lord wanted him to. He wanted to be obedient to God’s commandments, and because of his faith and his obedience he died. Alma was the only one that believed on the word of Abinadi. He went and began to preach to the people too in secret, so that he too would not get killed. Alma was able to baptize himself and Helam. Alma knew that he wasn’t the best person and he had made many mistakes in his life, but he repented, and he tried his hardest to be able to live up to what God wanted him to. Because of His faith, and his love for the Lord he was able to hear the Lord and save the people before King Noah came and killed him.

Then in Alma how it is all about the Atonement and about knowing the Lord. I just want to share some of my favorites this week:

Alma 5:14

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

We need to become humble, we need our own conversion, and we need to trust the Lord. So have we been spiritually born? We all have come to the earth because we chose Heavenly Father’s plan in the premortal life, we have agency here on earth though. So we have been physically born, and been given our bodies so that we can have the freedom to choose the Lord. While we are here we need to be spiritually born, we need to choose Him, and His plan! So we need to want to change the way that we are living so that we can live with Him once again. That mighty change needs to happen in us.

Then in Alma 5:26 it says

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

If we choose the Lord then we will want to repent and feel the power of the Atonement in our lives. That is the redeeming love that we can feel. We are not alone. We all make mistakes, we all can feel guilty sometimes, but if we choose the Lord and we use the power of the Atonement that guilt will melt away.

Alma 5:33

Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you

Wouldn’t you want His arms around you? To comfort you and help you through your trials??

Alma 5:45-46

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

I know that we all need to find out for ourselves, we cant just believe ever word that comes out of someone's mouth. Well we don’t have to. We can pray and find out for ourselves. I love that. I am not a good teacher at all. All I know is that the Holy Ghost is going to testify to everyone that I am talking to and tell them that it is true! I have a testimony that it is true and I know that the Holy Ghost is my constant companion telling all those that I am talking to that it is true as well.

Alma 7:5

And I trust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shall also have joy over you; nevertheless I do not desire that my joy over you should come by the cause of so much afflictions and sorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy cometh over them after wading through much affliction and sorrow.

The joy has come because of our trials and our sorrows. I know that I have learned so much from all the trials that I have gone through. I know that at the time I never wanted to go through the trial. I asked God why would you make this happen to me, why do I have to go through this, but if I hadn’t then where would I be now? Where would any of us be? We wouldn’t be happy. We wouldn’t know happiness without sorrow.

I have also read a lot of great talks this week about remembering Jesus Christ. Why do you think it is important to remember Him? How do we remember Him? One of the talks that I read is from Elder D. Todd Christofferson. His talk basically talks about how we must never forget Him because without His Atonement and Ressurrection, life would have no meaning. The ways we can remember him is to seek to know and follow the will of Christ just as He sought the will of the Father, to prepare to answer Christ for every thought, action, and word, and lastly Fear not and look to the Savior for help. He asks the Lord to reveal anything in his life that needed correction. Do we do that? Do we ask Heavenly Father if there is anything that we need to still repent for so that we can be doing everything that we need to do to be closer to Heavenly Father. Because nothing is hidden from Him. There is no part of our lives that can be kept from the knowledge of the Father and the Son. He said, “ Whatever we get away with in life or manage to hide from other people we must still inevitable day comes that ewe are lifted up before before Jesus Christ.

Well I guess that I should stop talking about all I learned this week and tell everyone what happened. So I have some bad news… Rinku and her family dropped us today. She says it will be too much of a hassle to come back from Santa Monica to come to church on Sunday after her 5 year old son has his tennis lessons at UCLA. I feel devastated. I feel like I might have done something wrong. However, she did say that they went to the LA temple over the weekend and saw the visitors center. They still want to investigate the church just not here even though they have a their house here. They are going to in Santa Monica. Then Ana and Jacob will not answer our text messages or our phone calls. So I don’t know if they want to go investigate anymore. Candaice is going to the young single adults ward. Then Silvena… She is doing so well she says that she is considering baptism which what she wasn’t sure about when she was investigating in Utah. The only bad part is that she lives in the other ward boundaries and we are going to have to give her over this week. Then there is Fannie. So on Sunday she just walked into church because the Lord told her that is what she needs to go. She has been feeling like she needed to come for 3 weeks and every time she feels that way she decides not to go until this Sunday. She pulled into the parking lot and left 3 different times before she finally came in. Sister Herrada found her wondering around the halls during sacrament meeting  so she came and got us. Fannie decided to stay for all 3 hours! She shared her testimony in Relief society and says that she wants to come back every single Sunday. She felt a good feeling inside and knew that this is where she is supposed to be. The only bad thing is that she is in the other ward as well. So we literally have no investigators anymore. We went tracting for around 10 hours this week and probably only had 15 people open up the door, and only 2 said we could come back. Everyone is working and I think that the members are getting sick of seeing us come and give them lessons each week. I honestly have no idea what to do anymore. Tracting is supposed to be the last resort and we now need another last resort. So please pray for us, pray to help us find people to teach, to know what we can do with our time. WE have even tried finding service and no one will let us help them. We really need help.

I really do love my mission, and I hope that we can find those that we need in this area. The recent convert in our ward is getting her Patriarchal blessing this week and she has invited us to come with her. I know that we are helping her, and maybe that is the reason we are here. Please help the missionaries in your area though. Give them people to teach.

I hope that all of you are going to have a great week. I love you all.

Love,
Sister Jessica Bell

P.S.  The weather this week has been really nice this week though only 80! And it kinda rained this week!!!

Transfer Week and Doctors Appointments

This week was when we figured out about transfers. What is everyone’s guess??? Well I am staying in Rancho Cucamonga with Sister Broderick. We both figured that would be the case though, since this is her last transfer before she goes home. Okay not only did we find out transfer doctrine this week, but I went to Urgent care and a dermatologist this week…. So the rash spread all over my body, and continued to get worse and worse all week long. The mission nurse had made me an appointment on Tuesday for Thursday, but by Tuesday night, it was so bad that the nurse came to our appointment to see how I was doing, and make an emergency appointment for Wednesday. They took a biopsy in two places. But they have no idea what happened…. They said I might have had a systemic allergic reaction. So they gave me a lot of medication, and is has make me so tired. I feel like a zombie. I am awake physically, but I am just so tired I could sleep constantly. I am hoping that this will get better soon, cause I cant just sleep all day long on a mission. Especially since we have so many investigators and things that we need to get done in this area. I just want to go out and help people here. I hate not being able to go out and work as hard as I can. This week we have really been taking it easy since I couldn’t even walk on Wednesday or Thursday, and having to sleep a little bit more because of the medication. The rash is just barely starting to go away though.

We got a new investigator this week though! Her name is Candace, she is 19. So we have to refer her to the YSA ward, but she is incredible, and just kept asking questions and wanting to know more. Her mom is a lost member… Apparently about 12 years ago they took lessons and everyone besides Candace got baptized (she was too young) , and then they moved and we found her. We are going to try and teach her mom Anita and see if we can get the family back to church. We were able to set a baptismal date for Vikram, but they didn’t come to church this Sunday so we are going to have to reset it for him and Rinku. The blessing that Richard, their son, their son received last week worked. Apparently he had a blood test done this week and it came back negative for Antibodies and he doesn’t have Lupus. It was incredible apparently the difference found after the blessing. They said they want to make church a priority. So hopefully that happens and they come to Church on Sunday. Ana and Jacob are doing good .We haven’t been able to see them, but they had some family come in and they were on vacation. So we are going to really try to see them this week. We are going to work really hard, and show this ward that they can do missionary work.

I had to give a talk on Sunday, and it was awful. I had to talk on feeding the missionaries. How can a missionary talk about that and not have the ward think that we are begging for food.

Well this week is going to be great. It started to sprinkle a little yesterday, and it looks like rain today. Everyone cross your fingers. I miss the rain. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.

Love,
Sister Bell

It's Hot and Getting Hotter

So this week has been really good. I am dying because of the heat though. The fourth of July we helped with the 5k run that our stake put on. We were out at 6 in the morning, by 8 it was already 80 degrees. We ended up staying outside at the pavilion at the church until 11. Then we went and did service at our recent converts house and she has no air conditioning. I was sweating like a pig. Then we ended up going to another members home who doesn't have air conditioning so by the time 6pm rolled around and we needed to be inside because we weren't supposed to leave our apartment after 6. I had a migraine from the heat and sun. It was 104 degrees basically all day. Then Wednesday night we were at a members home at 830 at night playing soccer with their 6 year old son and it was 91 degrees. It is only going to get hotter apparently and I am not liking this at all.  Especially since I was having hot flashes over the winter. So let's hope that I can handle it and not pass out. 

This week has been awesome. We went from only having 8 lessons a week most of those with active member to this week having 21 lessons and only 7 of those were with active members. The work has definitely picked up, and it has been awesome. The Spirit has been so strong this week. We got TWO NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! One of them is a referral from the bishop. She is the sweetest young mother. The family just moved here about 3 months ago from South Jordan where she took the lesson, but the missionaries there were just pushing her to be baptized and only read scriptures with her. So she just wants to ask questions and learn. She really wants to go to the temple. 

Our other investigator is Rinku's husband. We were able to get Richard their 5 year old son a blessing on Wednesday, and they really want to be baptized. Rinku looked on the LDS website and found out all about FHE and a lot of other things that our church does for families. She wants to do it all. It was so cool. The husband was able to be there for the blessing and just wants to learn just as much as the rest of the family. 

Tina our recent convert/less active came to church on Sunday after we gave a lesson on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.

Today we went on a hike to a waterfall it was quite fun. O ALSO SATURDAY I met Minnie and Mickey Mouse. I just didn’t get a picture with them. Lol. Other than that life is good. Well I hope everyone has a great week. I have to plan for a talk... Fun stuff.... I also think I’m going to go to Urgent care in a few hours so that is going to be fun( I have either a rash that is spreading or a ton of bug bites all over my body.) . On another note don’t ever EVER try Papaya. It is disgusting... Also don’t try lactose free milk even grosser. 

This week I have really been studying the Doctrine and Covenants. That is a really awesome book and I am just getting sucked in. I really want to finish all of the Standard works before I leave my mission. I think that I would be so much closer to my Heavenly Father, and be able to teach so much better with that kind of knowledge. I mean I have read all of them before but just not together or with putting much thought into it. Right now my favorite section is D&C 76. It was just so profound all of the descriptions and details it gives about the Plan of Salvation.     

Well I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Bell 

P.S. There was an Earthquake this week on Saturday! My second one in Cali.  

God's Hand is Truly in My Life

I am so grateful for this week. God's hand is truly in my life. I can see the blessing that come from being obedient. I don’t even know where to begin. Well first last Monday our week was completely blank. We had no idea what we were going to do, our days were literally blank. So I am just going to go day by day, and tell you all the blessing that have happened cause I don’t want to forget anything.

Monday night: We had dinner at the Herrada's well she called us and told us that she was inviting their best friends who are not member. So they came over for dinner, and we were able to have a family home evening with them. Their family was so amazing and all of them were answering the questions. We were able to give the mother Lisa a book of Mormon. She was so excited about getting it. Sister Herrada told us that when two sets of missionaries came in the ward, she knew that she needs to get to work to find people for us to teach. It was great!

Tuesday: We went to the Palacios and were able to do some service for her. IT wasn’t a lot we just set up some lawn furniture. After that we were able to go to dinner at the Merrill's. They have 3 children out on missions right now. So we shared with them Chapter 50 of Alma. How they can help others to have the same protection for others families as we have in the gospel. We gave them a Book of Mormon and pass along card to teach their friends. We then just went tracting, and so many people opened their doors. You know that they want something, they are willing to listen, they are willing to take a card or a pamphlet. Because they could just not answer the door. They have softened their hearts.

Wednesday: We did some more service. The first service we did was at an older woman's home. We just weeded her garden, because she gets sick being in the sun. She fed us an authentic Mexican lunch, and she was just so appreciative of us coming over to help her. Then we met with a few members. Then we went back to finish the Palacios backyard. While we were there, she told us that she and her husband do not get along that they don’t spend any time together. Their 9 year old daughter told us that she just wants her parents to get along. It was heartbreaking.  We are going to try and start family home evening with them. We met another family. They are so great both of them are teachers, and they are teachers because they want to help these kids who don’t have any support at home. They want to show the kids that someone loves them, that someone cares about them. I love that. It is so important that we truly share with others how much we appreciate them.

Thursday: We had interview with the President. He told me how important it is that I am here. Someone here needs my help. I know that. We were able to get into a less active recent converts house. She was baptized almost a year ago, and the missionaries haven’t been able to get in for almost 6 months. She let us in. We talked about the temple about the same feeling that she got at baptism she can feel in the temple. She told us of her family problems. She was crying in front of us telling us that she just wants to have that closeness with her family. So we were able to set up a time to come each week to come and see her.  We were able to see our investigator Cherri. She was the born again Christian. We were able to teach the Restoration. She agreed with everything up until we started talking about Joseph Smith. I had her read Moroni 10:3-5. She then said that she doesn’t believe in the Mormon Bible. She then told us to be careful of what doctrine we believe in. Because in the bible it says that there is supposed to be a lot of false prophets and doctrine in the last days. I know that this lesson doesn’t sound like a success, but it was. She kept the Book of Mormon the Spirit was felt, and we planted a seed.

Friday: We had to go and get our oil changed so we did our weekly planning while we were waiting. While we were there a less active that doesn’t ever answer our phone calls or us knocking on her door called us, and asked us to come and help her in her house. She is losing her house. She and her husband got a divorce, and she is just blaming God that He isn’t there for her at all. That she can never be happy again. So we really wanted to get in her house. So we said yes. So we went home got our clothes and headed over. We ended up staying there for 5 hours. Cleaning her chandelier, all her blinds, and began painting shudders outside. The only reason that we were able to leave is when we told her we had to go to dinner before our appointment. We had an appointment with Ana and Jacob. It was so great. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Ana sat in this time, and the Spirit was so strong! Chase and 18 year old who has his mission papers in, was able to come with us, He had a wonderful explanation about the Atonement and about the Priesthood. Sister Hughes, who has been coming with us each lesson, just shared her testimony about the plan of Salvation. We were able to ask Ana is she would prepare herself to be baptized. She said YES! But one hold up. She thinks that July 19th is too soon. She said she would try to be ready, but she didn’t know.

Saturday: We were able to go see Gabrielle a recent convert that is just great! She is so busy with school and her daughter. Then we went to see Rinku, it was a potential that we ran into 21 weeks ago, and she just kept cancelling our appointments. SHE DIDN’T CANCEL THIS ONE!!! We were there and we were able to teach about the Plan of Salvation as well. We got on the topic about sealing your families together forever in the temple. She told us that, that is what she wants for her family! She wants to take all the steps necessary to do that. She accepted a baptismal date of August 2! She told us that 5 years ago she had a friend that was Mormon that just shared with her about our church and read a little of the Book of Mormon with her. She heard that in a time of need, and she looked it up online, but never really did anything else until we showed up on her doorstep then she realized that this is exactly what she is looking for. She wants to fill the empty feeling that she has inside, and she thinks that this is the solution. :) We gave her an assignment to read 2 Nephi 2. Well Sunday she texted us to tell us that she has already read it. That her husband Vikram wants to learn about this too, and that they all want to be baptized. She couldn’t come to church because her doctor told her that she couldn’t come outside because she had an allergic reaction this week. And the medicine she is using reacts very strongly with the sunlight. So next week they are going to come to Church and we are seeing them on Wednesday and Friday. :) Then Saturday night was the adult session of Stake conference ANA CAME!!!!! Also there was a young men's activity and Jacob went! So it was just a great end to the day. :)

Sunday: Stake Conference was Awesome. There was a great talk on preparing our families to go into the world. I loved it. Then we were able to just finish weekly planning, and seeing less actives. It was great we actually got in with Patricia. A less active we met on the first week here in this area. 

Well I hope everyone has a great week. :) I love you all.

Love,
Sister Bell

It is great being a missionary!

So I was able to have a ward council with a member of the Seventy. His name is Elder Hiam. It was great. You can feel the Spirit so strongly from them. He just wanted to help us to continue to have an effective ward council, so that we know how to better help this area. He told us that we need to not ask people to come to church, but we need to ask "Will you prepare yourself to take the sacrament?" That is so true.  The sacrament is why we go to church. I love the Sacrament. It is the time each week that we can renew our covanents that we make with our Savior Jesus Christ and with Heavenly Father. It is our willingness and our desire to follow what God has commanded us to do. Each week, if we are repenting and doing the things necessary to prepare for the sacrament, it is like we are getting dunked again each week. Each week we have our slates wiped clean again. 

 

Not only did he tell us that, but he said the Savior wants to come, but He is waiting until we complete the work that we have to do. What if we are the ones that are holding the Savior back from coming? What do we need to do so that we can prepare for His coming? Are we doing everything that we can? Are we working hard enough? I know for me, that I feel like I need to be working harder, pushing forward, and never have any regrets.

The Lord has given us all of these guides in our life that all we have to do is listen and follow the promptings. One of the greatest guides is patriarchal blessings. I have been reading mine a lot more lately, and in it I know that I am doing what I am supposed to, more things are making sense to me. The same with reading the scriptures. This transfer I am reading the New testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. By reading all of them at the same time, I am gaining a greater knowlegde of the Savior. How amazing is He? Think of all the things that He has done for us or what he is still doing for us.

Well we had a ward BBQ this week, and it was fun. We were able to meet a lot more members in the ward. It was a great turn out. There were so many non members there as well. The ward had a goal of how many invitations that they need to extend each month to make to their friends to either come to church or come over to dinner when we are there, or just to start talking about the gospel. So how do you think that you can do that? Who can you talk to? Who can you invite? We always need help. We are only two people, and we can only talk to so many people. Just think how many people you know, though, that you can talk to.

Well we had a lesson with Jacob this week. HE ACCEPTED THE INVITATION TO BE BAPTIZED!!! We had a lesson on the Restoration of the gospel. Afterwards the member that we brought bore her testimony. Then we asked him what he thought. He said that he felt like it was true. That he felt peaceful when we were there. I told him that it was the Holy Ghost!! Then we asked him to pray to know if it is true. He told us that he was excited to come to church then he ended up having to go to San Diego so he wasn't able to come. I know  that if he does come, he will know that it is true!

It is great being a missionary! I know that the gospel is TRUE! I know that  Jesus Christ came to earth for us! He established His church and brought the gift of the Priesthood. He knew that by coming to earth He was going to have to die and suffer, but He did it. He knew that it was for ALL of us. He wanted us to have the opportunity to come back and live with our Heavenly Father again. I love being able to remember what He did for us each Sunday when I partake of the Sacrament.

Well I hope everyone is having a great summer, and a great week. Take a moment this week to think of all the things that the Lord has given you, and share that with someone else. Well I love all of you.

Love,

Sister Bell

Father's Day

Father’s Day

FIRST, EVERYONE MUST SEE THIS!!! Because it makes me cry every time and it is about Fathers.

 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-002-earthly-father-heavenly-father?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2013&lang=eng&cid=HPTU061014222

 

How was everyone's Father's Day??? Mine was fantastic. I gave the lesson in the gospel essentials class. It was on Priesthood. I never knew how hard it would be to give a lesson on Priesthood. We always have it around us, but it is hard to explain it. That, and I prepared to teach during sacrament meeting when I found out that the teacher who usually teaches it was out of town. I am so glad that I was able to teach it though. It gave me more of an appreciation of the Priesthood, and how it blesses me in my life. I am so glad that I have priesthood-age men all around me who I can turn to if I need to to give me a blessing. Or to just be there to protect me. I read a conference talk from Elder Eyring that says that once you take upon yourself the priesthood, you are the light.  "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." It is so true. We have to be the example to everyone around us. To everyone around us especially if you hold the keys of the Priesthood. That is such a magnificent gift from Heavenly Father. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I taught about the Priesthood. I even cried. :)

Well this week has just been so great! Even though we have had a lot of people shut the door, and not want to know more about the gospel, we have a lot open up the door, and soften their hearts to want to learn more about the gospel. By small and simple things does the Lord work. THAT IS SO TRUE! This week we have been working our hardest, and the blessings are coming. We have gotten three new investigators!

 

One of them is a lady named Cherri. She is a born again Christian. She is a really great lady, and I hope that she will be willing to listen to all of our lessons. The other two are a mother and son. Ana is a cop here in Rancho, and her 17 year old son, Jacob, is deaf. They are so great. They would have come to church if they had known what time it was at before this week. She had gotten tickets for her father to go to the Dodgers game.

 

Then, today, we have a lesson with someone we tracted into this week. Her name is Rinku and she has a 5 year old son named Richard. When we met them, she was so excited. Before we even got into the car she texted us and told us how excited she was for us to come back. How the Lord has blessed her, by sending us to her when she needed it the most. I have just seen the hand of the Lord guiding us to those that need us. Those that are ready and willing to hear. I feel so blessed, and can't even describe all the gratitude I have to my Heavenly Father. I know that I can help people in this area, that I am meant to be here.

This week I have just been reading in the New Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants. It has really got me thinking, how do I get to know my Savior? How can I have more effective prayers? Am I becoming who I want to become? We need to set goals now, and know who we want to be before so we are always working towards that goal. So I'm asking you all now. Who do you want to become? Are you living in such a way now to become that person? How can you become better?

 

This time is so critical here on earth. We are only here for a limited amount of time compared to the time we are with our Heavenly Father. Yes, we have the gift of the Atonement, but we can't just rely on that and completely go against the commandments that God has set in place for us here. We need to continually be living in such a way that we will be able to receive all the blessings that God is willing to give us. If we do make a mistake, then we have the Atonement to fall back on. I love that. I love that we have the infinite mercy of the Lord with us, and we will make a mistake, and then we are able to be forgiven for those things. I love that. I love this gospel. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. He loves each of you, and all he wants is to see each of us living in such a way that we can come back and live with Him again. I know that each of us want that too.

Well, I love all of all of you and hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Sister Jessica Bell

Knock, Knock! Who's There?

This week has been a lot of knocking doors, and when I say a lot, I mean every single day this past week for at least 2 to 6 hours. We are really trying our hardest to move the work forward in this area. All the missionaries who serve here say that it is the hardest, and that no one is willing to listen or wants to change their ways. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. That is what change is for, that is what working hard is for, and that is why we have the Lord. We have to be willing to always turn to the Lord, and we have to be willing to change. I am going to make the best out of my area, and I am going to help those in this area come closer to Christ, even if that means that all I am doing is planting seeds.

I read one of the conference talks this past week from the Priesthood session. It was talking about how we cant say That's just the way I am. We have to come to realize that we are always changing, always needing to improve. If we were to stay the same then we would never be progressing. Would we just want to always eat the same thing every single day? Would we want to have the same conversations? NO! Then why would you want to stay the same? I definitely don't want to have the same testimony I had before I came out on my mission. Not to say that my testimony was bad, but if it was the same then what would be the point of going on a mission? We can only teach to our own conversion point. I wouldn't be able to teach at all if I wasn't continually growing, repenting, and improving. So I am not going to listen to the people that say this is a hard area, I am going to make it the best area, the best mission, and the best transfer for right here right now.

Well back to my ward, now that I have gone on a tangent. The ward is amazing!!! They are all so friendly and willing to get out and be great missionaries. This week alone we went out with the Relief Society presidency twice to find the lost sheep on the ward list. We have had dinners every night with great members, and we are getting to know everyone.

We have found a few people who were willing to listen to our message on their doorsteps, and some who wouldn't answer, but we left a card anyway. We have had appointments scheduled and appointments cancelled. We have worked so hard that when our heads hit the pillows we are out. The one thing that never changes though is that we always have a smile on our faces.

This Sunday was a farewell for one of the young men in the ward. He is headed to Russia on his mission, so we had a surprise guest of the Mission President and his wife because they know the family. That is one thing that I am not sure if I am looking forward to having the Mission President so close. His ward actually meets in our church building too. He went to Sunday School with us, and guess what next week we have a family home evening over at his house with one of the recent converts in our ward because he interviewed her for baptism.

Sister Broderick and I are doing great.  We are laughing and learning a lot from one another. We are both amazed at the houses in this area. I don't know how people afford these houses out here. Apparently everyone in our ward is either an insurance salesman or a lawyer. I will have to send pictures next week of the mansions I have to go knock on.

Well I hope everyone has an amazing week and that everyone has an awesome Father's day! I love all of you so much.

Love,     

Sister Bell

Did I Stay or Did I Go???

I GOT TRANSFERRED!! I am now in actual Rancho Cucamonga instead of the desert. It is going to be a huge change. I am opening an area.... So we are starting from scratch. We literally have one number in our phone, and that is our ward mates number (the elders in our area). So instead of desert, I see trees, and there is humidity here too.

It was so weird to have to say goodbye to everything I am used to, and now Im with someone completely new, in a new apartment, with a new ward, and a new area. It is so strange to think that this morning I woke up in the desert with Sister Hopkins and tonight I am going to bed in the city with Sister Broderick. Sister Broderick is from Orem, Utah. She has been out 15 months.... I have 15 months to go.. Crazy!

So yesterday I had to say bye to my ward and it was the hardest thing ever. There are some really amazing people there, and I am going to miss teaching them, and just seeing them all the time. One of our less actives actually gave me a little going away present. A mini german dictionary, since I spoke German. I got a ton of pictures, and a farewell dinner from my favorite family in the ward. The LaTommes.

This morning I got all packed up and we got to go down the hill to Rancho. I got my new companion, and now we are just trying to find everything. Tomorrow we are gonna get to work and hit the ground running. It is definitely gonna be an adventure. Well I love all of you, and hope all of you have a great week. Hopefully I wont get too stressed out opening an area.

Love,

Sister Bell

Zone Conference and Cockroaches

So much happened this week that just left me with a spiritual high. This week I have really been focusing on Ether chapter 12. Since I have been having such a hard time this transfer, it has really helped me. We were able to share that chapter with so many different people in lessons, and the funny thing was that it actually tied into what the mission President talked about at Zone Conference. My favorite verse from it is from Ether 12:6, which talks about not having a witness before a trial of your faith. Well, that is what happened. Heavenly Father was sending me a trial of my faith. Something the Mission President was talking about comparing Heavenly Father to teaching a baby how to walk. At first you are constantly holding their hands and are always right behind them. Eventually, when they learn how to walk, you still are watching them very closely, and you are never far away, but you let them find their way. That really hit me. That of course Heavenly Father always is willing to help you and comfort you, but what would you ever learn if he is always there showing you the way to go? We do have our agency, and we need to make our own choices, but always know that Heavenly Father is never far away when you need His help. 

During Zone Conference we also just really focused on being close to the Savior and really understanding the Atonement and how it plays a role in our lives. Something that I really liked is that President Hobbs asked all of us to find our favorite scripture about the Savior and explain why it was our favorite.  Then pick a favorite Christ-like attribute and explain why it is your favorite. So I did.  My favorite is John 14:18, and the Christ-like attribute I love the most is one that most people don't think about very often - courage. We really do need to have courage to stand up for what we believe in - courage to go out and to open our mouths. 

This week we got a new investigator!! Her name is Areana. She is a cute little 9-year-old. Her family is less active, and she is so excited to learn more about the church and to be baptized. I explained the resurrection, using owies and booboos, and tried to help her know who Jesus Christ is. It reminded me so much of when I was a primary teacher and all the cute things kids say. Because after I talked about the resurrection, she asked if her guinea pig who died was going to be resurrected. 

We also were able to do service with the Elders in our ward for a less active member. We cleaned up leaves, trimmed a tree, pulled weeds, killed cockroaches, and bagged everything up. Let me tell you, there was literally a hoard of cockroaches of all different kinds living underneath this deflated pool she had. They were fast, too. They were all coming for me, and I luckily had a shovel in my hand, and just ended up pummeling them with the shovel. 

Well Memorial Day was kinda boring.  We didn't have a Zone activity or anything, so we just got our shopping done, did some cleaning, and I wrote a ton of letters. It was nice and relaxing though. I hope everyone had a fun time with the long weekend. I love you all, and I hope that you all have a great rest of your week. 

Love, 
Sister Jessica Bell 

Heat Wave and Hard Times

Well this week we got two new investigators,we hit a record of 110 degrees, and there have been 8 wildfires in Southern California. We have been asked for money, we have been hit on, and we have been dehydrated.

 

We are always getting out of the house and helping others. We did service this week starting at 8 in the morning and ending at 1 in the afternoon clearing a very messy yard filled with weeds, rocks, and bugs. On one of the hottest days of this week. It was so fun. I love helping people out. I wish I could have done more to help those people out.

 

Our one new investigator is living day by day on the money she can try and make with her two young boys. I wish I could have helped her to find a job or a house or something better that just telling her her life would be better with the gospel. That might help her spiritually, but it wasn’t going to help her in the short term. She cried asking for our help, telling us about how her daughter has been molested, how she lost her job when her husband went to jail, and so much more. I know that life is hard, and I am so glad that I have the life I have. I am blessed, and I know that the Lord is always with me.

Well I hope that you all have a great week.

Love,

Sister Bell

Mother's Day Week

How was everyone's Mother's Day? Mine was pretty good. lol What am I talking about?! I got to talk to my family of course it was a good Mother's Day!

 

This week has been crazy. Filled with cancelled appointments - like almost all of them each day, and new investigators. We also got a blessing this week from our wardmates. We called the Mission Nurse to make a doctor's appointment because my asthma is acting up, and I have had two bloody noses this week. So yea. That, and Sister Hopkins just wasn’t feeling very well.

So our new investigators:

Mary: She is Egyptian, has lived here for 3 years, and she wants to know why she owes everything to Jesus Christ and not Heavenly Father if Heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ to earth, and Heavenly Father is God.

Jamie: She came to Church on Sunday, and we are setting her baptismal date for May 31! She is the one whose mom we had to call the ambulance for.

Linda: We saw twice this week.  She really wants to be baptized, but she still needs to come to church. We called her 10 times Sunday morning to try and wake her up so she could come. We even had a ride set up for her.

Ana: Cancelled two appointments this week.

Adrian and Breanna: Their mom got sick so we couldn’t come over. We are on for Tuesday though.

Daloris: She cancelled and won’t answer the phone..Hopefully we can see her this week.

Joe: Is doing better! We are gonna see him this week!

Well I can’t believe that I am on my 4th week on my second transfer.

I hope everyone is doing great and I will talk to you next week!