California Livin'

So guess who experienced her first California Earthquake??? I did... Well at least the aftershock of a 5.1 earthquake down the hill. So mostly I just felt my bed shake for a few seconds and the lamp almost fell off the nightstand. It was super exciting. But not as amazing as the Women's Conference on Saturday. I loved it.
      
All the sister missionaries in the mission went down to the mission home, and we had a whole day(from 3-8, so for a missionary basically all day) of activities. My favorite quote from it was, "Don't just love each other more, but love each other better." I really think all of us can apply that concept in our lives. We all love our family, but I think each of us can love each other better, and not just because we have to. I know that I have learned that I need to love each and every person I see. They are all Children of God, and God loves each and every one of his children. So I find something to love about them, too. It doesn't even take that much effort either. God's love for us is effortless and eternal, and my love has become effortless as well.
    
So everyone remember all the hot flashes I have been having for like ever basically? Well apparently those were in preparation for coming out here. I no longer have hot flashes; I am freezing when it gets down to 55 degrees. I honestly wore a  winter coat this week. The wind was so crazy. It gave me an earache because we walked around in the 55 degree weather with 60 mph winds for 6 and a half hours, trying to find less actives and the new members that had moved into the area that the bishop had given us this week.
   
All day long the Zone leaders had been texting us to see if we were home. They had told us that they had a surprise for us. So we asked what and they told us it was a new map of our area, with all the members' houses marked on what street. We thought that was kinda cool, but not enough to freak out about. Well we finally get a call from the mission home, from the housing missionaries. Elder Crahner tells us that we are moving. And I am like WHAT??? Apparently that was the surprise that the zone leaders wanted to tell us. They felt bad for our terrible apartment, and we are now moving to Andalusia. It sounds like a fairytale right? Well we have seen the apartments, and they really look like a castle compared to our apartment. The only problem is that we aren't moving into them until a week and a half before transfers. So I am hoping that I stay, because I literally do not want to move three times in less than 2 months..
   
Ok well this week has been full of some really amazing lessons. We have taught the restoration almost every day. The restoration is really my favorite to teach, because without it we wouldn't have this gospel. I have seen people light up talking about their love of the gospel, and how big their testimonies are in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Not only has it been a good week teaching the Restoration, but on Thursday we had an excommunicated member call us telling us that she wants to be baptized. So we are now teaching her!!!! We had 7 less active lessons this week, but no one is coming to church, and no new investigators. So that is my goal this week.
   
Who is excited about GENERAL CONFERENCE??? I know that I am. I have already written down questions that I am going to look for answers for during the sessions. That is my challenge to all of you this week - think of questions and then write down all the impressions you get from all the wonderful speakers. Afterwards, read your thoughts and ask yourself, "Why did Heavenly Father make this stick out to me?"
Well I love you all. Have an amazing week! And watch Conference.
LOVE,
Sister Bell

Week 2 in the Field

So... This week has been one of the greatest weeks and one of the hardest weeks so far.

The hard part was the fact that it was my birthday.  Never would I have thought having a birthday would be this hard.  I didn’t even really celebrate my 20^th birthday, but not having any family here, and not be able to have the option of celebrating, was hard.  We worked all day long, which has entailed a lot of walking.  I was sunburned. I don’t burn usually and then my birthday present was a nice red chest and arms.  Not to mention how dark my legs look. LOL. We were able to go to dinner, and Sister Hopkins told them that it was my birthday, so we made brownie sundaes, they sang to me, and then I blew out the candles.  We then went home and watched The District for my celebration. O, and my district leader called and sang me Happy Birthday with his guitar. Which was actually pretty funny.

Well, let me tell you about the amazing experience we had on Wednesday though.  Which literally makes this the best week so far. Sister Hopkins and I decided to walk all Wednesday because we didn't have enough miles (left on the allotment for each week) to drive anymore. However, on Wednesday, we had 5 appointments and they were all scattered around different parts of our area. We had no idea how we were going to make it to all of them.  So we drove down a road that is about center of our entire area, and I said a little prayer asking for strength to endure all the walking we had to do and opportunities to find those that the Lord had prepared for us. Never had I expected a prayer to be answered so fast or so much in one day.

Not even a minute after we started walking a van pulled over on the side of the road we were walking on. That can be slightly scary since our area isn't the greatest, and it was a really busy road.  However, it was the Relief Society President for the Spanish ward in our zone. She recognized that we were missionaries since not many people walk the streets of the desert in skirts. So she asked us if we needed a ride. She was able to drive us close to our next appointment.  After we had an amazing lesson that was perfect for the situation she was in, we began walking once again.

This time, no one came to pick us up, and we walked 2.5 miles along the road next to the interstate.  We had a lesson with the cutest old couple that have been married for 70 years, and followed a whim to move to California where they were introduced to the Church, and have been members ever since. She just has a lot of health problems that have prevented her from making it to church. They felt bad that we were walking all day long, so they drove us down the busy road to a church that was about a mile away from our next appointment.

This appointment was with our only investigator!!! Who had been cancelling on us all week, so we were starting to get discouraged and thought that she would cancel then too.  But, to our surprise, she didn't. We had a wonderful lesson about prayer, and we read all of Enos. She loved it and understood most of it. So we were prompted to set up a baptismal date for April 12. She accepted, and told us that the other baptismal dates the Elders had set up never felt right, but that this one did. So were/are pretty excited about that.

After the appointment, we started walking back to our car, because when we left the car that morning we had left the cell phone in the car.  And we never would have been able to make all of our appointments if we had to go back to get it, so we had left it.  Well on the walk back, I started to get a blister, and had taken my shoes off. Well not even a minute after I had done that, a sister from our ward passed us, and she pulled around. She saw I had my shoes off and told us to get in. She drove us all the way to our car.

Then once we got in the car we had only missed one call from our dinner appointment with a less active person that cancelled.  So we decided to just drive back to our apartment, freshen up (we stink walking around all day!!!!), and then just walk to our last appointment from there.

Well, once we get out of the apartment and started walking up the road, a lady from our ward was walking down the street and she looked very disoriented. So we walked up to her and she started telling us that she had walked out of the ICU looking for her daughter who had stolen her fridge and stove. We were kinda freaked out to say the least because the hospital is a good 5 miles away from where we live. So we start walking her to her house because I didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone. She hadn't had any water or food that entire time. It was about 80 degrees out and there was no cloud coverage. So I gave her my extra water, some Tylenol, and an orange that I had in my purse. We were able to get her to her house and we said a prayer with her. It was kinda cool because she didn't live far from our next appointment.

So we finally got to our appointment and again the lesson was just what the family needed to hear. We stayed and talked to them for 3 hours. Some of that time was actually them feeding us dinner. Then she took us back to our apartment. I thought it was amazing that no one canceled, that we met some amazing people while out walking (sorry I didn't talk about them), and we were able to help those that needed our help.

It made me so happy to see the fruits of my labors. It showed me and my companion that we really are meant to be here. And how amazing it is that if you are perfectly obedient the Lord will provide a way for us, and he will put those people that are prepared in our path.

I hope that all of you will have an amazing week! Please try and strengthen your relationship with your Heavenly Father. I know that He is always looking out for us; He will not leave you comfortless.  In ward council yesterday we were talking about just taking that first step, and then Heavenly Father will provide the rest. Just have faith and not be afraid to take that first step.

I found a quote by President Monson that I love, "There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My brothers and sisters. Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith." What does that quote mean to all of you? What can you do to make your faith stronger? I challenge you this week to find a way to strengthen your faith, and take that first step.

Love you,Sister Bell

The MTC and Rancho

So the MTC was amazing. I guess I never realized that the MTC is a dedicated ground. Just like at the temple, the Spirit resides there. I have so many spiritual and wonderful experiences.

 

So let me tell you a little about my district. So there are 8 of us. There is Elder Vassuer (from Canada), Elder Nwobi (from Nigiria), Elder Swan (from Weiser, Idaho), Elder Dreher (from Alberta, Oregon), Sister Dunford (from Morgan, Utah), Sister Wardell (from Wyoming), and then my companion Sister Brown (from Woods Cross Utah).  Our branch president is President Cutler. We have gotten so close to each other. We really are like family. We had a hard time focusing the first few days because we all just clicked so well. I can say that without a doubt that the only thing that I will miss the most will be my district.

 

So our teachers for the entire two weeks were Sister Standford (she served a mission in the Indiana, Indianapolis mission), Brother Baker (he served in the London mission), and Brother Ellsworth (he served in the Albuquerque, New Mexico mission).  Both Brother Baker and Brother Ellsworth were Josh's teachers here as well. They were all amazing teachers, but my favorite was Brother Ellsworth. He was always there for me and always made sure that I was okay. I only talked to him about how hard it was for me to adjust to always having a companion. When I had the most trouble he gave me a scripture that I absolutely love. It is in John 14:17-18. It was just so comforting and just what I needed to hear.

 

So I want to tell you a little bit more about our investigators. So Sam, Everett, and Harley were all members and teachers at the MTC. They were the first ones we taught. Then Carla was a real investigator. She is 26 and all of her family joined the church, and 3 of her sisters went on missions. She has traveled all over the world and lived in New Zealand for a year. I loved her, we bonded so fast. The last meeting we had with her she cried. She realized how much she needed to change. She felt the Spirit so strongly. She wanted to get baptized. The other investigator we found walking from the laundry room to our dorm room. I had just said hi to him. So we started talking a little bit, and he asked if we had any time in our schedule to teach him. We did!!! I fell in love with him. He was so prepared. He went to sacrament meeting without us asking him to. He felt the Spirit and the Lord is already blessing him.  His family hadn't talked to him in years, and after he went to church his family called him!

Well Monday was our last day at the MTC. We left for the airport at 4am, and we were in California. It is so beautiful here. There are pine trees and palm trees right next to each other. In Rancho it is so green and windy. We stayed the night at the mission home, and the President and his wife are so sweet and funny. The first day we just did a lot of training and we actually went out and tracted in a park. So Sister Dunford and I went and started walking around and we couldn't find anyone to talk to. So we stopped and I prayed, and not  even 10 seconds after I prayed there was a lady with a stroller that we stopped and talked to.

 

So Wednesday was the day that we met our new companions/trainers. Mine is Sister Bethany Hopkins. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and she had been out since September. We are in the Hesperia Zone. Which is kinda funny because as we were on the plane I told everyone that this is the area I would be sent. We are in the Greentree Ward. In the middle of the desert.

 

We are in an apartment that the elders have lived in for years. We are the first sisters in this area for 20 years... The ward is so excited to finally have sisters. The apartment is kinda shabby. Saturday morning our microwave exploded. Our rooms do not have doors or lights. We had to buy lamps. And the first day we sat at our dining room table, Sister Hopkins' chair broke... LOL

 

Oh and on Saturday I was able to meet an APOSTLE!!!! We had a mission conference with Elder Neil L. Anderson, Elder Perkins of the Seventy, and Elder Douglas Hyum of the Seventy. It was amazing.

 

We were also whitewashed into our area. Which means that neither of us have ever served here. So both of us are trying to learn the people, find new investigators, learn all the active members, and visit all the inactives...which our ward has a lot. At church on Sunday there was only about 40 members present. We only filled up the first few rows of pews. But the area is huge and the ward list is around 30 pages long, which means lots of inactive members. But we already had 4 lessons this week and we only had 3 days, and we already have 6 appointments this coming week.

 

I know that the Lord has a reason for us to be here.. I am hoping that we will have lot of success. I am already falling in love with all the people here. I know the Lord provided a way, He wants me to Obey. I know that if I try to be exactly obedient that He will send blessings. I love all of you and hope that everyone has an amazing week. Please tell me about all your wonderful mission experiences..

Love,
Sister Bell

Last Day in the MTC

So today was my last day in the MTC.  I am having a mix of emotions.  I have grown so close to my district.  They have become my comfort zone, and now that we have all gotten close to one another, we have to again leave one another.  I have grown so much. 

This week I have seen so many wonderful miracles.  As Sister Brown and I left the laundry room last Tuesday, we ran into Lance (he is an investigator that comes to the MTC to be taught).  Well, we had just said "hi" to him and he asked us to teach him.  Right off the bat we already love him.  He is so prepared and so ready to hear the gospel.  This was the first week he has been at the MTC.  Today was our last meeting with him, and he gave us a present and wanted us to email him, and he is going to email us.  He actually lives in Roy down by Ron and Jeneil.  He said he went to the fox something ward.  Then there was a lot more miracles, but I don't have time to write them all down. 

I love being a missionary.  This church is true!  I will be in Rancho tomorrow and will email everyone next week.  I want to challenge everyone to go out and tell everyone what you believe.

Pictures from the MTC