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!

Near Death Experiences and Disappointments

Well like I said, last week we took our car into the shop. Well we didn’t get it back until Saturday.

So Monday we walked all the way home from our lesson in the dark. The roads in Victorville are not lit, and there are a lot of crazy people that walk around at night. Luckily, Sister Hopkins had pepper spray, and I have a flashlight.

So Tuesday we went and got bikes from two different people in the ward, because we weren’t sure whose bikes would work best for us. So we went and got the first ones at noon. Well the bike I got on, the back brakes broke 5 minutes down the road. Then there was a wire that was sticking out that scratched my leg all up, and we had an appointment to get to. We walked in and my leg was a bloody mess. Well the lady we were teaching was nice enough to give us a ride back to our appointment with the bikes. So we then walked to the other member’s home and got the bikes from them. The bike I was on belongs to a 6'4” tall man. It was huge! Well we went and started riding back. All the roads were major roads back to our apartment. So we start going, well the handlebars came loose on this huge bike. It just happened that they became loose while I was going around a bus stop, and a ton of traffic was coming. Well I ended up off the sidewalk with a truck coming at me. When I fell off I hit really hard on the bike seat. (If I was a man I probably wouldn’t have been able to move.) Well I got back on and we made our way to our dinner. It was crazy. I cannot believe how sore I was. Well after dinner we went back home, and I had 2 bruises on my legs, one on my ankle, and my entire inner thighs were completely bruised. It was traumatizing. Never again will I bike. We literally only biked that day, and then we ended up walking for the rest of the week everywhere.

Wednesday was so good!!! We got three new investigators! The first two are Breanna and Adrian. They are siblings, and are so eager to go to church. They had been going to church with their grandpa in Pasadena but recently moved up here with their mom who is less active. So we are going to start teaching them. Then we met Ana who lives in our apartment complex.  She has already been taught two lessons, and she really seems like she wants to learn more. Dinner went really well, too. It was with one of our favorite families here. We just talked about missionary work, and how they can help us improve the area. They are in their 70s and are ready and willing to help the work progress.

Thursday we were going all over the place, and all of our appointments kept falling through. Well we met with one of our less active members who is having a lot of trouble with her knees, and we ended up doing service for her. Well Sister Hopkins got a 3 degree burn from heating up a bag of brown sugar in the microwave to soften it. It was so crazy!

Friday I woke up with a severe asthma attack, and thought that I was going to throw up. So we stayed home until about 2:00 to see if I was going to feel better. Well I did, so we decided to go out and work.  Well it just so happened to be the hottest day of the year on record so far. We walked a good 4 miles, and I gave my extra water bottle to a family who ran out of gas near the library. Then we ended up walking all the way to the other side of our area for an appointment. I was sweating so much.

 Saturday was the worst! We were able to go and pick up our car, which was awesome! Then we decided to go to our new area, because we split it with the new elders. So we went to go see some of the unknown and less active members on the ward list. The first one wasn’t home.  The second basically told us that we are stupid for believing that we were going to be married in the next life,  that the temple is devil worshiping, that we don’t worship Jesus Christ, but everything else in the church, that miracles don’t happen in the Church, that the Church didn’t need to be restored because it has always been on the earth, and that we don’t have a relationship with God. No matter what we said, we were wrong, and it was just so upsetting that she felt that way. Her parents are in the ward, and their testimonies are so strong, and then to talk to her and see how she feels was just so crazy.

Then we went to another person's house that we have talked to quite a bit. Well she tells us that she doesn’t believe in the Book of Mormon, she didn’t know that there was a living prophet on the earth, and she believed that we are responsible for Adam's transgression. She has been a member for 48 years, has gone through the temple, and wears her garments still. Yet she has no belief in any of our basic beliefs. She kept asking for proof from the Bible. So we found it, and she was in unbelief. I tried to convince her to start reading her Book of Mormon, but she said she wasn’t sure if she would. That's all it is going to take. To have a testimony in the Book of Mormon, in Joseph Smith, in a living prophet, in anything that deals with the gospel, you have to start by simply reading the words inside the Book of Mormon - because it truly is another Testament of Jesus Christ.

This week I finished reading the book of Helaman, and it just hit me how much the Lord has given us to learn from. How many chances He gives us to repent and turn to Him once again, and all the many blessings that come from simply obeying His commandments. I love this gospel, so much!

I am so grateful that I have chosen this path. Sometimes I don’t realize how good I actually have it until I have a really hard and challenging day like Saturday. I really had to think of the blessings and the tender mercies that God gave me that day, but I think that I learned from it. I gained a testimony of the fact that I do know the truth, that I have chosen Him, and that no one can take that away from me, and no one can convince me otherwise. This week I am going to come up with at least 3 blessings from each day. I am going to stay positive, and if something goes wrong I am going to turn to the Lord. Just like the people did in Helaman 3:34-35. They were having a lot of trials and hard times, but they still turned to the Lord!

Well I love all of you so much, and hope that you have a wonderful week. I can’t believe that it is almost Mother's Day. So all you moms out there, know how special you are. Know that you are a daughter of God, and that you have been given the blessing of being a mother, that you have been given the divine calling of taking care of one of God's children, and I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day.

Love,

Sister Bell

 

Two Month Mark and 911 Calls

This week has been crazy. This week was the beginning of the new transfer. Like I said last week, I stayed in Greentree Ward, and it really has been interesting. Monday we usually have a Family Home Evening with a recent convert and a member who lives with her. So when we got there no one answered the door which is really odd because they are almost always home. So I kinda went around the corner, and I saw her walking up from the parking lot. The member is living with the recent convert because she was separating from her husband.  Then last week she all of the sudden told us that they were getting back together. So Monday when she saw us, she told us her husband threatened to kidnap her, tie her up, and abuse her. So she was mad at us for coming to see them because all this was going on. We had no idea about any of it in the first place.

Then Tuesday after district meeting we just ended up walking everywhere. Our dinner appointment forgot that they were feeding us, and was all mad about having to feed us because she was going to be late for somewhere so she was just going to drop food off at our house for us. Well we were a good 40 minute walk away from our apartments, and we told her that. We also said she didn't have to worry about it, we could find something to eat at home, and she could sign up for another day. Well she insisted and when we weren't home in 30 minutes, she called yelling at us... So that was a crazy day.

Wednesday was really good. We were able to get a new investigator named Daloris. She has lupus and a smoking problem. I told her about priesthood blessings and that if she had one it would help her to stop having the desire to smoke. She was so excited about them, and really wants one now. We are going to try and have someone from the Elders Quorum come and give her one this week. We were also able to visit with four less actives in the ward and had a meeting with the ward mission leader, and the new Elders in our area. One of them is from Kaysville, Utah.

Thursday was the craziest day ever. So we started our day earlier than normal because we have a family who is part member/less active and an investigator who can only meet in the morning. So we left the house at 9:30 in the morning, and we just got the feeling that we needed to go walking a different way than we normally do. It took us almost an hour to walk to her motel room. We felt really bad that we were 30 minutes late. But when we got there her daughter Jamie (the investigator) wasn't even there. Sister Sailor (who was the woman who walked out of the hospital a couple of weeks ago that we had to walk back to her house) was there with her grandson. So we just decided to read a chapter with her. It went ok. She just drags the conversation on, and we don't really get to teach her. So when we finished reading, Sister Hopkins and I were already ready to go. So we said a prayer, and had the door open when she started to act really weird. She couldn't stand up and was kinda shaky. We felt prompted to stay. So we knew that she was diabetic. So I just assumed that she just had low blood sugar. I had an orange in my bag so I made her eat that. Then she stopped talking and couldn't really move her limbs, and was going in and out of consciousness. So I made Sister Hopkins call 911 while I checked her pulse. It was really thready and weak. So after we got the ambulance on its way, I had Sister Hopkins help me get her laying down in bed. This whole time her grandson is asleep on the other bed. When the ambulance arrives, they take her away on the gurney, and we are left with her grandson. We aren't supposed to babysit, and we have no way of getting a hold of the mother, Jamie, because she was walking to the store to buy food, and doesn't have a phone. So they call CPS, and we are standing there with the fireman and a sleeping 5 year old. When the ambulance pulls away, there just happens to be a terrible car accident involving a 92 year old lady, getting flung across the road into a ditch while she is trying to turn left. Luckily the fireman and the ambulance were right there. Finally after 20 minutes of waiting, the mother finally shows up, and then we just went about our day like we hadn't just called the ambulance. And we had 5 more lessons... Crazy right?

Saturday we did a service project at a golf course and picked up golf balls on the driving range. It was 40 degrees and I thought I was going to freeze to death. And I had to wear jeans to the service project and it was so weird since I hadn't worn them in 2 months. Also it was my 2 month mark on Saturday!!!  We also went to a place called Apollo Burger with the bishop and his family it was really good. Then I had to write my talk for Sunday as well. Talk about stressful.

Sunday. My talk went great. They actually had Sister Hopkins, Elder Browning, and I speaking. Plus Elder Finlay had to say the opening prayer and bear his testimony. So the missionaries were basically running the show. I cried during my talk and felt the Spirit so strongly. I actually wasn't nervous at all, and everyone after was telling me it was exactly what they needed to hear. We had 4 of our less actives there!!! The only bad thing was that in Relief Society there was a heated argument between a lot of the sisters that completely took the spirit away, and I think that it probably deterred the women from ever wanting to come back to church again, making our lives a lot more difficult. We also had to take our car in today, so we found some members who are willing to let us borrow their bikes for the entire week. So that is the new adventure for this week. It should be fun.

Guess what? I finally finished reading the book of Alma. I love reading the Book of Mormon. I learn so much every time I read it. I also studied a lot about diligence and persistence. I know that if we are persistent in going out and finding those that the Lord has prepared, then he is going to be more willing to put those people in our paths. I know from this week, that everything happens for a reason. I know that we were meant to be late to that appointment, and we were meant to stay and call the ambulance. If not, both of those women might not be here right now. I know that Heavenly Father is directing us to go and help his Lost Sheep. I know that If I am being righteous then I will be able to have the Spirit with me to know what I need to say and do.  I love all of you, and hope that everyone has an amazing week. Be persistent in what you are doing, and you will see the success in your life. Be living in such a way that you will always have to the Holy Ghost with you.  

Love,

Sister Jessica Bell

Exchanges, Transfers, and Biking

"Will I stay or will I go?"

I am staying in Greentree for another transfer!  Which is actually really exciting. I want to see where everyone is going to end up and want to know/to see if we can baptize our investigators. This week we got a new one!!! And we have 3 potential lessons already for this coming week. That and we had two of our really less active members come to church. We were so surprised. Actually, the whole ward was.

So this week we went on exchanges, which means that I went with a different Sister missionary this week to a different area while Sister Hopkins stayed in our area with another Sister. It was actually pretty good. We went to an Ostrich farm. It was really interesting. They sound like Kevin off of the movie UP. I got a picture of them fighting, before my camera decided to be retarded. I also was on a bike for 5 hours. We went all over her entire area. Like up and down hills and around lakes. It was so hot and ridiculous.

We got a new investigator this week! Yay. It was one that we have been trying to get since the second week we got to this area.

Easter was pretty good too. I got a few chocolate covered strawberries from a member, and I was asked to talk in sacrament next Sunday. 

Not a lot happened this week to talk about though. The work is progressing. The love I have for my Heavenly Father is always growing, and I know that I am here for a reason. I am trying my hardest to be obedient, and I am always listening to the promptings of the Spirit.

This week I have really been thinking a lot about the Atonement and the sacrament. Why do we need to remember the Atonement when we take the sacrament? I found this poem about the Atonement that I really love. It says:

My happiness and peace
seemed forever gone,
leaving only regret-
until I saw the blackened earth,
One bad decision and a forest
was destroyed-
or would have been
except for the saving grace
and promise of new life
evidenced in small green shoots
pushing through ashes

But I just keep thinking about everything Christ did for us just so that we can get back to Him. I know that He loves me. And I know that I need to work on being better about repenting and living those Christ-like attributes.

I hope you all had an amazing Easter, and were all able to see the amazing video that the church put out called Because of Him. I watched it over and over all week and each time I cried.
Well I love all of you and miss you too.

Love,
Sister Jessica Bell

Walking, Talking, and Preaching the Gospel

So instead of going in order I want to share the best news ever!!! WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!! So the Armenian was actually an Egyptian who has been in the country for 5 years. He has a very vast knowledge of the bible. He actually does not have any sons... It was actually his brother..We kinda were hesitant to go and teach him, but we finally decided to go. We walked to the park which is just down the street from where he lives and were able to teach him the entire Restoration. He has a very limited amount of English so, we had to really think about the way we had to word things. The spirit was really the one who taught the lesson though. We gave him an English Book of Mormon, and we told him we would get an Arabic one for him as well. He seems very eager to learn more though. We were able to get the Arabic book of Mormon the next day, however he hasn't been home to give it to him. We have an appointment with him on Tuesday though. We were so excited that our finding efforts actually are working... Because after we had a lesson with him we were able to set up 3 more potential investigator lessons this week.

This week has been so HOT!!! It was already 98 degrees. And every time we talked about it with our less active members they just laughed at us and told us that this isn't hot. I have no idea how I am going to survive this weather in the desert in the summer. If it is already 98 degrees, I can only imagine how bad it will be in August.

So this week we were able to go to the library and get on Mormon.org and talk to people for a while. I was also able to read the talks given during the priesthood session of conference. They really were great. I think the best quote I got from those conferences was during Uchtdorf's talk he said, "The most important this is to keep trying-sometimes it takes several attempts before people find success. So don't give up. Don't lose faith. Keep your heart close to the Lord, and he will give you the power of deliverance. He will make you free."
This week we had President interviews as well, and the one thing that President Hobbs said to me that really stuck out was that I need to know my Savior better. So I began to think about how I could accomplish that. Well the funny thing is that I had to give a training on how to pray with faith in zone meeting. What better way to get to better know my Savior than through prayer?

How do you have more effective prayers? I know for me as I was studying this topic, I came to the conclusion that most of the time my prayers are just rote presentation... I never really change it up. So this week I got down on my knees, and tried having a real conversation with Heavenly Father. I got specific instead of being general. I used names instead of just saying my family or investigator. I asked more humbly and then I listened carefully for those answers.

I then decided during my personal study each week I would focus on one Christ-like attribute. This past week I really focused on Humility and how to become more humble in my life. Then this week I am starting to focus on Charity. What Christ-like attribute do you think you need to be a little better at, or which one would help you in your life? This week I challenge you to focus on a Christ-like attribute and try to apply it in your life.

Well I hope that everyone is going to have an amazing Easter. This morning I went to Goodwill and bought an Easter outfit for 6 bucks. I was pretty proud of my purchase. I will send everyone pictures. Well I love everyone so much and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Sister Jessica Bell

P.S. Transfers are this coming week. I don't think that I will be transferred, but you never know. :)

Fried Chicken, Engagements, and Drug Deals

This week has been interesting. So first off, we had someone buy all of our groceries last P-day. That might not seem like a lot, but it was amazing. Then, we went to a Goodwill, and I found four modest cute skirts for four bucks each. I was pretty happy. Sister Hopkins and I really bonded over that.

Tuesday was jam packed with appointments. Our less active members are really keeping the commitments we are leaving with them. Tuesday was the day that we found out that we live in the meth using capital of the world. Apparently they make all the meth in Lucerne, and they all use it in the desert. Not to mention spending time in a gang neighborhood. (I will explain that one more later.)

Wednesday we had to go down the hill for a meeting with the President since I am new. So most of the day was spent down there. But, when we got back at 5:00, we went to visit a less active member in our old apartment complex, and we were able to have a lesson with her. Then dinner was with a part-member family, and we were able to teach them a lesson and just laugh with them. Their sons are hilarious; all of them are a little handicapped. I got a huge hug from the 14 year old son, and so did Sister Hopkins. I wasn't sure what to do, since he wasn't supposed to do that, but there wasn't much I could do.

Thursday we were supposed to have our first investigator lesson with an investigator that I found, but they weren't home. I didn't let that get me down because as we were walking, we were prompted to go up a different street that we don't normally turn on. As soon as we did there was a gentleman out in his yard, which is just dirt, watering it. It was a little strange, but we still said hi. And we started a conversation with him. He knew that we were missionaries, and he wants to take the lessons!!!! So we made an appointment for tomorrow.

 

Then, as we were walking to our appointment, there was an older man standing in his door way. So I said hi to him and then he started talking to us. We had to walk across the street to hear him. He is from Armenia (I kept thinking about Mary the entire time I was talking to him. :) ) Well he asked us if there were any good not divorced girls in our church. We told him maybe, if he came he could see. Then he asked us if we were married, we told him no. Then he asked us how old we are, we told him. Then he asked for our names and numbers, and that we needed to come back very soon - that he wanted to find good girls to marry his sons. Then he offered us some tea. We told him no, Sister Hopkins made an appointment with him, and we walked away. Not even five minutes later he called to make sure we were coming back on Wednesday. We definitely thought that we had just agreed to marry his sons, so we might be engaged right now. lol It was hilarious.

Friday, Sister Hopkins was sick, and I wasn't feel too good either. So we ended up staying home, and Sister Hopkins just slept all day. I read almost all of Alma.

Saturday was the first two sessions of General Conference. The first session we went to the church building to watch. It was a great session. I think that my favorite talk from that session was the one by Neil L. Anderson. I think that it is important to watch for those spiritual whirlwinds. It is sometimes hard to stand up for what you believe, but I have learned on my mission how much more people will respect you for standing up for your beliefs and sharing what you know to be true. The Saturday afternoon session was spent with one of the less active members. She is the sweetest. She bought us Subway sandwiches and ice cream to watch conference with her. She even fell asleep watching it. But I think that my favorite talk from that session was by W. Craig Zwick - communication is key in every relationship in our lives. If we don't listen to our investigators, we won't have that understanding of their needs. If we don't try to see things from their perspective, then we won't ever be able to help them come unto Christ.

After Conference we went out to contact a lot of different people. Then we have the most interesting dinner ever!!!!

So the man that told us about the meth, his mother is the excommunicated member we are teaching. She had called us Friday night to tell us to come over for dinner. So we go over at 6:00, and then we were going to have a lesson with her and her son. Well we get there right at 6:00. She was asleep, and dinner was not cooked. So the son decided that he is going to cook for us. He is 21. So he starts cooking the dinner, and as he is cooking he is telling us his entire life story. He is definitely still a drug dealer. He made several calls the entire time he was cooking that sounded like drug deals. Then he kept looking out the window and being very jumpy like there was going to be a drive by or something. He then proceeds to tell us about how he is a member of the skin heads. And all the other gangs that are in the high desert. He was telling us all of the girls he has been with, and much more. Finally it is 8:00 and the dinner is almost done. His mother is still not up, when we hear someone screaming outside like a maniac. The son runs outside, and we can hear something going down. Then the son and a random guy come back into the house. The guy has no shoes on and is twitching. He was the guy screaming. We just assumed that he knew the son. We found out later that it was a complete stranger. Finally the dinner is done. He made homemade fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and gravy. It was literally the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. The gravy was homemade as well and was delicious. I honestly don't understand how he can be such a good cook, when he has told us all the crazy things he does in his life. He then walks us out to our car and proceeds to walk down the street when he had a large bag with him. Definitely saw a drug deal go down.

Sunday, we went over to a recent converts house where she made us breakfast. We watched Conference, and then she made us lunch and we played a game. My favorite talk was definitely David A. Bednar's. He is my favorite. I loved the analogy he made about having that heavy load, and having Christ be yoked to you to have help. Afterwards, we went to a less active member's house to watch the last session. She is my favorite lady ever. She made us beef stew and biscuits. She hasn't gone to church since she was 20 and she is 63 now. She somehow still knows the Articles of Faith and the sacrament prayer, and almost all the songs, and she was quoting them along with the speakers. L. Tom Perry was my favorite speaker.  My favorite quote from him was, "There are very few one size fits all solutions."

What was everyone's favorite talks? Did you all hear a talk that you needed to hear? Were all your questions answered? I know that I wrote down five questions and all of the talks had some sort of answer for each of them.

Well today we finally got moved into our new apartment. So my new address is 13520 Third Ave Andalusia 1003 Victorville, CA 92395 if anyone wants to write me. Well I love all of you so much. I love being on a mission, and love meeting new people. I hope everyone has a good week.

Love,

Sister Jessica Bell