2/25/2014

Well, Transfer calls happened last night and I am not with Elder Miranda anymore I will now have a companion from mexico named Elder Martinez. However, I will still continue in this area which is awesome because this area is totally awesome. One of the elders that was with us got called to go to coracao and that kind of made me miss being there ha. My president       knows a little bit of english his wife knows a lot more. I feel like he is more businesslike however I cannot sincerely say  I know because I haven't talked  with him that much. I was supposed to have an interview last week but there was an  emergency and he had to leave because a missionary was in the hospital.

 

 Only one more week of wrestling season mom! whooo hooooo!haha just enjoy  it I miss it so much.. even though I understand that it is hard on you especially.

 

The baptisms did not follow thru this weekend,but we  moved the dates for march so that they could prepare themselves more and all get baptized together. I am loving the mission still I love my area and I will pray for the Parrish family... I can't really believe that that happened. Sometimes it is just confusing what happens in this life, but I know that this is just the test portion of our life and that  the  real blessings we receive are from when we enter into the next realm of life.I will definately be praying for   Ian  as that will be a difficult call  for him to receive.

 

I have liked Mark chapter 12 alot lately and2 nefi   25:29         Mark chapter twelve explains the dispensationsandthe apostasy really well. Love youmom I will most likely havepictures next week. LOve all of you I am so glad that allis well at home! LOveElder Bell                                  

02/17/2014

I thank you for sharing that Vday experience  sounds just like dad hahahaa. I am going to start off answering your questions. I have not tried new food lately we actually even go to a mall on Mondays to eat Papa John's, The baptisms fell through for this months just because that family went on a vacation and we don't want to rush the baptism so we should have it on the eighth, but it really depends when they want to do it. No we have this plastic washer and a spinner to get rid of the extra water I am sure it would be easy to find a picture on google. I think everything is good with clothes, however I have been giving lots of ties away. We can't eat with members ever unless we help them make the food at a family home evening. Lots of members attend the ward around a hundred every week. Yes in many wards and branches there are two sets of missionaries. This place needs the support because there are not a bunch of proactive members. There are less members than where we live so there are more people to look for and we help capacitate members sometimes.

 This last week was difficult because we didn't get any references and my companion seems to dislike contacting people whenever I mention it he starts to contact, but if people don't start to show interest immediately he totally shuts down the conversation and we move on .Besides that we are working hard and I feel like we are helping the ward.

 I really liked the heart messages in the valentines day packages those were so much fun to read! As for scriptures I have enjoyed lately I am in the Isaiah Chapters in 2 Nephi I think starting in chapter eleven. I have really enjoyed understanding and learning more about those chapters. A scripture I have had in mind quite a bit lately is Eclesiastes chapter 3 verse 22. and also The section 21 of doctrine and covenants I like the verses from 8 to 10. I am learning a lot about the church and how it functions from the leaders and It has been nice to be around lots of missionaries again like how it was when I started the mission. I will have my second interview with the mission president tomorrow because it is our zones turn. I only have to wait two and a half more months to go to the temple again have been thinking about that a lot lately

.Love you mom. I hope your job keeps going well keep smiling these two months are probabably my favorties months from my life before the mission I just lived too stressed sometimes. I think I should have focused on the simple things and worried more about learning about the gospel and I would have been less stressful and more helpful and happy., I hope I can simplify my life later on so that I can be happy and focus on what is most important mainly my family. Love, Elder Bell

02/10/2014

Today at 1:00 PM  The miracle this week is that the goal for baptisms for the ward is 4 baptisms a month and last month there was only one baptism between us and the other two missionaries in the ward. So we need four baptisms to make up for the ones we didn{t have last months. First miracles was that last saturday a member who was here on vacation from mexico intoduced us to here daughters that have been coming to sacrament meeting for two weeks and we didn{t even know one is 20 and two are 18 they are twins and yesterday we put a baptismal date for february 22nd and they accepted now we just have to work hard to make sure they are ready for this saturday. And also there is a young women whose mother and little sister have been members for two years, but she has not wanted to commit to be baptized because she is struggling with a certain comandement and she is a little rebelious toward here mom. However she always goes to church and often to seminary. Well, yesterday she approached us and said she needed to talk to us. then she explained that she would like to be baptized on the 22nd. Which is a miracle we had been praying for. We had invited her to be baptized two weeks ago and she said she wasn{t sure.. so to not pressure her we left here alone for two weeks and because she kept going to church and seminary she felt the spirit change her heart and now she is ready. we will have four baptismal interviews this saturday if all goes well.

 

 I Have enjoyed Dand C 50:10 through 14 and also I have been putting focus in the questions of the soul that are answered in the Book of Mormon. The preach my gospel book has a page in the book of Mormon section that has all the questions and it is a huge tool. Two days ago I was struggling with my study so that night in my planning I took out extra time to decide what to study and I felt the inmpression that I should study one of those questions I did not know which one, but I wrote it down as my plan and went to sleep. The next day I picked the question that states: What can I do to have more peace and joy in this life and in my family. I then read the 2nd chapter in mosiah which corresponds with that question and it was nice I did not think much of it I saw some scriptures in a different perspective and wrote down my thoughts. then we left to our first appointment  we had planned to explain what the purpose of the book of mormon is to a new investigator who is a single mom. as we read the third paragraph of the introdution something changed in her and she payed alot of attention to the words so we asked her what she was thinking. We thought she would respond something like...Jesus Christ came to the American continent? or What is the plan of salvation? but she suprised us both and asked. what does it mean have more peace in this life and in the coming life? from there I realized that God had shown me the answer she was looking for in the Book of mormon in the same chapter I was studying that morning . And that She was the reason I had felt I needed to study that question because that is exactly what she asked. If we take the time to think about what we should study before we rush and just read a chapter the gift of the Holy Ghost is permitted to guide us because we are using our agency in an appropriate manner. I have learned that if I am losing interest in my study or if I get sleepy it might just be because I am blindly studying without a spiritual goal our purpose and that studying the scriptures just to know the history or just to know where cool verses are at isnt enough. We have to study with the goal of spiritually preparing ourselves to share our testimony with others and if the spirit guides us. And trust me it was not a huge impression just a small thought that came into my mind after I sat peaceful for just a moment. We should take the small moments to plan for spiritual success and to plan to edify ourselves spiritually. I dont know if that sister will ever get baptized but I know I did my part in preparing and I know we all felt the spirit because of it.

 

 Yes we are both Zone Leaders it is nice because we both work hard and study and we communicate well. I have learned a lot and still have a long ways to go in my communication with others. I got to give a talk in a leaders conference last week. About how to better comunitcation in a companion ship and it mostly came down to in the mission if we dont have study together plan together and set goals and study the language together then we will have more conflicts than needed. I am now study another question of the soul in alma chapter 39 which helps us know how to keep our families safe from the dangerous temptations that we face in our daily lives. Love you a ton have a great week.

02/03/2014

That´s a bummer that Denver lost... But I am glad you liked seatle´s uniforms mom ha :). I am glad to hear about bay and brit´s success. How is Brea?

 So we have not had families to teach especially because people don´t legally get married here, and we had the coolest miracle happen this week. The elders in the area next to ours went contacting way outside of their area on accident and called us saying that they had references of people in our area and now we are teaching at least five families. I don´t think any of them are married, but at least the families paid attention and one of them went to church this sunday. I still get worried that I am going to get pulled out of this area after two transfers just like it always happens I would really like to stay here longer. I don´t know if I told you last week , but the young man named Roger that I was teaching in Los LLanos got baptized two weeks after I left and one of the priests in the youg mens group baptized him. I have been told that the young men and young women are being much more active and reverent now which has brought me a fairly large amount of happiness.

I haven´t done a very good job at writing anyone at home lately because I have been writing the young men and another member in los llanos I will be better at writing after that I hope.

 Today we played soccer and went to a columbian restaurant let Aunt Connie Know she paid for some very good food and some very good juice called lulo juice. Is troy getting in good shape again? How is there gym? I am kind of excited to go see that after.

 I have discovered something in the mission that I thought was a myth before... People from texas really are more prideful than normal people usually are haha I love them to death, but it is like they are never wrong and that if you don´t think they are the best state then you are against them. I have only lived with to people from texas so I am probably stereotyping, but it really seems that way.

Love you Mom and Dad give a hug to my brother and sisters for me!