"If da whole world could be like you..."

Hola y'all!

This week was great, as usual, though not a lot happened.

First off, we had my first Zone Conference which was incredible.  It was a little taste of the CCM again :) President Adler is very good at rebuking and chastising, but making you feel completely empowered and ready to go by the end.  He kept saying in his wonderful German accent "You signed up for this! don't tell me otherwise!" It was great.  Sister Adler also spoke with him and she is the sweetest lady.  She encouraged us to help push each other to the end, whatever that may be.  Then we had testimonies of departing missionaries and they were amazing. I look up to them so much.  My zone leader, Elder Zeisiger, is going home this transfer.  He told us to "be the missionary the Lord wants to use, not the missionary the Lord has to use." I really loved that and think it can apply to whatever situation we're in.  We're all servants of the Lord right? Are we the servants He wants to use, or is it a burden for him? 

After all the chastising and telling us to be better and work harder, President Adler said very tenderly (in his accent, just like President Uchtdorf) "If you do your best, you are always good enough." The Lord knows our best.  He knows our worst.  If we are doing what we can, it's good enough for Him.  Que wow.  I'm surrounded my some pretty incredible people folks, and it's a very amazing experience.

This was some guy's front yard.... there were about ten other cars behind me 

and a few parked on the street... que loco

 I died when I saw this picture! It totally made my day!

We were out tracting one day, and we knocked on a lady's door.  She was about four feet tall and about 90 years old.  She didn't look too happy to see us, but she came outside, crossed her arms, and said "Entonces? (well?)" we asked her if she'd seen missionaries before and she went on to tell us that she was Pentocostal, and that she knew we were Satan worshipers and we had rock bands in our churches.  Then she said "Y la Biblia es suficiente." The Bible is enough.  We were kind of confused, so we handed her a Mormon.org pass along card and told her that that is where she could go to get correct information.  If her grandson hadn't been screaming at the top of his lungs we would have taught her something.... but that was my first run in with the whole Bible thing so that's exciting!

Okay, let me tell you about the subject line! I made it my personal goal to speak to anyone who'll talk to me.  Yeah, it's rough, but it's working! I've given out quite a few pass along cards and most of the people were really nice about it :) Anyway, we pulled up to get gas one day, and an old man pulled up to get gas in front of us.  Of course I went up to him, said hello, and asked if I could give him a picture.  "Why of course, sweetheart!" he said in the greatest Jamaican accent (no he's not from Jamaica but that's what it sounded like).  Because of that, he talked with us for a half an hour.  He told us "well, I'm a Methodist, but when you go to your church, you tell all the peoples there that Emil from Suriname told you to be nice to everybody! Just like you're nice to everybody! if da whole world could be like you, this world would be a better place!" He was SO great! He was so expressive, and he loved the picture of the Salt Lake Temple I gave him, and he told me he'd visit there someday and say hello to me.  When he finally finished talking with us, he kissed our hands and said "I love you so much! I will pray for you every day and I will never forget you!" It was such a tender mercy for me simply because I get scared to talk to people, and he looked a little scary, but it was a highlight of my week :)

It rained a bunch this week which I loved! Yesterday it poured and we had to go to the office to print something off, so we got drenched despite the rain coats and umbrella! It was SO fun! 

I couldn't see anything because, though it was raining basically all week, 

the sun was still shining and VERY hot....

This is when it poured and I could wring out my shoes... It was SO fun!

Last week we went to a greenhouse to see if we could buy something for one of the people that we're teaching (object lesson on faith that still hasn't happened...), and I about died.  I'd completely forgotten how much I LOVE the plants and dirt! So I got excited and got two succulents and a little fern and I named them all... I'd been feeling particularly lonely and those little plants have totally changed my life! They're great.  And yes, I named them so I could talk with them :) Their names are Guille, Carolinita, y Madalee.  I read my Spanish scriptures to them every morning and they're so cute.  

Me at the Greenhouse.... I was in Heaven! 

Yes, I named the plants.  Guille, Carolinita, and Madalee

Life here is so good.  Most people are so kind and love to talk about Jesus.  I heard something this week that I loved, and it was that if you want to punch Satan in the face, open your mouth and testify.  It's true :)

Heavenly Father is so good to His children.  He loves all of them and wants all of them to have the opportunity to hear His word.  I'm so humbled and grateful to be apart of this work! Things always work out, folks :)

....and loving it :)

Hermana Belliston

More Carolina Sunsets :)

David!

Hola Y'all,

This week was pretty good! Not a lot to report though.  

To start off the week, we found three people on Monday night, which we were super excited about, and we had return appointments with all of them the following day, Tuesday! On Tuesday, we went to their houses and none of them were there.... Rats.  BUT we found another family who was SO nice and let us in and told us to sit and have some pineapple juice and visit! They were super nice and also told us to come back again, which we did and they let us in again! The Lord works in mysterious ways, folks.  Always letting us feel like we failed, but then He makes us feel on top of the world right after that! It's great!

We went and visited my favorite person in the world this week, Celia Santiago. She's 94 and AMAZING.  She lives in a rest home in Burlington which is about an hour away, but we love visiting with her and singing hymns for her.  This week we sang Jesus Es Mi Luz (my all time favorite) and she loved it.  After we sang for her, she bore her testimony in her beautiful accent (she's from Uruguay).  It was really special for me to be able to pick out some of what she was saying and know that it was true.  This week I've been reminded at how easy it is to love Heavenly Father's children.  He has let me feel a portion of His love for them and I am SO grateful for that.  It really is amazing.

This is Celia Santiago from Uruguay - she is an angel

We had exchanges on Friday and Saturday and it was awesome!!! I was with Sister Jessop who has been out about a year.  She is phenomenal and I learned SO much from her.  We helped move a gal named Jen which was SUPER nasty.  Jen's roommate has two or three cats so there were hairballs everywhere and it stank to high heaven, but it was a good time and I basically laughed for three hours straight.  We then went into downtown Greensboro which was really fun and it reminded me of downtown Logan a little bit :) Very fun. We talked to a street musician and he was so great.  He talked about how all he wanted was one, unified church.  We were able to explain a little about our religion and he seemed very interested.  I hope they get to work with him and help answer some of his questions!

Exchanges with Sister Jessop.  Helping Jen move her HUGE couch down 

three flights of stairs was well.... sketchy!

This is Anita! She is the cutest thing ever.  She is always correcting my Spanish 

which makes me laugh and also feel super duper dumb ;) 

Okay, so Saturday.  We found DAVID! He is AMAZING.  I love him and his two sons so much.  He knew a little bit about Joseph Smith and a little about the Word of Wisdom and things like that, but the whole time we taught the restoration, he just sat and listened intently.  His 16 year old son had about 3000 questions, which we tried to answer without taking away from the spirit.  They asked about women and the priesthood which was a little difficult to teach in Spanish, but they seemed to understand when I explained it.  Definitely the Sprit :) Anyway, we asked him to come to church and to read the Book of Mormon.  He took the Book of Mormon and said he'd read it and come to church.  And you know what?? He came to church! Crazy! I was so overjoyed.  Most of the time the people we're teaching say they'll come but they never do so that blows, but he came with Book of Mormon in hand! If I didn't know he was investigating the church, I would for sure think he was already a member.  So he is definitely a blessing and a miracle!

Another NC Sunset - they just keep getting better!

These signs are ALL over the place and I love them! There's also one that says Gracias Jesus which makes me super happy :) Mostly it's just a warning that you don't talk to the people with those signs though...

Well, I love y'all so much! Life here is AMAZING.  We had my first real, big thunderstorm yesterday which was a blast.  The power was out in our complex for about three hours, so we pulled our mattresses into the livingroom by the windows so we could watch the lightning and hear the rain.  It was SO fun.  You've never seen rain until you've seen a NC thunderstorm! It's beautiful.  

This was right before our big thunderstorm.

Anyway, I hope y'all have a great week! life here is so great, and missionary work is the best! I absolutely love being a missionary, even with all the ups and downs and all over the place things :)

Things always work out, folks.

...And loving it :)

Hermana Belliston

This Message Cannot Be Napped Upon!

Hola Y'all,

This week was really chill and not much happened unfortunately...

BUT, on Wednesday we had lunch with the legend, Brother Rhudy.  He absolutely adores the missionaries and takes all the companionships out to lunch at least once a transfer.  He was baptized "27 months ago," has been through the temple, and has read the Book of Mormon 8 times.  He is incredible.  He told me his conversion story and I loved it.  He has a love and energy for the Gospel unlike anything I've ever seen.  He kept praising us for our work and telling us that he was so grateful that we go out and find people like him that need the Gospel.  Real quick, missionaries don't have couches in their apartments anymore because missionaries were taking naps on them during personal study time.  When Brother Rhudy found out about that, he said "THIS MESSAGE CANNOT BE NAPPED UPON!!!" and it was great and I wholeheartedly agree!  It was a very energizing chat and I felt so ready to go out and preach again! 

Really, nothing could be finer.....

So, we have a limited amount of miles we can use each month.  Our area covers a ton of space - about a solid quarter of the Charlotte mission and part of Virginia, so it's a little tough to stretch our miles to where we need them to be.  Yesterday, we wanted to go finding (prime finding time - Sundays 6-8 PM), but we were nervous about using miles that we don't have.  We prayed, and told Heavenly Father that we were going to go to a specific street and try to find some Hispanics down there.  We didn't feel like we shouldn't, so we got in the car and went.  We knocked on the door of a referral, and a very very nice Hispanic man answered.  He talked to us openly, told us his work schedule, and told us that Saturdays work best for him.  Folks, that NEVER happens! We asked him if he wanted to learn about the Gospel  and he said "Yeah, why not? it can't hurt!" (except in Spanish).  It was SO amazing.  Then we went over to see if we could find someone else, and she opened the door too and we're going back tomorrow!! I was (and still am) so happy!! It was amazing.  Also, through the week, we've been getting lots of calls about our English class that we have.  For the three weeks I've been here, I've never seen anyone show up.  But we got SO many calls this week! Que wow.  

Trees.... Walls and walls of trees.  It's gorgeous!

I know that as we keep Heavenly Father involved in our lives, He will bless and strengthen us.  For missionaries, He helps us find those whose hearts are prepared, and He leads us to those who we can help.  Tambien, with other things, He helps us to be safe and protected, and He allows us to make mistakes so we can grow.  This Gospel is incredible and I'm so glad to be a missionary!! Things always work out, folks.  Life is sooo good when we're living right :)

.... and loving it!

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Hermana Belliston

Giving some love to some members and less actives! #lifeofanhermana

Frozen hot chocolate!!

Semana de Milagros!

Hola y'all!

This week was chock full of miracles! que wow! the Lord really does bless His servants!

On Wednesday I got to go finding for the first time!! Wahoo!!! I actually really liked it because I felt like I was actually doing missionary things.  Super fun. We met Rosa Martinez and she said to please come back and teach her children when they get back from vacation.  She was on a conference call and couldn't meet with us, but she was very nice! The next family was also nice and super not interested, but I still had a great time because we were finding! YAY!

This was me after knocking our first door and finding Rosa home! 

She was SO nice and cute.  I was really excited...

This is the beautiful area of Piedmont. It's huge and awesome!

The Fourth of July was a fiesta! We had dinner at a member of the branch presidency's house and played volleyball (a very uncomfortable thing to do in a skirt, just so y'all are aware).  We couldn't go see any fireworks unfortunately, because they were out of our area, but we had a good time visiting with the members and celebrating our country.  

Miracles!!!

K, let me tell y'all about Thursday.  We got a call from some Hermanas down in Georgia about a referral they'd sent us.  As I listened, I recognized one of the voices and it was my companion from the CCM, Hermana Wright!!! It was awesome! It was just a little tender mercy from the Lord to let me hear a familiar voice.  Anyway, they sent us this family, Familia Galarza, who had moved there from Mexico.  They told us they had been on date before they'd moved and were basically ready to be baptized again! We were so excited! They also told us that they are pretty terrible at keeping appointments, and aren't at home a lot.  This is a problem, because they live in Asheboro, which is about an hour away and uses a lot of our miles. However, we prayed and felt like we needed to show our faith by going to Asheboro.  We did, and we found their little house.  We knocked on the door, and it opened!!! Glory! Anyway, Ana answered and she was SO excited to see us!!! She asked us to sit down with her on the porch and she just began telling us everything about her and her family.  They are incredible.  Five minutes in, she kind of stopped mid sentence and asked when our next baptismal service was.  We were a little stunned, but managed to say it was on the 21 of July! She mentioned that it was close, but that she was ready!!! Oh man I love the humble people here! Her husband, Alejandro, came out and said hello and was very very nice.  They have four boys who are also stellar, and we are just so glad we found them.  Que wow.  Ana talked to us for an hour and fifteen minutes about the Gospel, teaching me more than I'll ever teach her! She mentioned that she was excited to be a forever family and receive the blessings of exaltation as well.... She is so amazing and we were so blessed and thankful that we were able to make it down there and find this family.  Right now they're working on some word of wisdom things, but they're ready and excited to be baptized! We asked them to come to church which they said they'd do, but then they all ended up sick, so that was rough, but hopefully they'll come next week!

Another miracle that happened that same day was that we went finding a little in Asheboro after talking with the Galarza's.  Asheboro is a little more on the sketchy side, so we avoided some parts of the town, but then we went to one side and I got out to put a pass along on a door of one of our potentials.  There was a man working in his yard next door, and he looked so curious when he saw us with pass along cards.  We talked with him briefly, and he said his name was Victor and that he'd never heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or the Mormons.  We gave him a pass along card as well with our number and the church address written on it, and told him a little about our church.  There was something about his manner that just seemed to say he needed something in his life.  I think we will be seeing more of him soon! We invited him to church, but he didn't come this time.  If we make it to Asheboro this week, we will definitely pay him another visit :)

...And this is how I feel when Isabell won't answer the door and I can hear her kids inside...

The whole day in Asheboro I just learned that it's so important to rely on the Lord and do what He wants, not what you think is best.  Sometimes it doesn't even make sense, but then it usually comes together in one way or another :) It's kind of fantastic, the Gospel :)

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I basically just laugh all day long, mostly because of a lot of the dumb greenie missionary things I do.

FOOD!

Also, we had dinner with the Matamoro family.  They are SO funny and I love them (at least I think they're funny.... I couldn't really understand anything, but they were all laughing....).  Anyway, this was my first dinner with members.  It was an experience.  The food was beyond divine.  Que wow.  Those banana things that aren't really bananas, what are they? Can't remember.  Anyway, Hermana Matamoro fried those up and piled hamburger and mayo on top.  Sounds nasty but I'm telling you, it was fantastic.  It was super great until about halfway through when I figured out I couldn't eat much more and she was going to be offended.... I tried my hardest to eat all of it, and I almost did, but it was either eat another bite or lose all my food I had already eaten... I decided to not eat all of it.  I don't think she was super offended, because I really did eat most of it.... Haha after we left and got in the car, we both just kind of sat there in a bloated stupor, and Hermana Powell said "My legs are sore, I feel like I'm gonna pop, and I love being a missionary."  We laughed good and hard about that.  Life is good.

Hermana Powell is so great and constantly patient with me.  Gotta love a good trainer!

Well folks, sorry for the volumes.  I just love the mission so much and the people are heaven sent, literally.  If there's one thing I've learned on my mission so far, it's that it always works out.  EVERY TIME.  No matter what.  It ALWAYS works out. The Lord is in control.   He's the Gardener here :) I love this Gospel! I want to have this exhausted energy forever!! It's a wonderful thing!

Love y'all so much. 

 

....And loving it!!

Hermana Belliston

More Pictures...

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It finally rained this week and I was so excited!!!!!!!

No joke, we had to go in and get cardigans on Saturday because we were too cold and it was 73...

Classic North Carolina Sunsets

We went out to Caswell this week and I've never seen anything so pretty.  

SO green and just like a perfect story book.