Pasa Milagros

Oh my goodness y'all,  has the day of miracles ceased?? Has the sun ceased to shine?? Have I stopped loving the mission?? No to all of the above.

Hace frío here in Greensboro, but it's BEAUTIFUL. We were just out playing a hardcore game of fútbol and it was a perfect temperature.  All the leaves are starting to change and it's the best thing of my life. I wish y'all could see it in person.

Okay, the milagros really haven't stopped since the CCM, but this week they just went wild.
Background info: At Spanference, President Adler gave us permission to use an apartment in Burlington that they own but no one is currently living there.  We use it so we can sleep over and save miles on our car. So last Tuesday we went up to Burlington to sleep over. On the way I commented to Hna Coleman how nice it would be if I could just eat some mashed potatoes... Hispanos don't believe in potatoes I swear... anyway, we get there, I open the cupboard, and lo and behold - potatoes. Oh man they were the best potatoes I've eaten in five months! Also, the only potatoes I've eaten in five months.... miracles.

We were also out of food the next day while walking around Burlington, and our stomachs were growling pretty good.  We knocked on this door, and they were members! We talked to them, and of course, they gave us something to eat - mangos. "Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink" - because Hispanos will always bless you with the best kind of nourishment.

But of course, the miracles don't stop there. Oh no. In order to reach our monthly goal as a district to find, we needed to get 10 more people this past week... that's pretty rough to do here so we were a little discouraged by that. But, I feel like Heavenly Father just thinks, "oh, just calm down, I've got it under control. "
We went to have a lesson with Crispina, and we're very disappointed to find out she wasn't home when she told us she was going to be. Her 19 year old daughter Mariana was there though, and we've sort of taught her before, but our main focus has been Crispina. So, we start talking with her, when her two younger siblings come in as well. Hna Coleman suddenly just makes the Book of Mormon come alive and the kids were fascinated!! It was very, very sweet to see two of them pouring over a Book of Mormon, reading intently and understanding what was happening. When we finished reading 3 Nephi 11, Mariana said "wait, what happens next? Jesus healed all the people in Jerusalem, so what did he do here? I don't want to wait!" Those are words every missionary wants to hear. Wow. We simply handed her the Book, and I think she took the hint ;) we then went outside and pet their very cute pet rabbit.

But, do miracles stop there? Of course not! On a whim (a spirit-led whim) we decided to knock a random trailer park. We talked to a bunch of really, really nice and potential people, but nothing really stood out. We were passing by one trailer, and it looked like a white person house, so we almost passed by. Well, we decided to knock, just in case. We knocked, and an older Lamanites woman answered the door. Before we could even say Hola, she opens it wider and says the best word ever: "pasenle." I.e. come in. Yes, we would love to come in. It's amazing how easy Gospel conversation flows. We met her, her husband Santos, and their 19-year-old daughter Fatima. All of them were so nice, and Santos has been to our church before.  They moved here recently from El Salvador, they don't speak a lick of English, and they are kind of lonely. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and Santos was excited to read it and said they would prepare questions for us next time we come :) wow. We were pretty overwhelmed with gratitude when we left that little trailer..... but it just didn't stop! We walked out, and literally right in front of our eyes was a real life game of fútbol. We invited ourselves, and played with the best 9 year old players I've ever seen. And yes, my team won, 2-1. We felt like the most legit Hispanic missionaries EVER! Also, we now have a pretty sick soccer ball, and we're getting pretty good at playing.

Anyway, the miracles really don't stop there, but this letter is rather long. God is good!! He loves His children!!

...and loving it

Love y'all
Hermana Belliston

Hurricanes...Hurricanes...Hurricanes

Hola y'all

A phenomenal object lesson featuring our District Leader 

and his companion, and my lovely companion. 

So, we're sitting in District Council, and Elder Stump pipes up and says "Greensboro is directly in the path of Hurricane Michael!" Hermana Coleman and I look at each other like, what? I thought well, it can't be that bad because no one has said anything, no billboards have been showing the weather, all the gas stations still have gas, and the bread aisle at Wal-Mart still exists. Well, we wake up the next day, and we get a text telling all missionaries to stay inside. Grounded. Again. Hermana Coleman almost threw her tablet she was so mad. I just wanted to find out why because it was barely sprinkling... But then it started to pick up and it POURED! I have never seen so much rain and wind. It was very exciting. We lost power for about 16 hours so a lot of our food in the fridge and freezer went bad, but other than that, we were good. The next day it was bright and sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. Sometimes North Carolina weather is even weirder than Logan weather. After the Hurricane, it's been very fresco outside, and you can definitely smell fall in the air. It's beautiful, as always :)

How we felt being stuck inside all day without luz. Very flattering, I know. 

When our power went out, we had a light up cactus 

from Hermana Coleman's mom, and some candles left 

from some Catholics who must have lived here before us..

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting Paulino, a friend of Familia Gaspar. He is incredible. He is from Mexico and he told us he loves the peace he feels inside the Gaspar's home. We are so excited to begin teaching him how he can find the same peace in his life.

Honestly folks, I'm the most blessed person. These people truly are a chosen people. They are all so humble and willing to give you everything they have. Many of our members went to help clean up Wilmington, the spot that got nailed by the Hurricane, even though they really can't speak English or understand a bunch. I just love these people.

I hope y'all are starting to reread the conference talks. There are so many promises and blessings that they promised us! We are so blessed to know that we have a living prophet who leads us.
Well, I love y'all a ton. I hope you have a great week!

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Conference P. S.

Emma sent an email to me about her feeling about General Conference. Here is a portion of that email...

Conference was a doozy that's for sure! I was blown away.  So great.  I got a swimming pool full of inspiration.  Something fun for me: Sister Cordon and I are on the same page.  When she talked about Matthew 25:44, I had read it the day before.  I recognized the word SAW in the verse and circled it and put off in the margin sometimes we need to look/search.  She literally said the same thing in her talk! Haha I felt so inspired!

General Conference was seriously so good though.  I was so struck by President Nelsons promise to us about opening the nations of the earth if we just use the name of Christs church correctly.  Wow.  It really hit me hard.  I had to do some repenting for taking that too lightly before.  Now I know better and I'm grateful for the opportunity to beat Satan at his little game.  The Lord knows what He's doing.  We watched the fourth session with a member of one of the English wards, and she kept saying some pretty offensive things about President Nelson and I was actually pretty angry with her.  She was just rude and asked if we thought he had been storing up these ideas, just waiting for the day when he could take over and make the changes he wants to make.  I was greatly offended by that, but just bore testimony that sometimes its best to make changes when changes occur, such as a new prophet.  I know that President Nelson is inspired of God and that God speaks to him.  I felt so good about all the changes that are occurring.  Everything is just going to be so great! The Lord is doing some hastening and pruning of his vineyard and its so amazing to be on this side, helping Him to prune.

Conferencia General

Hola y'all, 

At this very moment I am eating homemade tacos... we made the tortillas with our tortilla press, Hermana Coleman made the Pico with cebolla, tomate, y cilantro. WOW. Then I made some pretty good chicken and we put avocado on the side. After a squirt of lime and a few drops of hot sauce, I think I tasted a bit of Hispanic heaven. Wow. 

Yes, this is the taco. It was divine.

So life is basically phenomenal! Haha I really do love every day. It's very different with Hermana Coleman but we always get so much done and we always have a ton of fun!! She is a great example to me and I'm learning a ton from her. 

Hermana Coleman sharing the gospel with every

nation, kindred, tongue and people...

They call Hermana Coleman "Mexican Mama." 

Last week we found over 10 different kinds of Ramen

at WalMart. #livingthelife

Hermana Coleman's mom sent a huge package full of Hispanic stuff, 

so of course we had to put literally every thing on top of Hermana Coleman. 

Everyday here in Piedmont is hilarious :)

Just a couple stories from this week. We were out in the gold mine of Hispanics (trailer parks) and we heard some party music, so we migrated toward it. There were a bunch of people just dancing and celebrating something. A random teenager asked us if we wanted some food and we always do, so he got us plates of pork and rice and beans. Very delicious.  We asked him what the big fiesta was about and he said "oh, my sister got baptized today." Oh. How nice. He pointed to a tiny little girl and said "that's her. She just turned two." We said "so your parents are pretty religious?" He responded "oh heck no, they just went today. Sometimes they go on Christmas." That struck me as very funny at the moment: two missionaries in the middle of a baptismal party for a two year old.... technically we had a baptism this week!!  jaja But then I was thinking about it, and I am so grateful for the respect and attention we give to the sacred ordinance of baptism. I was also reminded that it's very special that the eight-year-olds who are baptized can choose to be baptized and can remember that very special day for the rest of their lives. What an amazing blessing!!

Other than that, the week was pretty slow and uneventful. I was so grateful we could watch General Conference though!! So many great changes and so many inspired talks! I loved the talk by Elder Uchtdorf about Believing, Loving, and Doing. It is a perfect formula for discipleship. I think in the next few years we are going to see a lot of changes in the world, but if we are truly devoted and consecrated disciples, we won't need to fear, but we will be able to be a light to the world. 

Dinner, watching the sunset on top of a 9 story parking garage. 

I haven't seen over the tops of the trees for 4 months!! It was so nice to see the world

Well I love you all! I hope you know that I know the church is true and that I love it. President Nelson is truly a prophet called of God and it is such a privilege to listen to his words. I know that if we apply the things he talked about in our lives, not only will we have a more abundant life, but through our combined efforts, We will see the nation's of the earth be opened to hear the gospel, just as he promised. 

Have a great week!!

...and loving it

Hermana Belliston

Hermana Coleman!!

Hola y'all! 

All is good in the NCCM!!! Hermana Coleman and I are basically besties and I LOVE this girl. She is crazy fiesty and is sooooo good at being a missionary. She is also super hilarious so that's a plus. She came in and we've already started changing Piedmont. Life is so good when Hermana Coleman is around.

Not much else but transfers happened this week... 

Last frozen hot chocolate with Hermana Powell

Our Ward Mission Leader and his wife with

Hermana Powell. Hispanos refuse to smile. 

They are from Honduras!

This transfer is going to be so great. Piedmont area has kind of died a little bit, so we made this legit vision of how we want Piedmont to look like by the end of the transfer (also, you have to say it in a deep, movie theater voice)…
"This transfer, don't be surprised if you see Michael Jackson recording music videos in the trailer park because the best way to describe the Piedmont Spanish Area will be THRILLER not only because this month happens to be Halloween, but because, coming soon, that which was dead will be brought back to life."
Pretty awesome, right? ;) haha we are just a couple of crazy gringas who think we can be cool ;)

Anyway, I hope y'all know that this Gospel is happiness.  We talked to a man who told us that he wished everyone could see the world as we see it and have this joy that we have.  Good news: everyone can have this happiness and joy! no se preocupe! Life is so good.  The Gospel is what makes life worth living! I am literally having the time of my life meeting some crazy people, getting doors slammed in my face, trying not to die when eating some crazy spicy Hispanic food, and just over all enjoying seeing the miracle of conversion.  The church is so true.  Hermana Coleman told me that if the church wasn't true, the missionaries would have proved that a long time ago.  Honestly, I really am still a teenager, and the elders are even younger than that, but they send us out here to teach the most important thing anyone can ever hear and expect us to bring them home to Christ.  If the church weren't true, you can bet that the missionaries would have proven that ages ago.  More good news: the Church is true! 

Well, I sure love y'all and I hope you are enjoying the last bit of summer! Its going to get really pretty here in NC soon!

...And loving it

Hermana Belliston