Mario's Baptism

Hola y'all

What a week! Tons of miracles.  And moving! We moved again.  So my new address is 1420 Ivy Meadow Drive #1318 Charlotte NC 28213

First off, Mario's baptism was phenomenal. He's a goofball and loves to joke around, so about 15 minutes before he was supposed to be baptized, he sent us a text - "the baptism's today, right?" My word, Mario.  Yes.  You're making your first covenant with Heavenly Father in 15 minutes.  But he showed up and was super excited to be baptized.  Devin Grady was able to baptize him and it was a really sweet thing to see.  I really wish all y'all could see all these beautiful things.  It's truly incredible.  Mario has always been happy and quite spirit filled, but he came up out of the water and was a completely different person.  He was completely clean.  On Sunday, he got confirmed by Elder Mattson, the senior elder in the ward.  It was a beautiful confirmation.  I watched Mario take the sacrament, and I know that he was clean once again, just like he was when he came out of the water on Thursday. The Gospel is incredible.  It changes and refines people and it's awesome to see.  My word, I love being a missionary.

We celebrated after Mario's baptism by eating a ton of sushi and an apple pie that I made.  

It was so great. I don't really know what anyone in the picture is doing....

Ask mom if you want to see pictures of the baptism. They're much better :) 

We've also been super blessed to be finding a ton of elect people... One was Sara and her five kids (Edgar, Josef, Henry, Roberto, and Sarai).  They let us right in, and they were so excited to learn about the Book of Mormon.  It was so cute.  Then we got to stay for Henry's birthday celebration which is always a blast and a half.  He turned 13.  What a guy.

We also got to chat with someone named Ludin and her mom and daughter.  Talk about elect.  They were so interested in learning all about baptism and what we do as missionaries.  Ludin has "that thing" in her eyes.  That's always encouraging ;)

So in short, this week was great.  We loved it.

Hope you have a good week!

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Moving!

Hola Y'all,

So this week on Tuesday we found out we were moving Thursday.... needless to say my arms are still sore and I'm super tired. But hey all good. We'll be moving again this Friday- don't ask me why, that's just how it goes :p we get the lucky job of deep cleaning 3 apartments. Yikes. But it's a good time. Hna Dibble loves to clean so what can ya do? 😂

This week we had an awesome lesson with Mario and he chose a baptismal date! He's getting baptized the 25th of July! Haha - he's the best. He had his interview on Sunday, and our District Leader interviewed him.  His name is Elder MacArthur, and hes fairly new. He came out, took us aside and said, "Mario did a really good job, just a couple things. He mentioned some stuff he's done in the past that hes not sure he can get over, and he mentioned something about prison... I didn't quite catch it, but I would definitely suggest moving the date back." I think my heart actually stopped. I was quite close to tears. THEN MARIO BURST OUT LAUGHING.  Oh my word!! I lost it. Of course he passed with all the right things, and he's probably never done anything wrong in his life, but I wanted to wring Elder MacArthur's neck! They thought it was so funny but wow we were pretty mad. It was a good time...

Anyway, but that's the big news of the week. Prepare yourselves for some great baptism fotos next week :)

This is Cindy, Carlos David and Enrique. Enrique is traveling back to Honduras this week 

so we had a final goodbye today. He will get baptized in Honduras, for which we are very excited.

Devin's birthday party (same day as Elise's and the twins;))) From front left Edwin, Anthony, Hna Dibble, Darwin

Left back John, yo, Dana, and Devin. It was a blast and a half :))

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Existen Milagros

July 15, 2019

Hey y'all,

I know you're dying to know transfer news!!!!! drum roll please - Hna Dibble and I will be staying!!! for the fifth time together! This is my seventh transfer in this area, and the ninth for sister Dibble ;) we are SO blessed.  All the ward yesterday was so stressed because they were all convinced that President was going to move both of us, so they said their goodbyes and told us we had to tell them what happened.  We texted Hna Regino when we received transfer news, and she sent us a really happy text.  I'll send you a screenshot of it because it's adorable.  She said, "my husband just said the miracles exist.... let us know when you can eat." HAHA I love these people.  BLESS THEM.

Hna Regino's text

Miracle of the week: We were on exchanges.  I had Sister Davis here with me, and we had a first lesson with this guy named Mario.  He came to church last week but we didn't know him or anything, so we talked to him and set up a lesson for Thursday.  Sister Davis and I met him at the church and we just got to know him for awhile.  He's from Ecuador, and his mom is a member there. He was raised in the church but never got baptized.  He told us he's looking to start from ground zero.  He is absolutely SO funny and is the best person I've ever met.  Anyway, at the very end of our lesson, I asked him "Mario, is your goal baptism?" He looked at me for a long time then just said, "Hmmm.  Well, yeah.  But it goes beyond that.  I want to get married in the temple and have the church in my home." Oh. Ok.  It was awesome.  Yesterday we had another lesson with him, and we asked him to pray to find out when he should get baptized.  He'll be letting us know the date a little later today.  He is elect.  We will be BFF's for the rest of our lives. 

Arturo got to meet the Bishop on Thursday and they had a great lesson as well.  Bishop texted us the next day and said; "He is a great man, we spoke about many things.  We spoke about repentance and baptism.  He accepted the invitation to follow his savior Jesus Christ's example and to be baptized as long as he receives an answer from his Heavenly Father that this is the path He prepared for him."  So, Arturo will also be getting baptized shortly :) Life is so good.

All our other people are also doing so well. Cindy texted us this morning, telling us she wasn't going to to on vacation because she wants to continue talking with us and coming to church.  A two week vacation would get in the way of that so she's staying to learn more.  It was really sweet when she told us that she knew God put us in her path and that she needs to listen to us.  Heavenly Father is preparing the people!

Being a missionary is the best thing ever.  People think we're so weird and awkward, and we are, but wow there's nothing like feeling the spirit so strongly every day and being guided to the people who will love the Gospel. 

Carne asada tacos - there's nothing better!

Devin Grady, Junior Falcones, me and Sister Dibble doing a booth.

I look really dumb because I just ate a taco with jalapeño salsa on it. So sorry everyone

I hope y'all have a great week. 

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

"It's a Bummer God Blessed America"

Subject line once again due to Hna Dibble. We had a blast celebrating the 4th though! It was so fun! We had lunch with Cindy and her son, Carlos David, and their uncle, Enrique. It was soooo fun. She taught us how to make tortillas de Honduras which was a blast and a half, even if we didn't do it very well.  We had a really yummy carne asada and then 20 minutes later went to dinner at the Reginos with a lot of members.  Needless to say, I'm still full.  But totally worth it.  We had such a good time.  After that we were able to go to the Boardwalk (a place with a ton of stores and fun things to do) and talked to a ton of people.  My word I love my mission.

This week was actually the best thing that's ever happened.  I loved it.  I went on exchanges with the Kannapolis sisters, which was so fun.  We went contacting in a park and for that got to ride a carousel and a train for free.  It was such a blast.  Everyone was so nice and so great.  I loved it. 

GET THIS.  Seven people showed up to church!! I cannot tell you or describe the joy I felt.  We got a member to bring Cindy, Carlos David and Enrique, and they came in beaming and sooo excited.  Then Edwin came with his grandma. We kept looking around for Denisse and Junior, but I didn't see them. After the sacrament, Junior sent us a text  - where are sitting? Then Denisse, him, her cousin, and her daughter came and sat down next to us. Seriously folks, I've never been happier. Wow. They came and seemed to like it. Hna Dibble and I didn't know how to handle so many people there. It was the best problem I've ever had. Wow have I ever mentioned how much I love these people? It's a lot. After church, we had 2 people come to a big ward family home evening. Our ward was so happy to have met so many people and they all wanted to help us out. It was the best ever.

HAHA funny story of the week:  we ate dinner with Hna Macias.  She's nuts.  We noticed that her daughter's hair was a lot lighter than usual, so we asked her about it.  She talked and talked and talked about this magic cure, and turns out all you have to do is spray your hair with hydrogen peroxide and leave it then do it again and it dyes your hair a lighter color.  Hna Dibble commented that it looked really good and Hna Macias whips out a bottle from behind her and begins to spray her hair!! Hahaha I died laughing when she made Hna Dibble take out her hair so she could do it.  It was so funny! good news though, Hna Dibble still has hair, it's just a lot lighter than usual.

We had the best game of soccer on Saturday.  Basically all our people came and we had a blast.  President Adler came as well and a bunch of members.  It was so good.  We took a picture with Carlos David and he's basically my favorite person ever. 

Anyway. So that was my week. I hope y'all had one as good as mine.

The Gospel is the best thing ever. I love seeing people let the Atonement touch them and change them. We are working with a couple real life Lamanites, and they have decided to let go and let Christ change their lives.  Its amazing to watch and I'm so glad Heavenly Father has given me this opportunity to watch.

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

This Side of Heaven

Hello y'all,

So, my recommendation for the week is to watch The Other Side of Heaven 2.  It is phenomenal.  Don't ask. Just do. 

This is our district after watching the Other Side of Heaven 2

Now, for this Side of Heaven (otherwise known as Charlotte, North Carolina).  We had some pretty amazing miracles this week.

For starters, Enrique came to church! Enrique is the one who stopped us before we left our teaching lesson and basically begged us to teach him.  He came to church and was 15 minutes early, ready to go.  He loved it, and we taught the second hour about the Restoration.  It was so good and he just soaked it all in.  He is so ready.

The other thing is that we did a booth at a Flea Market.  We were able to talk to over 200 people, and all of them were really awesome.  I saw this one guy walking around, and he kept eyeing our booth, but he never came close.  He kept walking by, then finally I went and talked with him.  He was SO surprised to find out that we speak Spanish and readily accepted a Book of Mormon and a  restoration pamphlet.  We got his number and told him that we had church the next day.  I kind of forgot about him until around 4pm Sunday when he called us.  He apologized he wasn't able to make it to Sacrament Meeting, but asked if we could teach him in an hour.  Gladly! So we met him at the church and had one of the most spirit led lessons I've ever had.  His name is Arturo and he is amazing.  He told us that his soul is broken and he needs to be healed, but he knows he can't do it by himself.  He pleaded with us to share with him scriptures out of the Book of Mormon that would help him.  He'd never prayed before, but we taught him how and he said he'd do it.  He is truly one of the most humble people I've ever met and I love him. 

Miracles happen everyday.  It's amazing to be super close to the Spirit and tell when people are hungry for the Gospel.  So many of Heavenly Father's children really want to come home, but don't know how.  I'm so glad all of us have the chance to reach out and help the rest of Heavenly Father's children come home.  I love them.

Exchanges with Sister Powell

Just my favorite person,  eating elote 

And Hna Dibble and I. It's the closest we get to being Hispanic.

My word.  I love this place and these people.  They have changed me and I couldn't be more thankful.  Heavenly Father LOVES making miracles happen. 

Hey I love y'all.  Don't forget it ;)

....and loving it
Hermana Belliston