Herman Blessin'some

Hola y'all :)

How is the Christmas prep going? I LOVE Christmas.  Its aboutta be the best ever! We have a Christmas countdown that we are doing as an apartment and it's great. Everyone here loves talking about Jesus and wants to light the world with us. It's the greatest ever. Bienvandias al sur 😊

Well, the reason for the subject line is that we talked to this Jamaican this week who kept calling me "Sister Blessin'some."  I think I want to change my name ;) he was so cool and just reminded us to pray and thank God every day when you get out of bed. Amen!

So, we showed up to teach a lesson, and the family was
having a birthday party. It was so fun! Also,
I didn't catch that they said the cake was mocha
until after I'd eaten a little bit of it... but I didn't finish it!! 🤫

Not a ton happened this week. We traveled to South Carolina to do a booth and we talked to a bunch of Columbians. They are literally my favorite people ever.

We had a ward talent show this week which was a blast. I was reminded how Hispanics cant sing all too well and it was the greatest. Hermana Koerner and I danced. She did some modern stuff and I pulled out my rusty Irish.  It was so fun!

Other than that, we did a zone service project in the pouring rain which was good. We kind of looked like drowned rats afterward, but it was good! With light the world, we are really trying to involve other people from other religions to join us. So far it's been awesome. We have some good plans to do some caroling and help out at some homeless shelters. Light the world is such a great opportunity to serve!! I hope yall can make time to participate this year.

Zone service project - picking up trash at a VERY clean park...

Sister Jackman and I. She's in my apartment and she's awesome. 

Well. I sure love yall :) hope you have a great week :)

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Día de Acción de Gracias

Hola y'all!

Well, Hispanic Thanksgiving is where it's at :)

I don't actually remember a lot of what happened this week, but let me tell ya about Dia de Gracias.

So, we went to interviews with President Adler on Tuesday, and we asked him what he was going to do on Thanksgiving. He told us he was going to play fútbol, and we got all excited because where there's fútbol, there's Hispanos. Then he told us to call the Assistants and get the address and time and come! So on Thursday morning,  we showed up and played the most legit game of fútbol ever with our president and the assistants. Hermana Dibble and I played on the same team as President and the assistants, and this kid named Jack (note for Jack Hart: he is your age and he totally beat all the adults at soccer and it totally reminded me of you. Keep it up and we'll play when I get home). Our team creamed the other ward and the other hermanas. It was awesome and I loved every second of it. We invited this Ecuadorian to come play with us as he was just jogging around the field, and then he creamed them too. It was literally the best to see President Adler playing his favorite sport. Pictures to follow.

After that, no one was super interested in hearing our message, so we went to familia Granados for dinner. It was soooooooo good. Take aTurkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, then make it Hispanic and that's what we ate. Wow. It was divine. Would recommend to a friend. Then we sang a bunch of hymns with them and just had a good time.

Obviously with this time of year I've been feeling very blessed and have been noticing all the blessings that I have and that we have as members of the church.  Que wow. It's pretty overwhelming when I  start counting all the blessings I have! I am so grateful for my family and friends and all yall do for me. I couldn't be out on a mission without yall :) of course the biggest thing I'm grateful for is Jesus Christ and His gospel. It is such a privilege to be a representative of Him and to wear His name. He is our Savior and He loves each of us more than we can comprehend. I am so excited for this season where we can contemplate more on what He did for us and how we can share that message with others.

I love yall! Hope yall have a great week. Stay warm! ❄☃️

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Seis Meses

Hola y'all :)

Yep. I hit 6 months on the 16 and my word I about lost it. Super weird and crazy and will someone please push the brakes. It's going way too fast. I remember when my trainer hit 6 months and I literally laughed because I thought, "yeah, I'll never get to that point."  It's all lies.

Life is good. We had a phenomenal zone conference this past week and it blew me away. President Stanfield of the area presidency came and spoke and it was so powerful. He allowed us to ask questions and he answered them divinely. He talked a lot about aligning our will to Heavenly Father's. I've discovered that is a lot easier said than done, but it is so well worth the effort. Y'all know the scripture about many are called but few are chosen? One elder asked how to know if we've been chosen. Elder Stanfield looked at him and said "choose to be chosen. Align your will to God's,  and you have made the choice to be His chosen servant." It was a very inspired meeting and I learned so much.

The first Spanish District ever!

 Sister Tebbs, Sister Jackman, Sister Taniguchi, Sister Dibble, 

yo, Sister Koerner, and Elder and Sister Mattson, the district leader. 

I'm currently teaching Sister Jackman and Sister Koerner the ways of the Hispano. 

It's the best (please say that with a Hispanic accent)!

Our barrio!!!

So, one night we were out tracting.  It was dark and SO cold and yes, I was a little on the grumpy side. But we were knocking doors, not finding any Hispanics. BUT, we knocked on this one door and this lovely family from Honduras let us in and absolutely adored us. My word. We prayed with them and read from the scriptures and they kept asking why we hadn't visited them before. They were so amazing and so sweet. They want us to come back tonight and make baleadas (the best Hispanic food ever) and talk more with them. They also took some pictures with us because they were amazed at a couple of white, blonde girls speaking Spanish. It's such a great wow factor ;)

Familia from Honduras -
Jaymi is the girls name but there are 7 of them

Well y'all, in the spirit of the week, I am so grateful for each of you. I'm grateful and very humbled to be a servant of the Lord and to preach among His Lamanites. I am so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He loves me. I know He suffered and died for each of us. His Gospel brings light and joy wherever it is received.

I sure love y'all and hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving. Mix it up and make some tamales to go along with your Turkey ;)

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

What a Week!

Hola Y'all,

So I'm in Charlotte now, the big city 😂 it's really really cold and filled with Hispanos. Life is good :)

Not a ton happened this week, but Hermana Coleman and I had a fun last few days. We got rear ended by someone and it dented our trunk pretty good, and we both freaked out for a second because we didn't know what to do, but now it's all good. Good times! I also said goodbye to Juan and Tanya, our most recent converts. I already miss them but Hermana Workman and Coleman will have a blast  in Piedmont :)

RIP the car

Sister Roundy and I- she trained my trainer
 and is therefore my grandmother.

Juan and Tanya - sorry it's blurry. 

I met Sister Koerner on Thursday and we just unpacked and got to know each other a little better. We are both new to the area, so we're starting from ground 0. She doesn't speak much Spanish at all, so I get to teach her :) It's aboutta be great! We live with the Sister Training Leaders which is awesome besides the fact that our room in particular is infested with cockroaches. Yep.

Service with the old district. 

Hermano Argueta, our ward mission leader, and his wife.
We had dinner with them the day before I left.

Hermana Espinal drove us to transfers. She is Dominican and 

the funniest lady in the world. I love these people!!

Well, I sure love y'all :) I hope you have a great week. I love this gospel! It's true so don't y'all forget it!

....and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Transfers!

Hola y'all!

We just got transfer news this morning, and I will be heading to Charlotte!! Woot! Craziness is aboutta happen... So, my new companion is Sister Koerner, and she doesn't speak Spanish. She s been out a little longer than me, but President wants her to learn now, so I get to train her. We will be staying in the Sister Training Leaders’ apartment, and one of them, Sister Jackson, will also be learning to speak Spanish. I'm really excited to help them learn. If y'all have any good ideas for how to teach a different language, let me know, por favor.

This is the new apartment number, just so you know

8726 Avebury Drive Apt A
Charlotte, NC 28213-3163

My district - we're nuts!

I'm pretty sad to leave Piedmont, but it'll be a really good change. This week was slow, but really good. While on exchanges with Sister Roundy, we had a lesson with Paulino, one of our new people. We've had one lesson with him, but felt impressed to invite him to baptism. He accepted and is preparing to be baptized the 24 of this month! He is so amazing. Yesterday we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, and he told us he wasn't going to drink coffee anymore. No questions. Just did it. WOW. I absolutely love these people. They are incredible.

We got to watch the movie Coco with Silvia and the young women's President, Hermana McGannon. If you haven't watched it, do it. If you can, watch it in Spanish because it's 10000x better :) it's about Family History and Hispanic culture. It was super great and very fun.  I loved it a lot.

Movie night - seriously, watch Coco!

Exchanges with Sister Roundy.

Also, we had something called Patemongo. Oh My. I really don't think I've ever eaten anything so gross. Pig feet and cow stomach. Wow. Smelled kind of like someone boiled rotten socks. And it kind of tasted like it too.I tried to eat it, but was super unsuccessful. But now I've got a good story 😂

We were tracting in a trailer park this week, and the sketchiest ice cream truck rolled by, so of course we went and got ice cream. Life is a blast with Hermana Coleman.

Sketchiest ice cream truck out there!

Dinner with the Gaspars... I LOVE THEM 

Well, this letter is going to be really short. This week in particular I've been grateful for the Plan of Salvation. Many people don't have the hope and joy that we have simply because they don't know why they are here or where they go after they die. We have this beautiful knowledge and I'm so grateful to be able to share that with everyone I come in contact with. Thanks for all your love and support! Have a great week y'all :)

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

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