Happy New Year!

December 31, 2018
Hola y'all!!

Feliz año nuevo!!!! Wow. Time flies y'all.  Last year I didn't even know I was going to be in the best mission ever, and here I am, eating tamales and preaching repentance.  Good news!!

All of us crazies in this kind of dark, blurry picture are me, 

Sister Jackman, Sister Tebbs, Sister Koerner

Did I have rice, meat, salad, a baked potato, and tamales for Christmas dinner? 

Yes. And it was divine.

Anyway, highlight of the week was definitely talking with my family! Wow. I just love them.

Christmas Eve was so awesome. We made gingerbread houses and then when we got home, we put all our mattresses in the living room and took a ton of pictures and had a good time. Then our wonderful zone leaders dropped off a huge package for us. Wow. It was awesome. So great. 

Then Christmas was sooo fun!! We opened presents and listened to all the great Christmas music.  Then we went and spent the day with our members. It was so fun! We ate a bunch of really yummy food and played some fun games. Our members are the greatest. Also, the day after Christmas was 60 degrees. #blessed.

This Christmas I was able to focus on Christ and I have never felt so much joy. He truly is the reason for everything, not just the season! I believe in Him and know He is our Savior.  I'm going to try to give something to Him every month this year. It's such a small thing, but something I can do to show my gratitude to Him :)

We still see miracles and are able to find a lot of people who are willing to listen to the message of the restored gospel. Being a missionary is great :)  I would LOVE to tell you more about my Lamanites. They are incredible and here is a short rundown:
Santos Barrantes: part member family. He comes to church, participates in Sunday school, knows all the members, watches/reads general conference talks, and just doesn't want to get baptized. Well, he needs to get baptized, he's just afraid of sinning after being baptized. He is so great though.
Lizzy Ferrer: she also wants to get baptized and has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but she's very busy with things of the world. She manages several stores across NC, just doesn't have time to apply gospel principles. 
Elsy: lives in SC, and is very timid. She has wonderful questions about the gospel and restoration.  She is very elect, just needs to come to church.
There are a few others, but they aren't progressing as much. I will try to keep you more updated!

All those little Chicas are from Dalia's house (she's in the middle). 

She is our relief society president and is incredible.

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

December 24, 2018

Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

Y'all are the best and I love you to death. I hope you are enjoying the season and hopefully a white Christmas :)

 I love this season that we have to focus on Christ and His life and birth. It is so beautiful! I know He lives and loves us more than we can comprehend. People out here love talking about Him here and I have been able to hear so many good testimonies about Him.

We were able to do service for the homeless people this week. We put together sack lunches and handed out clothes and food to them. They were so grateful and happy all the time. It was so fun and it just made me happy! Good times.

I just love y'all. Thank you for all your support and love. It is such a blessing to have y'all in my life. Heavenly Father loves us and He loves blessing us!! I'll see y'all soon ;)

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

And also we played soccer with President Adler and his sons  - it was literally Germany versus Mexico and it was a blast. They all have hardcore German accents and it's great. We didn't get a picture, but Hna Koerner and I took one before we left.

And we made....

Mission Wide Conference

December 18, 2018

Feliz Navidad a todos!!

This week was pretty normal. Except yesterday when we had a mission wide Christmas conference!! Woot. It was so great!! All the missionaries were in one place and it was great. I got to see all my previous companions (all two of them) and it was great :)  Mostly it was a bunch of really great music and some funny talents. We played gospel trivia and Charlotte Central Zone won!!! Woot. We had Hna Taniguchi on our team though, and she is truly a very smart Asian so that's probably why. Anyway, then we sang Silent Night for President and Sister Adler in German and it was really sweet and they were really touched. President Adler gave us some words of wisdom for the upcoming year. It was a very spiritual conference and I wish y'all could've been there to hear it.
We also got transfer news and our whole district is the same :) another 6 weeks in Charlotte!

Other than that, the week was pretty regular with some pretty awesome lessons. It's just such a great time to be a missionary and to talk with people about Christ and His birth. I hope y'all are still lighting the world and helping others feel the Christmas Spirit :)

Well, I'm really excited to see y'all next week!! Yay for Christmas and for the miracles that it brings. I love Jesus Christ and am so grateful for His life and example. Gracias a él, tenemos todo lo que necesitamos.

Les amo mucho!!!
Hermana Belliston

NIEVE!!!!

Hola y'all!!

Yes. That's right. It SNOWED!!! everyone told me that it doesn't snow until January or February. Well, joke's on y'all.  We are about to have a white Christmas!

Basically just LOTS of snow and ice. So fun. 

Literally all the bread and milk is gone from the stores. 

All school is closed. No one is at work. Wow.

Not a ton happened this week. We were on bike week and I was sick for the first few days, so we didn't get too much accomplished. But we did bike six and a half miles to see a referral, and on the way there, we talked to a man who was convinced that he's been to the North Pole and that he talks with Santa every other day. Very interesting, but his yard was nice! It had a ton of lights. Other than that though, it was a pretty normal week. Alberto told us we need to repent and humble ourselves because we believe in a prophet..... not sure how all that works but oh well. There ya have it.

I hope y'all know how much I love this gospel. It truly is a joy and it brings so much light and happiness into the lives of those who receive it. Its amazing. I hope y'all are lighting the world and looking for opportunities to serve :) it's the greatest thing you can do!!

Stay warm, stay dry, stay safe!

...and loving it
Hermana Belliston

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