We Don't Do Mormons...

August 27, 2018

Hola Y'all! So, not a lot happened this week yet again, but I have some stories.

First off, David is doing SO well. We talked about the commandments this week, and he has zero problems with any of them. He really is just a dry Mormon. He has this never ending thirst for knowledge, and thinks that there is a lot more to the Gospel than there really is for us to teach him. He wants to know everything about the church, but he needs to get baptized first. On Wednesday, we talked about the temple and how our goal is to one day be married in the temple and start an eternal family. Without missing a beat, he told us we better invite him to our weddings! Oh, you better believe he's coming to my wedding, and he'll be baptized by then too ;) We plan on putting him on date tonight!!!

We've been doing a lot of work with inactives and menos activos, and we've been having success! It's amazing to me at how much love I feel for these people! they are truly amazing, and Heavenly Father has so many blessings in store for them! These Lamanites really are the greatest and I love them so much. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world :)

We had interviews with President and Sister Adler, and I just love those people more and more every day. Our interviews were supposed to be at 11:45-12:15, but President Adler LOVES to talk, so ours ended up being at 3. Only 4 hours later ;) it was great and I'd never miss out on a chance to talk with him. I asked him a question, and I think it applies to everyone, missionary or not. I asked him how I can know that I'm serving with my heart, might, mind, and strength. That's a pretty big order! He looked at me for a bit, then said "Do you feel close to your Savior?" I said yes, of course, and he said "Well, then you know you are serving with your heart, might, mind, and strength. If you're close to the Savior, then He is happy with you, and because He is happy with you, you can know you are giving it your all." Wow. I love it because it applies to all of us, no matter what we happen to be doing or no matter our situation. If we are close to the Savior, we are doing right.

Okay, so Saturday was super crazy! We didn't know really what to do, but then we got a referral! Yay! so blessed. So we went to go find him. Unfortunately, he wasn't home, but we had some formers in the area we thought we'd try. We parked next to this little blue house, and decided to knock on the door, just to see. It opened a tiny crack, and a man said "what do you want?" well, we just told him we were missionaries. "Thanks, but we don't do Mormons. We're on the same side, but we don't do Mormons." Oh. Okay! I laughed pretty hard as we walked away.... But luckily we found someone else at home! We knocked, and an old lady opened. "Que paso?" she asked us. Um. We were a little confused, so then she asked us what we wanted. I replied we just wanted to get to know her. She sighed this really heavy sigh, then opened the door and told us to come in. We were SO confused! But we went in, and got to talking about her 13 children. Her name is Angelina and she loves the Word of God. We weren't really sure why she let us in, but then out of the blue she asked us if she could come to our church. Of course! We got a ride figured out for her and she actually came and enjoyed it! The Lord works in mysterious ways, folks! But it was such a tender mercy just to find this cute little old toothless woman and talk with her about Heavenly Father. On the way back from her house, we passed the little blue house again, and the man was sitting on the porch. He yelled out to us that he was sorry, and hoped he didn't offend us, but that we needed to be careful in the neighborhood. He talked with us about Joseph Smith and how Zion absolutely can't be here in the America's, but that he appreciated what we were doing. So, the man who doesn't do Mormon's talked with us for about 15 minutes about Joseph Smith and how everyone just needs to be friends. Yep. The South is the best :)

Well, that's about it! Life is really great. It's been a little cooler this week which has been nice. NC really is the prettiest place on earth. Lots of people have huge gardens, and when we see a plant we don't know the name to, we knock and ask what it is! It's actually a pretty fun and effective way of finding, believe it or not!

I hope y'all are doing well! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and wants the best for you :)

....and loving it :)
Hermana Belliston

Vivimos en una manera feliz

Hola Y'all!

This week seemed to go by pretty fast! I'm now entering my next 6 weeks of training, and I will say I'm excited! Life is so great.  Being a missionary is the best :)

I hit three months this week apparently... time flies when you're spreading joy! We celebrated by making banana pudding.  Seriously the best food on the face of the planet.  I will make some for y'all when I come home, no se preocupe.  

Hermana Guiral is the primary president, and after church yesterday, I was just plunking around on the piano, and she comes flying in "Hermanita!!! Por favor puede tocar el piano el domingo proximo??!" She was ecstatic that I "know" how to play, and now I have a list of primary songs to learn for next week.... Haha I'm very excited actually and I hope the kids will forgive a lot of wrong notes and awkward pauses :) I have decided though that sharing the Gospel through primary songs is about the best thing ever.  So simple but true - literally the essence of the Gospel.

We had lessons with Ruby and David this week which was great.  Both are such great individuals and we love them a ton.  David is about the most humble person I know, and he is so ready to hear the Gospel :) We really love him.  We sang a Child's Prayer for him, and he really enjoyed it.  He sings songs to his 3 year old Daryel all the time and it's the cutest thing.  He also prayed the most sincere, heartfelt prayer I've ever heard! He hasn't been willing to pray as yet, so it was a HUGE tender mercy.  I literally felt like I was walking on clouds after.  You'd think it's such a small, inconsequential thing - a prayer - but it makes a world of difference.  It's so amazing to see people start to change and start to feel the spirit present in their lives.  I am so very very blessed to be an instrument in seeing that happen!

Yesterday we were in Asheboro trying to get in contact with Ana and Alejandro, but they weren't home which was a huge bummer.  But we saw a bunch of Hispanics sitting on a porch outside, so we walked over and started talking with them.  One had been baptized when he was 8 in Mexico, but he doesn't remember anything about the church because he immediately went inactive.  They were all drinking beer, and one of the ladies told us the best time to come say hello was Saturday mornings when they were all sober..... I laughed pretty hard to say the least ;) They weren't really drunk yet, which was good, and they all accepted Article of Faith cards and one of them (the wife of the "member") asked for a "Mormon Bible."  The others were all actually really curious (could've been the beer), but we gave them one and they legitimately wanted us to come back next week! haha I love North Carolina :)

Also, yesterday at church was amazing! Oh man! We had two less active/inactive families show up, and they both brought non-member friends!! Haha I love that!! Pasa milagros! It was AWESOME! I about died of happiness.  Not to mention the members who brought people as well... So this week our teaching pool could potentially double :) Mi corazon.... I love it.  Sundays have been pretty disappointing in the past, but yesterday I couldn't stop smiling.  Heavenly Father is so good and blesses me with more than I can ever deserve! Sometimes it's actually super overwhelming.  

Thanks so much for your support and help! Y'all are the greatest and I love y'all so much! I hope y'all have a very blessed week :)

....and loving it!

Hermana Belliston

It looks like the cloud is casting a shadow on the sky.... Nothin' Could Be Finer!!

As always, making sure our less actives feel loved ;)

Pasa Milagros

Hola Y'all,

Life here in Piedmont is rollin.'  Not much to say but I'll try to make it interesting ;) I have a couple of really interesting stories though, so be prepared ;)

We met a lady named Consuelo on Tuesday.  She is AWESOME.  Super not Hispano though her name is.  She had a great Southern drawl and she talked to us for close to an hour.... whoops.  Anyway, she's got 11 kids (2 sets of twins and a triplet as well).  She talked to us about the perilous times we live in and how "beautiful babies" like us need to be careful.  Ooohhh  that drawl is beautiful ;) She told us to love and respect our parents and to call them up every night and tell them "mama, I sure love ya 'n respet ya.  Thanks for all ya do for me." So there you go, to all the mom's out there from Consuelo to you ;)  It was great.

On Tuesday night we had dinner with the Vazques familia, and I saw first hand the wrath of a Latina madre.  Que wow.  One of Hermana Vazques's daughters was asking if she could go out on Friday and Hermana Vazques hit the table with a spoon and went off in a streak of Spanish.  I jumped, and Hermana Powell was dying trying not to laugh.  It was pretty hilarious because their bark is SO much worse than their bite.  

We were in our office on Thursday morning, and as we were leaving I saw this nice black lady sitting in a rocking chair.  I said "ma'am I sure love your hair!" and she responded with "Praise God!!" It surprised me, but then I asked her if she wanted a picture of Jesus and she nodded and said "Hallelujah."  Have I mentioned I love the South?

So, for the past couple of weeks things have been really really slow.  We haven't taught many lessons and we haven't seen very many people.  I get SO frustrated when we don't have lessons because that is why I'm here! One day we decided to try Karla, a lady who had never been home because she works two jobs.  Well, she finally opened the door, invited us in, and we taught her the first discussion! She agreed to basically everything we said and said if we needed anything, to call her and let her know.  She works a TON so we're not sure when we'll be able to get back with her, but that was a miracle for us! Not to mention the next day, we felt prompted to go to Thomasville and Lextington, both of which are bien lejo.  Anyway, we got down there and taught two other lessons! Folks, I haven't taught a lesson in weeks and I taught three in two days! Que wow.  Can I get a hallelujah?! When we listen to what the Lord has to say to us, He will guide us.  It's that simple.  

Remember David? Well, since we had our lessons with him about Baptism, he hasn't texted, called, or answered his door.  We were basically frantic this whole week trying to get ahold of him.  Finally, yesterday he sent us a little text that started with "Mis queridas hermanitas..." My dear sisters! then he went on to explain that he'd been working a lot that week and had just been too busy.  HUGE weight lifted off our shoulders and we have plans to visit him again this week :)  Also, at church yesterday Irma Giron (inactive for 14 years with a nonmember spouse and children) came to church along with the inactive/nonmember family Sanchez!!! Along with Hermano Verduzco.  I felt so blessed.  Sunday's have always been a struggle because no one will come to church! But yesterday it was great and everything worked out so well :)

Anyway, hope you know how much I love y'all :) Things really do always work out.  Weird.

... and loving it :)

Hermana Belliston

Doesn't happen very often, but we ran into the Burlington sisters while we were out in the rain one day.  Super duper fun and they're great.  The blond one (Sister Smith) came out the same time as me.

I don't know what the deal is with this, but in Lexington there are pigs all over the place with Cardinals on them.... kinda wack but a super cute little town.

We were taking pictures for Facebook in Lexington, and this is one that I liked :) if you have any brilliant ideas for a caption, let me know ;)

And last but not least, El Libro de Mormon.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book.  It has a power beyond any book on the Earth, folks.  Read it and love it and you're life will be so much more full of the Spirit.

From the Mission Office

I received this email last week and thought you might like to see Emma's mission president and his wife...

"Just wanted to share these photos with President and Sister Adler.

Thank you for sending Sister Belliston!

Sister Kitchen
Mission Office"

Busy Day

Emma sent photos today, but had appointments and didn't have time to write. She said, "Please let everyone know how much I love them and how I pray for yall every day :) "

New Missionary Training with Hermana Powell

New Missionary training was awesome! I learned so much about heeding the promptings of the Spirit and I absolutely loved it.  It's super great how Heavenly Father works with his mission presidents to let them know exactly what their missionaries need to hear.

  

Hops Burgers..... Que wow.  

I've never had a burger this good.  We were on exchanges and I ate the whole burger and all my fries... 

I really wonder what Sister Price thinks of me.  Your stomach gets bigger in Spanish land, okay?

It was raining, the sun was completely shining, and there was this beautiful double rainbow.  

Literally raining sunshine.

 

I really didn't think sunsets could get better, but they do! 

I commented to Hermana Powell that Heavenly Father must have a lot of fun creating things like that.  

It's pretty amazing.  

The sun here is SO great! 

I don't know why it's so different!

"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