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

"It Smells Like Burnt Peanut Butter Wood..."

Hola Y'all!!

Wow.  What a week.  Hold on to your sombreros, folks.
So, we did some service por fin!!! It was awesome! We got to help some of our members rip carpet out of their basement and break apart bookshelves because their basement flooded when the hurricane passed through.  It was SO great! Also, I'm really not used to the humidity I guess.  I was DRENCHED with sweat, and we barely did anything! It was literally getting into my eyes and running down my face.  SUPER nasty.  But that's not all.  I had some latex gloves on, and when I took them off, sweat went everywhere! It was literally dripping off my fingers and my fingers were all wrinkled! I'm really sorry, that's nasty, but I had to tell y'all! It was awesome.  It was such a good day!

You can't really see it very well here, but this is what we cleared out of the 

Sabogals basement.  Such a good time!

We were up in Burlington this week, and we decided to get dinner at 4 PM at Wendy's.  Very random.  But we went to Wendy's, and there just happened to be two hispanos checking out! We got talking to them (surprise, two VERY white girls can speak y'alls language) and they asked us to come over to their house and teach them!!! Okay what?? They gave us their numbers and their address, we visited them yesterday, and they're amazing! They asked us what they need to do to be saved, so we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they were super open and intent.  It was amazing.  So basically, the Elect hide out in Wendy's.  It's awesome.  They also want us to teach their kids.  We are so blessed.

We had a lesson with Silvia about faith and how it's a little seed.  

We planted this with her and asked her to take care of it everyday.  

She is SO great and she has been watching over it since the lesson. 

We were all over the place this week.  We got to teach a bunch and visit.  We also had exchanges which is always nice for a change of pace, though very intimidating because I have to speak Spanish all by myself! But it's actually mostly just a lot of fun.

The big news is that we have transfers this week! Hermana Coleman is going to come up here! She is great! I'm excited. We actually exchange on Thursday, but it'll be great :) My trainer, Hermana Powell, is going to Huntersville to WHITEWASH (means she goes there after elders have previously had charge over the area) and she's TRAINING again! Oh, and she's doing it in English :) President Adler is really in tune with the Lord. He has changed his Spanish missionaries to English a couple of times... hopefully I'll get to stay Spanish for my whole mission!

We got matching sweaters for transfers!

#comfy

Exchanges with Sister Price!

Not a lot by way of events this week, but I wanted to share something I studied this week.  Spanish and English are pretty different, and the scriptures are different as well.  I was reading in Matthew 8, where Christ heals a Leper.  In English, it goes like this "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." In Spanish, it's a little different.  The Leper comes to Christ and says "Lord, if you want, you can make me clean." And then Christ says "I want to.  Be thou clean."  Wow.  It reminded me of 3 Nephi 9 when Christ is speaking to the Nephites from the heavens, and he is pleading with them to come unto him "that I might heal you." It's just so good.  Christ died for us.  He truly is our Savior.  He knows how to heal us because He's already gone through whatever it is we might be facing.  ALL we have to do is come unto Him.  He wants to heal us.  He wants to make us clean.  All we have to do is come unto Him.  He is pleading with us to do so.  I have the great responsibility and blessing to invite others to come unto Him and partake of His love.  The Gospel is amazing.  It truly is the good news! We are SO blessed!! Sorry to get a little preachy.  I just love this so much and know y'all do as well!

Oh, also, for the subject line.  We were driving home from Asheboro and Sister Powell says, "My word.  It smells like burning peanut butter wood." and I thought, "since when has she smelled burnt peanut butter wood?"  but that's exactly what it smelled like! Sisters are weird, but we love to laugh ;)

Yep, another zipper spider! these things are nasty.  This was outside of a less active 

member's home.  It kept moving so that could be why it's a little blurry....

Marta.  What a gal! She LOVES her Bible and she LOVES the missionaries.  She feeds us all the time, and she has a delightful laugh and a very pretty smile, I promise! Man I love these Lamanites! We had a great lesson with her about 1 Nephi 8.  She drank it up and seemed to LOVE the comparisons we can find in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible.  It is so amazing to see people's eyes become opened and to see the Book of Mormon clarify their thoughts.  

.....and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Donde Esta, Huracan?

Hola Y'all!

So Hurricanes.  Great things.  Scare the living tar out of people then decide not to come.  Haha so we didn't know about it until Monday, so we went to the store to get water, and there was none.... Then we went to get gas, and the line was wrapped clear around the parking lot.... Lines for checking out of stores wrapped around isles and out the door.  It was NUTS! People kind of lost their minds a little bit... But we finally found some water and we got some food to hold us over in case the power went out.  So then we waited.  We did normal missionary things on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then we had Zone Conference (with four zones because of the hurricane) on Thursday.  At the end, President Adler asked all of us to go home and stay home for the rest of the day.  The next morning we got a text that we were grounded until further notice.  So.  I've never been grounded in my life, and the first time I get grounded is on my mission?? Que weird.  Friday was so frustrating because there was a little bit of wind, and a little sprinkle of rain around 3 PM.  Then nothing for the rest of the day.  Literally nothing.  Donde estas, Florence? Then we were grounded Saturday as well.  We waited and waited for the storm.  We called and texted our members and the people we're teaching, but everyone kind of went into lockdown mode.  Finally on Saturday night we got a little rain, but nothing I haven't seen yet.  Sunday we were allowed to go to church, but lots of meetings got canceled and we only had Sacrament Meeting.  Que Wow.  Then we were grounded again after that.  oooooohhhhhh boy it was a long day.  Finally, around 4 PM, we got some real rain.  It poured and poured until we went to bed.  Today it's fine.  Muggy, but there are blue skies to be seen.



We're finally allowed to go out and proselyte, just in time for P-Day! Haha it was weird.  Needless to say we got lots of studying done and made a bunch of plans.  Hopefully we'll get to do some service when we find out where the damage is.  There is one area of our mission, and it's part of our area, that had considerable flooding, so hopefully we'll be able to go down there and help a little.

Virginia!!

So, besides that, we had a good week! On Tuesday we went up to Virginia!! Yes folks, it's part of my gigantic area.  It was really fun actually.  We received a Book of Mormon referral from up there, so we went to deliver it.  Strangely, the lady who "ordered" it, told us she hadn't and wasn't interested.... That hurts.  Especially when we have limited miles.  But we decided to go see some other potentials we have in that area.  We made our first stop at Marisol's trailer.  We weren't sure which trailer was hers, so we parked and started walking, praying for inspiration.  A car drove past and parked in the driveway in front of a trailer.  Hermana Powell asked if I thought that could be her, and I had no idea, so we went to go ask her.  I just asked her if her name was Marisol and she said yes!!! I mean what??? Inspiration is real.  Companions are great.  So we talked with her and get this - she's read the Book of Mormon twice and her girls are currently reading it!!! Wow! This is amazing.  Spanish missionaries never get up to Virginia because it's SO far, but she is so ready! Hopefully we'll have more on her next week.  On the way back, we stopped in a little town called Reidsville to see if we could find some people that previous missionaries taught.  We knocked on the door we thought was theirs, but no one answered.  There was this yellow trailer across the road, so I decided to knock on that one just because.  A teenager opened the door.  I asked if he knew the people that lived in the trailer we just knock and he said yes, that was his uncle.  Oh, so you must be Daniel? we asked.  YEP! We found them and they invited us in and we talked with them and shared a message!! Woot!! pasa Milagros.  Missions are the best.

Back to Home Base!

Zone Conference was, as always, amazing.  I absolutely love my mission president and his wife.  They talked about being focused on the Savior and teaching His message from the bottom of our hearts.  They are truly inspired people.  President Adler also spoke on deciding.  Sometimes we make things so much more complicated than they need to be.  All we really have to do is decide.  He pointed out that we teach people about Lehi's dream.  When we've taught them, they come to the point where they get to decide to either take hold of the rod and continue on, or go away and be with the people in the great and spacious building.  All the missionaries were there, nodding in agreement.  Yes, that is what we teach.  Many people choose the great and spacious because it's easier and more fun.  But then President Adler said "And each one of you get to make the same decision, every day of your life."  We're all at this crossroads.  We can choose to continue holding onto the rod and pressing forward, or we can give up everlasting joy for worldly fun.  What an inspired man.  He encouraged us to let the Savior put His hand on top of ours as we hold to the rod.  The Savior will guide us and make the way easier for us.  Just make the decision and let Him help you.  Over and over President Adler says to us "I want you to grow up.  I want you to change." I think that's what Heavenly Father wants for each of us.  He wants us to grow up unto Him and change our lives according to His will.  I absolutely love this Gospel.  It truly is the Good News! I hope everyone decides to partake of the fruit of the tree of life and really experience joy in their lives :)

HAHA! I about died when I saw this thing. We were looking for a former, and I looked up 

just as I was about to knock and about jumped out of my skin.  It MOVED! and kept moving.  

So we decided to move too.  We did leave a Plan of Salvation pamphlet on their doorstep though.... 

I promise we're good missionaries!!

 Kind of squished my trainer.... but this is a generation pic!! My half grandma, Sister Roundy, 

and my mom, Hermana Powell

Love you all so much!! Thank you for all you do for me and all your support! Y'all are the greatest!

....and Loving it!
Hermana Belliston

What a Week!

Hola y'all!
This week was bien raro.  Super weird.  But good, as usual!

This is Kudzoo. It's everywhere and is killing all the trees.  

On the bright side it makes everything super green!

On Tuesday we were biking up in Kernersville, and I was in change of the phone/directions and everything.  I totally missed the turn (in my defense, the street didn't have a sign), and we ended up biking an extra mile before I caught it.  So we got a lot of exercise that day :)

Oh yeah... So ya know how you shouldn't text and drive? 

Well, turns out you shouldn't bike and use google maps at the same time either.  Rip!

 It's our area phone too.... But we'll be getting a new one on Tuesday so that's good!

We were biking and I read this as "Perfect Exhaustion" and thought 

"yep, that's how I feel - Perfect Exhaustion

We also had exchanges this week which is always super good.  Not much happened though.  It's always great to get a different perspective and learn from the leaders though.  Sister Jessop is incredible and I've learned a bunch from her since being out! The Sister Training Leaders are over the YSA branch here, so we were able to go to Institute Wednesday night which was great.  We were talking about Parables, and Brother Anderson (the maestro) had a quote from CS Lewis that I love.  Dice "If we insist on keep Hell (or even earth) we shall not see heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell."  Well snap Mr. Lewis! It reminded me of King Lamoni's father, saying he'd give up all his sins to know the Savior.  If we're honest, we all know we have our favorite sins - rationalization, envy, laziness etc etc.  But, according to Mr. Lewis, we can't keep even the smallest souvenirs of Hell.  Wow.  I miss institute, so it was great to go back and remember what I'd learned from it :)

Exchanges with Sister Jessop!

Okay, here's some weird stories for you! We went to Thomasville this week, and no one answered.  Literally no one.  Thomasville is not a super great part of our area, and it just seems like it's close to being a ghost town.  We have one family there that we want to teach, but they never answer anymore, even though they have in the past! So, we wrote them a note and called it good.  Well, that night, we got a call from them... at 12:45 AM.  Um what.  Hermana Powell was tired enough that she almost answered it, but I was conscious enough to tell her to go back to sleep and not worry about it.  Then we called them and they still haven't answered.  Some people are loco, my friends.

Then we went to visit a lady named Chachi.  We met Chachi awhile ago because I liked her garden and we knocked on her door to ask her about it and amazingly she spoke Spanish.  It was great.  Anyway, we went back and this time we met the "Senor y la Senorita de la casa."  Chachi is about 75, as is Chao, the Senor of the house.  We both just assumed that Chao was her husband but no, he was her husband but now is married to the Senorita of the house, a lady about 20 years younger than him.  It's just the wackiest thing because Chachi lives with them still and they all get along fine!!! It's weird.  But they listened very intently to the Restoration and seemed grateful that we brought the Spirit in.  Some people are just a little crazy :) I love it.

Well, that's about it for this week.  Not much going on over here.  We're hoping to find more people that we can teach and come in contact with.  I absolutely love being a missionary! It's so amazing to be able to see the changes that come over people in a relatively short period of time.  The Gospel is true!!!! Love y'all :)

More NC sunsets... I really can't get enough of them!

....and loving it
Hermana Belliston

Hola Y'all!

I hope you are enjoying your labor day! It's always nice to have a break :)
This week was odd to say the least.  Where to start?

Well, David still doesn't want to get baptized.  He has no problems with any of the commandments, he loves the doctrine, and he's reading the Book of Mormon, but he just doesn't want to get baptized.  We've been working with him, talking about faith and how it is a thing of action, which he fully believes, he just doesn't feel ready enough.  Hopefully all goes well when we ask him to set a date in the future for baptism!

Because it was the end of the month, we didn't have too many miles on our car, so we decided to do a lot of biking which was really really fun.  We went biking into High Point, and ended up going about 12 miles on Friday which was a blast! It also started to rain for a little while while we were biking which made it all the more better :) I love this place, y'all.

12 Miles of Biking and a super random 1820 sign... Really not sure why it's there...

District Shirts - Purpose Driven!

Last Monday, we went finding in the neighborhood across the street from our apartment.  We found Jose and Suneida, and they let us in and started talking with us.  I had a Book of Mormon sitting on my lap, and suddenly Jose just reached over and grabbed it and read the whole introduction! We asked him what he thought, and he started talking about the Bible and faith, so then we showed him where to find Alma 32, and again, he started reading, just right while we sat there! It was awesome! We went back and apparently he'd stayed up until 11 PM reading that night.  He's got some strange ideas about life in general, but he's a very sweet man and we hope to be teaching him soon (if we can get a word in edgewise...).

On Saturday (the day after we'd biked 12 miles) we went finding in North Greensboro.  We went to Eradio's house and he answered.  He told us that he has seen lots of missionaries, and he knows quite a bit about our church.  He also said he usually doesn't open the door to missionaries (he's usually "busy") but today he felt like he should answer.  So we talked with him for awhile about the Bible and his beliefs in the Trinity.  After talking with him for what seemed like forever, his sister, Delfina, came out and started telling us the story of her life.  The crazy thing was that I actually understood every word of what they were saying! That never happens to me! So we listened, and listened.  Finally we were able to get a word in, and we asked them if they had any questions about our church and they brought up baptisms for the dead.  We tried to explain it to them, and we showed them the scriptures in 1 and 2 Peter, but they would just come right back and have a different interpretation of it.  Finally I just bore testimony that I believe that God is all merciful and totally just, so what happens after this life is really up to Him, but we believe in the ability to choose after this life.  Well folks, no one can combat a testimony, that's for sure.  They have a Book of Mormon, they want to read it, and they also want us to come back to talk with them about it! It's awesome.  Well, when we finally were able to leave, we decided to go find a referral that we had in that area.  We showed up to his house and he was So excited to see us! He thanked us for what we do and told us he was very excited to come to church with his wife.  His name is Jose and he is very very sweet.  We are so excited to teach him.  Then we went and visited Angenlina, the older lady that randomly came to church last week.  We read 1 Nefi 1 with her and she seemed to enjoy it.  She loved church and is going to come next week so that's awesome! Hopefully we can figure out a good way to teach her.  Anyway, these are my people.  I love them.  They're all Lamanites and they have so many blessings in store for them.  I truly love being a missionary and sharing this Gospel with these people.  Life is so good.

North Carolina clouds are the greatest!

Herbie's Restaurant!!

Yesterday was fast Sunday, and that is always such a blessing, especially for a missionary.  I love the feelings, thoughts, and impressions I get while I'm fasting.  It's such a blessing we have to fast, and I'm glad we get to do it once a month.  Heavenly Father really knows what He is doing.  He has a perfect plan, designed perfectly for each of us.  We all have a part to play, and I'm so grateful for all of you and your support and the special part you play in my life! We are so blessed to have this wonderful Gospel!

... And Loving It!!
Hermana Belliston