A few pictures

 Elder Sarsozo

 My district and zone leaders

Cobleskill area

April 30, 2013

Oh it is so good to hear from all of you. thank you monica for sending me all those pictures and just talking to me about what is going on! it seems like you and Ryan are pretty busy! Always remember that the simple things are all that matter. thank you mom dad and Jon for emailing me. thank you for keeping me updated Jon and Mom keep sharing those insights about what you learn every week okay? they strengthen me deeply and have given me the will to barrel through times of discouragement and hardship haha and exhaustion! Dad you keep praying for me and holding the family together with love! you have been a great father! I love you!

 

haha for this week there is so much that has happened good and bad and terrific and amazing that it might be hard to put it into one email! By Saturday I felt a bit like the Prophet joseph smith after the angel Moroni had appeared to him! there have been so many spiritual manifestations that are beautiful and sacred to me. I will share some of them with you, but first to let you know I still have not gotten my visa so I am staying in Cobleskill until I get my visa! the other three in New York  from my district back in the mtc have gotten their visas and are gone. I am the only one left in New York! I was a little bummed when I discovered this at return and report but earlier in the week elder sarsozo shared a story that I will never forget! there are two spirits that are the best of friends in the pre existence. they really do everything together! one day both of their calls come for earth so they go to the tree where their calling is hanging. one of them plucks his call and it says, "you will be born into a family with the gospel." both of them are so excited for him! the other picks their call. opens it and it says, "you will be born into a family that doesn't have the gospel." with tears in his eyes he looks at his friend and says, " will you find me?" I know that I am here to find those friends and I love them and I try my very hardest each and everyday to find them and help them and remind them who they are! Children of our Heavenly Father! Updates on some of the people we are teaching. Well last night we committed the single mother to baptism! She is progressing and knows that her prayers are answered! She is Amazing! I know that the Lord has Prepared her! Nicole les mis fan sadly we didn't get to meet but I am not giving up on her!!  and Charles we have taught him several different times and in two weeks I believe he gets surgery on his eyes! his heart is softening and he is becoming more receptive it seems like! I know that not only faith will bring forth miracles but sacrifice will open the windows of heaven! when we sacrifice the Lord is truly standing besides us and we will know that we never stand alone! I love sacrifice! It brings me closer to him and that is all I want! I know he is our savior and cares for us and loves us. how blessed we are to know him as we do! May we have a sound understanding of him! which when we have a sound understanding, we know and we do! I love you all! Elder Bell      

April 22, 2013

This week has gone great! we taught a lot of inactive members and had a lot of help from the Members! we were teaching one of these members for the last 3 weeks and we have seen a lot of improvement in her and her mother. They came to church! we were so happy that they came and they stayed for all three hours! I am excited to see them grow! Charles Ray haha we finally saw him this week too! He is such a wonderful old fellow. Pray for his eye to get better! He is going in this week i believe for surgery and if it works out he will be able to see better! in doing so, he can read the Book of Mormon! Also we had a really tremendous lesson with one of our investigators talking about baptism and the gift of the holy ghost and how to recognize the holy ghost! it went really well! the spirit was very strong! She is so awesome! I hope that she will be able to see the importance of the gospel. I know that God loves us and that Jesus Christ is our savior. I know that the book of Mormon is true! It testifies simply and powerfully of the savior! I know that if we are obedient to his commandments, humble enough to receive  and humble enough to ask, blessings will be poured out upon us. D&C 64:33 eu amo voces!!!!! take care of each other and love each other. Elder Bell 

April 16, 2013

Hey Bell Family! I has been so nice to hear from all of you!! It has brought me to tears, which isn't that hard to do, on all of your prayers and support and encouragement and love! I know that the Lord will bless you for your exceeding great faith in him and when you turn turn to our father for guidence and help. Mom and Dad i am so greatful for the guidance and direction that you bring into my life and into the life of my brothers and sister. I actually did receive your package of candy and thank you especially Mom for your thoughts and words of treasuring every moment while i am out here. I am trying to do just that. Spencer thank you for your stories about cub scout and your comments on how you enjoyed Conference. It was beautiful! I am excited to read over their words again and again and apply them to my life. momyour talk just follow the council that the prophet gave to us himself:obey. I know that when we are exactly obediant and when we make "Obediance our quest" then the "windowof heaven shall be open unto you." Don't make an excuse just do it! Heather thank you for writing me as well! I am so excited for your sister!!!! tell haily that her prayers are coming true and that they have helped me tremendously!

Okay about the work!!! It is going wonderfully! the college girl we are teaching is now working towards being baptized by the 4th of May! Whoo hoo! Pray for her diligently to continue in faith. Nicole is her name. She is amazing! also there is this single mom that i know the lord has prepared to meet with us. she was meeting with the missionaries before us then they stopped meeting with her. for the last little while she has gone through some trials and adversities to compel her to turn to the lord. as soon as things started to get better we knocked on her door and she realizes the importance of having Christ in her life. She is awesome and we are teaching her again today! Pray for her2pray and Nicole as well. oh one more miracle. so we were in walmart and there was just this lady that walked up to us and started talking to us and asked us  so my husband past away and my daughter doesn't understand! what should i tell her? we testified that people do live again and talked about how the plan of salvation has given us comfort when we have lost loved ones. She was touched and we got her number and gave ours and she said she would definitely call to set up an appointment with us. Pray that she may call or that we can get a hold of her! there are so many people that are ready to hear this gospel. I know it is true! I love the Savior with todo minha corasao! I know that this is his work. I try each and everyday to turn myself over to his will. I am really stubborn but he is helping me with that. I want to take his name upon me and never let it go. I love you all sooo much and pray for you! and remember "to love another person is to see the face of God." What heir thou art act well thy part. Charles Ray hasn't seen since the first week i got here. he says that he is too busy. we keep trying with him. My comp is from Colorado and he is in the middle of his family. He is the first out of his older brothers to serve a mission. He is great I love him! EU AMO VOCES! Elder Bell

April 9, 2013

I am doing just Great! We just had Zone Conference today with President Worthlin! We went over the doctrine of Christ and how to become better teachers! Go to chapter 10 of Preach my Gospel and It is really awesome! funny story about the package. so they can only foreward first class and flat rate boxes. so i will have to wait probably until i leave to get that stuff. but thank you so much for thinking of me! I love you both so much Charles Ray hasn't been able to see us, but there is this college student who we are teaching. she loves les misrables and so if she doesn't understand something, I apply to something in les mis and she got it! She is really receptive and is truely honestly searching. there is another couple too that we are teaching too and they are very Christ like people! Just over-all a great couple! General Conference was awesome! we watched every minute of it! I hope members now see that they need to be engaged! they can no longer take a back seat in missionary work! just about all the investagors in our Zone that go forth into the waters of Baptism, they came or were taught with members! They need to "Catch the Wave" as Elder Nelson said it. Make no mistake about the word usage of his statement. while i was in the MTC, they said by June they were going to have 7000 missionaries in there and there is only room for 3600. they were calling that group the Tsunami!  be ready! I love Elder Packer's talk on his life and how the atonement has helped him and I really like Elder Bednar's talk on Chastity and I really loved Elder Holland's and Elder Perry's they were both full of fire and power. President Monsons as well on missionary work! Oh oh and Elder uchtdorf really brought the house down with both of his talks. I felt that they all spoke with more fervency and haste. Thank you for keeping me updated and minha Familia is always in my prayers. Please stay constant and true in these tumultous times. The Lord, angels, and the Holy Ghost are forever reaching, we need only ask.

Love

Elder Bell

April 2, 2013

haha did you not get my email last week? haha you know i can only email once a week and we can't email on p day because the library is closed on Mondays. haha but that is besides the point. anyways or as Spencer would say NEXT ha new york is great! I met the members of our ward and they are really supportive of us! They feed us just about every night and are always willing to help us out! we have learned that all we need to do is ask. like for example today we were suppose to teach a girl named haley and we needed a man and on short notice a young man, who is departing soon for president bowens mission, was ready to help out on short notice. Elder Sarsozo is from Colorado and is a very humble and funny missionary. we get along great. Portuguese wise... i say all most of my personal prayers, always my nightly, in Portuguese. i get one hour of language study and i basically just read a chapter out loud out of the book of mormon in Portuguese, and write out and say sentences to keep up on my grammar. i am sustaining the language that i had down so far. IT is hard for me to write things without throwing out some Portuguese for some fun. missionary work wise last week was incredibly slow teaching wise. we had to do a lot of finding and calling but this week seems to bear a lot more in lessons. charles ray haha instead of ray charles is this old man that we that we are teaching and it seems that we have kinda hit a road block with him but i think with the right kind of love and support we can get him heading in the right direction! It is cool though that each and every day we are guided by the spirit and when we are obediant to what he directs we are right where we are suppose to be! Eu sei que esta igreja e verdadeio e eu vou batar todos portos ter outro pessoas sabe. I will keep you all in my prayers! Just remember that "through Christ and his enabling power of grace, we can pray for the strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for that our circumstances change." And "tomorrow we shall see what our God in heaven has in store. one more day, one more dawn, one day more!"