HELLO MY PEEPS!

July 5, 2016

hey fellow peeps!

i hope y'all had a great fourth of july & were able to spend some time grillin' and chillin' with all your favorite people! we had so much fun here in thomaston yesterday. :) the maddox family prepared a special lunch just for us! we sure did eat our hearts out. my favorite was the strawberry shortcake. to die for! then for dinner we went over to the keddingtons and had some kabobs  & corn. SO GOOD. it was a lot of fun & it definitely made things feel like home. 

this past week has been crazy!! CASYIA & QUAY GOT BAPTIZED!!! yay!! it was so special, the both of them shared their testimonies at the end and i just wanted to cry. i loved it! it has been so fun teaching them and seeing their love for Christ grow! it is exciting to also see their whole family come back to church, what a blessing for all of them. i sure do love them. 

speaking of baptisms.. jake and megan are planning on being baptized on the 16th! they are SO incredible. the change in them has been night and day! jake keeps talking about how he wants to get a study group together every wednesday night & that he will keep it going even after we leave. he is practically already a member! we have had some powerful lessons with them this week & i just can't deny that the Spirit has made a huge impact on them. it makes me so HAPPY!! 

one miracle from the week:

so, there is this less active member, Bonnie Atwater. we saw her when we first came to thomaston and she wasn't very nice. Bonnie has tons of medical problems and suffers from major depression,

she tried hard to run us off and show us that she wasn't interested. after time and time of going over there we decided it would be better to give her some time and just keep praying for her. she is a cute southern black women and grumpy as ever. well time went on and randomly her visiting

teacher called us up and told us that Bonnie asked her to let us know she was interested in having us come over again. so we went over on that note. turns out prayers really work, Bonnie felt a change in her heart and decided it was time to come back to church. so we read scriptures with her and talked about what it would be like to come back to church after years and years of inactivity. she mentioned that she didn't have any clothes & she wasn't going to come without having something nice to wear. (these people are so poor around here, so it is a huge sacrifice.) we talked about how we would love to go shopping with her and help her find something if she would like us to and if she could come up with a little cash. she said that most of the time her "grandyoungins" steal her cash but she has about 50 bucks hiding she could come up with and so we decided that we would come back over on Saturday and take her to a little thrift shop and we could find something. so Saturday roles around and we come to pick Bonnie up. she gets in the car and directs us to the thrift shop that she wants to shop at. when we go in we look and find about 6 outfits that she would be able to get. nothing special or fancy just simple clothes and things she could afford with her sacrifice. we go up ready to check out and the cashier looks and Bonnie and asks, "are you starting over?" Bonnie replies, "yes, getting ready to head back to church." then the women looks at her bags up her items and says "here you go, take it." she simply gave Bonnie all the clothes for free. then she looks Bonnie in the eyes and says, "God loves you!" wow! what a blessing that was to Bonnie. the Lord knew the sacrifice that Bonnie was making. He knew this was hard for her. & to this depressed women he sent this miracle. i will never forget that moment. she looked great walking in church this Sunday in her new clothes for the first time in a LONG time.

the Lord just continues to keep on blessing us! it is so special to me that i am able to serve Him and help all of Heavenly Father's children here in thomaston. i often think to myself how much i have changed since i have been here, not in a way that i am no longer myself, but that i am more of who i really am. the atonement really can do that for each of us, we just have to trust that God knows us better than we do. 

i love you all so much! keep having a great summer! 

love, 

sister bell. 

IN THE GEORGIA MISSION WE SWEAT AND STEAL KITTIES

hey y'all! 

i hope it has been another amazing week for y'all like it has been for me! there is just something about the summer that makes me so happy. i think all the fireflies here have something to do with it :) there is nothing better than being out late and the sun still being out! it warms my heart like no other! speaking of warming.. IM ALWAYS HOT. HUMIDITY IS FROM SATAN. don't talk to me about it.

this week was crazy! expect a lot of pictures coming your way! we went on exchanges with some other sisters from the mission and boy did we get a lot of work done! we counted that night how many people we saw & i think it was in the 50's. yeah, we were exhausted. needless to say, that hard work paid off. we witnessed so many miracles! i was on cloud 9 by the end of the week. whoo!! 

this week we were able to spend a lot of time with the bailey family. quay and casyia are getting baptized on saturday! i am so excited! when we first got here their family wasn't even going to church, and now they have been there the past 4 weeks. it makes me smile!! they have been using their prayer rocks every morning and every night. i just love them. their sister missy who is 15 has autism, and she brightens my day every time i see her. we love to dance and sing with each other. :) 

also, MEGAN & JAKE! biggest miracle right here. we were able to meet up with jake & when we did he had read 13 chapters in the book of mormon and loved it. we were in shock! that never happens as missionaries, fyi. he remembered all the details and everything! we challenged him to come to church with his sister megan on sunday, he said they would if we just came by and made sure they were awake. so sunday comes around and they were so excited to come when we came by!!! they LOVED church. & both of them kept mentioning how good it felt to be in a place where people believe the same things as them. GOLDEN. they mentioned how they were probably going to go home and take naps after church, but when we saw them later that night they said they actually went home and read more of the book of mormon. WHAT. i love them. 

so... sister mckee & i may have also rescued a stray kitten. we are trying to find it a home. pray for us that we can give it to someone who will love it like we do! we really need to stop getting up to nonsense. we only give ourselves more problems. 

well y'all, those are the highlights from this week! love you all! keep on keepin' on!! 

love, 

sister bell :-) 

The Bailey Family

Just cookin some bacon in front of the church.

Makin some cream corn.

Elders.  Enough said.

Jonathon and the new kitty

Service project with horses. 

HOLA!

June 20, 2016

hello, hello! 

it has been the LONGEST week ever!! we have had so much going on this week so it feels really good to take a day to finally catch up on the little things that have been put on the back burner of life. needless to say, it has also been an inspiring and great week! we have been able to see so many great miracles. it is wonderful to be out doing the work of the Lord. :) 

since it was such a crazy week i'm going to just talk about what i did each day & try to explain real simply what has been going down! 

monday: after p-day we went to see our investigator megan. we scheduled to meet her at ron's house (the less-active we have been working with). thankfully they were all there when we pulled up & we also got to meet megan's brother jake. we had a great lesson about the restoration and the need for all of Christ's teachings to be on the earth today. it was super powerful & megan and jake seemed to be soaking it in. even though ron was making homemade wine the whole time... i don't even know. he is crazy. 

tuesday: we had a super awesome miracle! we had about 20 minutes before we were meeting up with a member to stop by some people's homes & so we decided to stop in the neighborhood next door to hers and do a little tracting. we specifically prayed for an opportunity to teach someone about the gospel on first contact, and sure enough, it happened! the first door we knocked on was jimmy & alice's door. she told us we could come in and share a scripture. gotta love the south :) so we went in and talked about how Christ has delivered us from our afflictions. we started to explain where the scripture came from (the book of mormon) and alice was like "oh let me go get mine really quick!" what? i guess alice knows about the gospel.. CRAZY! she told us about how she had been to the temple open house & loved what she felt there. we explained to jimmy what the temple was & he said "man, i really need to go there! how can i?" well jimmy, we can teach you!! it was a great experience. & my testimony grew knowing that God really does answer our prayers. later that night we went and taught the bailey family. quay who is 11 and casyia who is 8 are going to be getting baptized! their mom joined the church along with the 3 older siblings about 8 years ago & now the two youngest want to also! so we have been teaching them and they are so cute! they give us the biggest hugs whenever they see us. :) 

wednesday: sister mckee wasn't feeling too good so we stayed in most of the day. her lack of gallbladder was giving her some probs. 

thursday: mission tour! we had a huge zone conference with elder cardon from the seventy in fayetteville. it was so good to see so many of the missionaries and to see president and sister foote, i love them more than life! we talked a lot about recognizing the Spirit in our life & repenting! i have learned to love repenting. it has always seemed like a scary word or thing to do, but it really is a huge blessing to ask the Lord to help us change! that night we had a lesson with johnathon at the maddox's house. we talked a lot about repenting and prayer. it was really good, the maddox's have such powerful testimonies! johnathon finally seemed to realize what the gospel could mean to him & it was awesome to see him start to think about it. we feel like his mothers even though he is 29. he just needs a little kick in the rear! lol.. just kidding, sorta. 

friday: we had another awesome lesson with jake! he really wants to read the book of mormon & come to church. we left him with like 5 one hundred and one things to read and watch. he REALLY wants to learn more! while we were at his house we also went and tried to catch these huge worms! they use them for bait for catfish here. they are huge!! jake's daughter addi was having a ball over them. i tried to pick one up for her & it literally spit on me. i had green slime on my shirt! not okay. but we had a hoot messing with them! 

saturday: we went to the bailey's and made prayer rocks with casyia and missy (her older sister). it was fun! they are praying everyday now!! yay! we also went and visited a less-active member, felicia, and her daughter river in the hospital. river had a bad virus and needed some fluid! so we spent some time with them. 

sunday: church! we pounded on johnathan's window so he would wake up :-) he wasn't too happy, but hey, he came to church!! later that night we had a good lesson with our investigator josh. he is basically agnostic, but is going to read the book of mormon this week, so we are excited to see what he thinks. he opened up about a lot of stuff and he has been through way more than anyone should, he really needs the gospel! 

it was a super eventful week and i saw so many tender mercies of the Lord. i am grateful to be apart of His work and to be SO HAPPY!!! i love you all so much! 

love, 

sister bell :) 

ps. WRITE ME! 

Abbi and the WORM!!

Bell/McKee Cuteness!

Brother Maddox

Casyia, Missy, and Mom

"Our" new kitties!

TACO. BELL.  (It's the little things...)

BUG BITES AND TAN LINES

HELLO Y'ALL!!! 

it has been another wonderful week here in the good ole' south! every monday makes me realize how fast the weeks go by and how little time left i have as a missionary! i am in constant awe of how much i learn and grow every single day & how lucky i am to be here serving my Father in Heaven. 

this week was kinda of all over the place. we are still struggling to find people to teach, so we have been knocking on a lot of doors and talking to so many strangers! it definitely makes me get out of my comfort zone. (i really hate finding, it's just so awkward) but anyway... after a few days of no luck we decided we needed to call down the powers of heaven for help. so we decided to start praying specifically to find a family that we could teach the gospel to. & sure enough, with enough trust and faith in God, we found 4 families that want us to come back this week and teach them! sometimes we just have to ask and be patient, but Heavenly Father will take us to those people that need what has blessed my life so much. 

we did have an awesome lesson with our investigator johnathon. he has had a pretty rough life. he grew up in foster care, had a baby when he was 23, got in some trouble with the police and went into the army because of it, got PTSD when he was in Afghanistan, and is now on disability and is trying to get custody of his son. and he is only 29. we met him while we were looking for someone in the ward about 4 weeks ago, and we have had some good lessons with him since then. but this week we knew that he needed something more. so we brought brother maddox with us! they ended up being exactly the same and having a similar background, you could tell that they really connected. it was a powerful lesson and johnathon came to church for the first time this week! we were so happy!! he needs the gospel so much. pray for him!!!! 

besides that, we have just been up to a lot of nonsense! we are still causing a ruckus here in thomaston & being crazy! ALSO DYING OF THE HEAT AND BUGS. my legs are COVERED in bites. sick. this upcoming week we have a meeting with elder cardon from the 70 so we will be traveling a lot! it will be awesome! 

i love you all and hope each of you are enjoying your summer! choose the right & pray for missionary experiences! we need them here! 

OH YA, miracle: we went to chick-fil-a and someone bought our food for us. i cried. BEST DAY EVER!!!! love you RAOK person!! 

love, 

sister bell 

pictures: johnathon hanging out on his porch, classic. me being super happy because someone just bought us food. & sister mckee and i while we were tracting!!! 

HALF-WAY FINISHED!

hey y'all! 

it has been another marvelous week here in thomaston! i continue to love my area, the people, and my companion here more and more every week. i am so lucky to be able to have so many wonderful experiences that help me grow and become more of who Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

we hit another transfer here in the mission! i will be staying here with my companion and we will be the new sister training leaders for our zone. i am so grateful for this new opportunity to serve other sisters around me and be taught by them! we are so blessed to be able to get to know them and learn how they are doing missionary work in their areas! we are excited! :) i also hit my nine month mark this week on the 9th! it is so crazy to think that i have been out for that long. time is flying by! 

our miracle this week stemmed from a less active that we have been working with! his name is Ron and he joined the church about 7 years ago & was on fire for awhile! then he had some experiences that were really hard for him and he slowly fell away. we had an appointment with him on wednesday and right when we got there he said he was going to text his neighbor to see if she wanted to come by and meet us. he told us that they had been talking about the church and that she has this awesome knowledge. so sure enough, she came by! her name is Megan and she is 16. we asked her about the after-life and she basically knew the entire doctrine that we believe. we were astonished. we had a lesson right there about the restoration & she was so interested! it was such a cool experience. we have kept in touch and she keeps wanting to talk and know more. i am so excited! 

one night this week Sister McKee and i talked about what we have learned and gained from our missions so far. it was so great to be able to reflect on the power that comes from God to help us change as we are serving Him. i know that i will forever be in debt to Him for all that He has given me. how thankful I am for this experience! 

i love you all and hope you each have a great week! 

love, 

sister bell 

I love Pday with Sis McKee!

Still remodeling!

Ron's house with his wolf dog. I was not okay..

IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE!

May 30, 2016

hey y'all- 

hope everyone has had a great weekend and enjoyed celebrating those that have sacrificed so much so that we can live freely. it was a wonderful weekend, and the spirit of gratitude was all around me, it felt so good! 

this week was crazy! as you know, the house that we live in was turned into a duplex and the members that we live next to bought and fixed up (okay, totally gutted) our side & then now they have been working on the other side for this little old lady to come move into! well she is coming to move in on saturday.. yeah, pretty soon. so we spent a lot of our time this week helping them paint, put up cabinets, clean, fix windows, the whole nine yards really! it was a bunch of fun & i am excited for this lady to move in! 

i want to tell you about the success the Lord had this week. there were 5 less active members who we are working with that came to church this sunday. some of them were semi-active. & a for a few this was their first time back in YEARS! everyone in the ward kept on mentioning how exciting it was to have our gospel principles class so full! it was incredible and i am so excited for those who made a commitment and came to church. this leads to my highlight of the week: meeting this less-active member, larry. we do SO much less active work it is insane. i think that is why i came here to georgia, there is just something about these members that i am drawn to! anyway, he is like the ONE person here that doesn't have a deep southern accent. he was actually born in england & moved around a lot as a kid. he joined the church about 10 years ago, but hasn't been in two years! recently, the man that he sits with passed away & when we showed up to see him he instantly recognized that it was his time to come back because he has lost so many responsibilities. we had a powerful lesson on what charity is & how the thomaston ward needs him! well sure enough, he came to church on sunday & said after "you bet i'll be back here next week" :) I AM SO HAPPY! he is such an awesome and loving person, i know how much he has to offer to the people here, i can't wait to keep working with him! 

other than that, it was lots of hustle and bustle this week! & SURVIVING THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY... SEND HELP PLZ. or send a fan & some chocolate, its all the same ;-) i am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me this week! it will be great! 

love you all! 

sister bell 

picture: me being a really big dork in front of our cute little house! 

JESUS WALKED ALONE SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO

May 25, 2016

hey y'all! 

sorry to be MIA last week, had some technical difficulties with the ancient computers that we use at the library and didn't have too much time to write! 

to fill ya in on all of life's happenings here in thomaston: 

1. still being eaten alive by the mosquitoes 

2. rockin' the bast tan lines ever from my watch and shoes 

3. i am really finding my inner animal loving self, we have met so many people who have huge farms. this weeks favorite was the kittens we found while tracting. we are still working on convincing our landlord/neighbor to let us get one for her. 

4. i finally tried zaxby's (this southern fast food place, it's kinda like chic-fil-a, but not) 

5. officially a self proclaimed contractor due to the renovation that is happening on the other side of our duplex. i definitely ripped up a floor and put in a new one. 

6. THE COCKROACHES ARE COMING OUT OF HIDING 

7. i found what was eating the ripe strawberries, these nasty slug creatures. the cure for it is to put a can of beer next to all the plants. it attracts them more than the strawberries, and then they get stuck inside! kind of sounds like a lot of the people here in thomaston.. ;-) no worries, we'll teach them the word of wisdom and they will be cured! 

8. the oink joint. this awesome bbq place with fried chicken tacos, betcha didn't know that was a thing huh? it is. and it is delicious. 

i am LOVING being here in thomaston. i think i was destined for the small town life, i wonder what will be next...? :) it's funny how many people we already know here! not just members, but normal people in the community. they just wave to us and call us their "jesus people", it makes me smile. my favorite is when we drive down this neighborhood that is an entirely black community & everyone has to do a double-take at the two white girls driving by.. it is a hoot! 

this week i had one of those "don't you believe me?" moments from God. our mission president has been encouraging us to talk to at least 15 people a day.. EEK NERVOUS WRECK, but i have been trying to do it and get out of my comfort zone! one of my biggest weaknesses as a missionary is approaching people randomly, it is just so awkward sometimes. but i was reminded of the talk given by Elder Holland, "None Were with Him". He says so eloquently: 

"Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought greatcompany for our little version of that path-the merciful care of ourFather in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, familymembers on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers,leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companionsfor our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ andthe Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even ifsometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: 'I will not leave you 

comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].'"

what great hope and encouragement was i given when i thought of our savior. the one and only who knows exactly what it feels like to be alone, scared, worried, anxious, nervous, and human! thankfully, because he knows that it is like, he can help. as i exercised my faith in him, i saw a miracle. 

we were out looking for someone who had stopped coming to church and pulled into their driveway to see two houses sitting on the property. we thought about it for a minute, and then decided we would try the house in the front. we knocked and met michael, the man's grandson. we asked him about his grandpa, and learned that he was in the back house. typically, i would have just left it at that and moved on, but i remembered the challenge extended to me and i would not fail! so we started talking to him & it turned into one of the most spiritual moments of my mission. we read in the book of mormon with him in 3 nephi 11 when Christ comes to the Americas and the people's eyes and ears were opened to hearing what God would have them know. he immediately knew that there was a reason we knocked on his door first. he explained that he needed to know where he could raise his little girl and how he wants to be closer to God and feel him in his life. it was so powerful! i am grateful that i had strength and courage from the Lord to open my mouth and know that he was leading me to the people who needed Him. 

i am grateful for all the moments i am given to see God's love so clearly and to see His hand in all i am doing because of what He has done for me. i am grateful to serve Him, even in moments that seem scary! i know He is there for me. & He is most definitely there for each of you too! 

thank you for the love and prayers. i love each of you! write me back! 

love, 

sister bell

(I might have fallen into that hole.)