Week 4 of my Quest

Spirit Prison......Well, here we are, yet another P day has come. We are now at 1 month!! How cool is that? These past few weeks have flown by so quick!!

I am really enjoying the CCM, but I am not gonna lie, I am so ready to get out of these walls!! The people in here that are teaching us and helping us really are amazing though, I will miss them when I leave.

First off I would like to talk about a few things that happened this week:

Learning Spanish is starting to really come along well. We are now learning at an even more accelerated rate than before, it is really cool to be able to understand what people are saying and being able to respond back, slowly but still with a response :)

Last Saturday we were able to go prostalyting again. This time we went to a different part of Lima, it is called Las Villas. It was definitely a lot nicer than Las Delicias. But, we didn't have quite as much success. I was paired up with an Elder from Bolivia. His name is Elder Gareca. What a freaking character!! He was really funny and it was fun to get to speak only Spanish for those 4 hours. I taught him how to say, "What in the world?" in Spanish, apparently that is only a US thing, but he loved it. So every time we would knock on a door and no one would answer he would just say, "Oh Frickin Mundo!" It was hilarious. It was a loooong four hours though. After we got back from prostalyting, we ate dinner and then all the elders in our district, basically had a big siesta in the middle of our classroom all together, when the Hermanas walked in after we had been laying there for like 20 minutes they both said, "Que en el mundo?" It is a district 107 thing I guess haha.

Sunday was a great day. During church, I was hit with an impression that I needed to write down my conversion story. So for the next 10 hours, you found me with my head in my journal writing away. I took up 12 pages!!! It felt good to know that - 1) I still knew it :) but 2) that now I could share it with basically anyone in English or Spanish. Sunday was a good day.

Oh yeah, also on Sunday, me and Elder Holmes were made the Zone leaders over about 5 districts. It will be interesting. There are 2 districts that we are over that are very very disobedient... It will be our job to fix that. I am not worried about myself taking care of it.... I think I am mainly worried about doing it in a "loving and gentle way". I can do it, but it is so much easier to rebuke people who don't follow the simple simple rules we have here in the CCM. It is frustrating but I know that we will be able to help them all grow to become the best missionaries they can become.

Oh whoops, also on Sunday night, I was able to share my conversion stories with 4 Hermanas. (Don't worry my companion was with me) It took me about 40 minutes to tell them, but it was nice to share it aloud with people who are really really excited about helping someone in Peru receive a conversion story similar to mine. It was great.

Monday was a hard day. Our district said goodbye to a few of our good friends we made here in the CCM. Elder Prestwich and Elder Jensen, who left for the Chiclayo mission, became really good friends with a few of us in the district. It is hard seeing someone you are really close with every day for a month straight, and then leaving them for 2 years, (oh wait, didn't we do that with our families like a month ago?? :)   ) They are going to be very good missionaries, pretty sure we will be friends after the mission.

Yesterday, we had a devotional by Elder Ballard. He is such an amazing man. All the Apostles really are. But what he talked about yesterday really just sunk in deep. Most of the stuff he talked about last night was how, the Gospel is all about the Family. We all want to return to our Heavenly Father, with our Earthly Parents and siblings. How is that possible? Through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and by following his example here on the Earth. Seems simple right? I wish. It isn't even easy for a missionary!! But it is the way back to an eternal life and that is what we have to do. Plus we are always happy when we do it so why not right?

That is basically all the stuff I have for this week. Other than a few "Fun Facts":

-We call this place Spirit Prison because the walls around us are literally 10-15 feet tall. We have 4 security guards on shift at all times, and the reason we are here is to learn what we need to progress. Just like in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet. (I know this thing like the back of my hand now).

- The food is getting disgusting. The scrambled eggs are as runny as water, literally.

- We had pizza for the first time down here and it was HEAVENLY. Actually back home it would have been really gross, but we are desperate down here.

-I love buying American food.

-I WANT TO WISH MY MOTHER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY. SHE ROCKS!!

That's about it. It is really a good place though :)

Love you all!!

Elder Bell

Week 3 of my Quest

The language is getting better.....I think?

Alrighty, so this past week was really good!! I loved every minute of it!! I don't think anything really big happened but it was a fun week. I am loving it down here in the CCM and I just cant get enough of the studying!! So last week was the last week that I was able to serve as our District Leader. It was fun while it lasted and I absolutely loved getting to know all the Elders and Hermanas in our district on a one on one basis. I will miss it, but it is time for Elder Bush to take the lead and work on his leadership for when he is out in the field. One of the best stories was from last week on the 11th. At dinner we were singing the song "I whip my hair back and forth" written by Will Smiths daughter. But instead of saying HAIR we said TIE. So I had the crazy idea of when we got into class that night, Elder Tolbert would say, "Me gusta helado", meaning, "I like ice cream" and the whole district would jump out into a flash mob and start singing the song, and whipping our ties back and forth. So as class began our teacher told us that we would be studying the word "gustar". which means, "to like or to please". and the very first example she started with was, of course, "me gusta helado". We began to snicker a little bit, but when she asked one of us to read it aloud, yep you guessed it, she asked Elder Tolbert to read it aloud. So.... He did.... and we all jumped up and started singing, "I whip my tie back and forth, I whip my tie back and forth" Half of us were on the ground laughing and our teacher just stared at us in amazement. She has never heard that song before, and only speaks a little english so she was a little freaked out. We later explained to her what we had done and then she started to laugh really hard. It was a good time. The language is very difficult and it is nice to every once and a while cut loose and really have a tummy hurtin laugh. The next thing that happened was last Friday night. We were trying to decide how to teach our "investigator" aka our teach acting as a non member. Me and Elder Holmes jokingly said to each other, "hey we should start with a hymn". But as we got closer to the lesson we really felt like that was a good idea. So we decided to sing the first verse of the hymn, "did you think to pray?" What an amazing song this is, even in Spanish. When we got to our lesson we told her we were going to sing to her. She was a little confused, i think mainly because of our broken Spanish, but anyway... As we began to sing, our voices actually sounded really good, our "investigator" began to cry... Real tears... and when we finish both me and Elder Holmes looked up to a face full of tears and happiness. The rest of the lesson we proceed to find our that she and her dad have really struggled with one another and that she really needed that gentle reminder to always pray. Pray for the people you love, pray for the people you are angry with, pray for those who do not understand you or the purpose of why you do what you do. This was by far one of the best moments of my life here in the CCM. Being able to help our teacher with a REAL LIFE problem, is something I can not wait to do out in the mission field. I knew before hand that our teacher had been struggling with her family in her personal life, but this hymn really went straight to her heart. It was an amazing expierence to help her. The next day we fasted for her as a district and then yesterday, we asked her how she was doing and she told us that she was able to stay up with her dad really late and talk to him and get things figured out and things were a lot better at home. I am so grateful to be able to help people!!! Sunday night and Tuesday night we were able to watch a Devotional from Elder D. Todd Christofferson, and a live devotional from Elder Richard G. Scott. Two things I got from these devotionals. 1) The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. EVERY soul means more than anything to God. It is a great reminder to know that everyone has a purpose and is important. 2) Elder Scott said, "to reach a goal never before attained, one will have to do things never before done." I know I had heard that quote before but it really meant a lot yesterday. Because learning a new language is not easy, sometimes I feel really stupid and want to give up. But I know that, if i do give up. I will never learn the language. But I HAVE to learn this language. So I have to continue pushing through and really remember why I am here. to help the people of Peru. I already love them so much. They are so kind and caring. There are people who work here at the CCM who get here at 4:30 in the morning just to start making breakfast for us.  i am so glad I get to get up every morning and have a decent meal, ALWAYS eggs, and then two more meals throughout the day, ALWAYS with rice. But it is a hot meal, and always given to me by someone with a smiling face. I am so grateful for all those who have helped me become the person I am today! My family especially! I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep on keeping on. I pray for you all every night and I am grateful to have all of you in my life, even from afar!

 

Con mucho amor,

 

Elder Bell

Week 2 of my Quest

Hello Everyone,

Que en el FREAKING MUNDO!!! (What in freaking world - thanks Cameron Bell for the translation)

Life here in the CCM is great as ever!! Not as many crazy stories this week but it still was a great time! I have a bit of a cold right now but it is starting to go away so I can finally hear people talking again which is great!! Here is a break down of the week:

The rest of last week wasn't too exciting, 14 hours of studying a day and a few laughs here and there was a typical week. On one of the days a member of my district shared a scripture with me because he could tell I was getting frustrated with the language, he shared with me Hebrews 10: 35-39. It is a great scripture, it talks about being PATIENT and having confidence in what you are doing, if you have time you should read it. I Love it.

Last Saturday we were able to leave the CCM for about 6 hours and go out and actually Prosylite!! It was a fantastic expeirence for a few reasons. First, we got out of the prison aka the CCM. That is always fun. Second, we were actually going and talking to people, in Spanish, about the gospel, which is way awesome even though I only know a little bit of Spanish. Third, We were able to meet a bunch of church members in a tiny ward in the Peru South mission. The city we went to was called Las Delicias. (it definitely was not delicious) They were some of the most humble people I had ever met. They literally had nothing and were willing to give everything to help us missionaries. I absoulety loved meeting them and talking with them as much as I could. I wont say much about the city itself, if you would like to know about it go look it up on Google maps or something, but I will just say, VERY HUMBLING.... While we were out there my companion was Elder Pearce,  he is from Kaysville, UT and left yesterday for his mission in Arequipa, I think, or Cuzco, I cant remember. Anyway, he was a great guy to learn from, we were able to share the gospel with some very willing people. It was nice to be able to hear what a true Peruvian talks like, speed and accent, etc. I still have a LONG WAY to go to be that quick, but I was able to understand them pretty well to my surprise. I absolutely loved being out in a city and being able to converse with people about Jesus Christ and his Atonement and how important it is so we can all live together as families in the eternities. Seriously a great feeling and they all loved learning about what we were talking about. So that was a fun experience.

Sunday was Fast Sunday and it was amazing to hear some of the testimonies from some of the missionaries who were leaving. There are a lot of very talented and very spiritually prepared young men in this CCM. Very happy to be here with them and to learn their stories and to share mine with them.

Monday we went to Interpol!! (for good reasons of course) me and Elder Bush went together this time and again, it was nice to get out of the CCM.  We were there for about 4 hours working on our visas with a few Hermanas as well. On the way back we convinced our driver to stop at Pizza Hut to grab a pizza, but they were closed, fortunately, Burger King was open next door and we were able to get some american food. I have never been so happy to eat at Burger King, not gonna lie. It was amazing. The Orange Fanta here is the best thing known to man, other than the gospel. It tastes like Orange Sour Patch Kids. HEAVENLY!! When we got back we didn't tell the rest of our district that we had gotten american food because technically we weren't suppose to stop. But, the rest of the district went yesterday and they all tried to stop at Pizza Hut, but again, it was closed because they got their too early. They didn't go over to Burger King like we did so we ended up telling them that we were able to eat and they were all way jealous. It was really funny.

Today, being P-Day, we were able to go to the temple and out into the city of La Molina, (one of the most wealthy places in Lima) I absolutely love the temple. They are some of the most beautiful man made creations we have in this world. Going there really brings peace to the soul and allows us all to rejuvenate our bodies for the upcoming week. It is such a peaceful place to be and to think and pray for all those you love, (AKA all of you reading this) After the temple we went to a place called Totus, which is like a large supermarket. It is really nice actually I was very surprised. I was able to buy a 3 LITER BOTTLE of the Orange Fanta that I fell in love with. Yeah they have 3 liter bottles down here. It is insane. Not sure why the states haven't caught on to that. Aren't we the fattest nation in the world?? Shouldn't we have those everywhere??

But overall I am really loving it here. The district is doing really well. No one has gone home and I am becoming really close with all of them here. I am really glad we are all here on the mission at the same time. All the elders are really close with one another and we have a great time helping each other learn the language and learn the gospel at the same time! I am so happy I can be here and learn and help these guys grow and become closer to Christ. It is an experience like nothing else. I love you all and appreciate all the support you have given me. Keep on writing I love reading your emails even if I don't have time to respond I still am able to read them. I am taking lots of pictures to send home so only a month more and you will be able to see my crazy adventures down here in Peru!!

Til next week, mucho amor por todos, (much love to you all - thank you Lauren Bell for the translation)

Elder Bell

Week 1 of my Quest

Hey Everyone!! Peru is so awesome! I absolutely love it here!! When we first got here we landed in Lima at about 1 am on 8/27/14 after getting all of our luggage and finding our ride we got back to the CCM (MTC in Spanish)at about 2 am where we had to unpack a few things and then hop into bed. We only got to sleep until 6:30,HA HA so not very long to catch up on our rest. It was funny, 2 of our roommates are Latinos and when we came in that night they were speaking Spanish to us and we had no clue what the heck they were saying! So they started saying, "LA LUZ! LA LUZ!!" it means THE LIGHTS, THE LIGHTS! The first day was literally a mini eternity here on earth. Easily the longest day of my life, I think I aged 5 years in one day. It was all orientation and all that jazz... BOOORING... That night we met our branch Presidency who will be over our ward, he is a way awesome guy. His name is President Townsend. I was able to meet with his first councilor Elder Hill, and tell him a little bit about me. They came out after meeting with each other for about 10 minutes and decided that I was going to be the district leader over my district for the first 3 weeks of the CCM. Not exactly what I had in mind on the first day of the CCM but God qualifies those who are called right? The second day here, was, MY BIRTHDAY!! I didn't realize it until about 8 pm that night, no joke. It was really funny! It hit me like a huge shock. It was funny Elder Bush, who is in my district, said something about it being the 28th and I was like a deer in the headlights, he and Elder Tolbert started to die laughing (That is Elder Bush`s companero). We celebrated by singing and by eating a piece of candy that I brought with me from the US. My birthday was really cool though, early on that day my district and the Latin districts combined to talk to an investigator about the gospel, this was a worker here at the CCM who was not a member and was interested in learning about the church. A bunch of Latins stood up and started speaking the gospel in Spanish, fortunately we had an interpreter so we knew what they were saying. I was the last person to stand up, and the only person who spoke only English. I had heard all the Latins trying to cram a bunch of info down his throat and I am sure it was a lot for him to take in, They ranged in almost every topic possible. But when I stood up, I didn't want to throw more down his throat, so I asked a simple question, "from all the information we have given you, how has it made you feel?" I then bore my testimony on when I was an investigator and how the Holy Spirit worked through the missionaries and my desire to learn, and taught me that what I was reading and learning, was a good thing. As the translator translated for him, he had to fight back tears and he said that he loved everything that he had heard and that he wants to continue learning because he wants his family to live together forever and he wants all of his family to be happy. He said that he sees all the Elders and Hermanas here at the CCM and they are all happy and "full of light" and he wants that for his family. It is amazing at how the gospel can make people happy. The 3rd day through the 5th day all blended together. It was a brutal onslaught of study and memorizing something new in Spanish. It was hard and I was getting really frustrated, I could not understand the teacher and I really wanted to scream!! Me and Elder Tolbert just laugh at each other when we don`t get it. Elder Bush joins in as well. It is how we cope with not understanding what people are saying. It has helped a lot. I am trying so hard to be obedient and learn the language that sometimes you just need to crack a few jokes and laugh until you get tears in your eyes. I really have such an amazing district, all of us but one will be going to Huancayo together, so I am really grateful for the friendships we are forming here. The 6th day, was the first day we taught an "investigator". It isn't a real investigator, it is our teacher. She only spoke Spanish to us in the lesson and we could only teach in Spanish as well. She was pretending to be a mother of a sick little boy. She wanted to know why God was not healing her son and why he might die. We taught her on the Plan of Salvation and that we will all live in immortality after we die and how following Jesus Christ will lead to eternal life and happiness in the heavens with Jesus Cristo and God (Dios). As the lesson progressed I was not really getting much in and saying a whole lot but we were able to scramble together bad Spanish to get our point across. She then asked me why God wasn't healing her son, and I bore my testimony to her saying, I don`t know why her son was sick and not getting better, but I do know that Jesus Christ loves everyone and that he performed the Atonement for everyone that lives and has lived on the earth. It was a powerful testimony and I began to cry in the moment, it wasn't as if I was teaching a fake made up person, at the time it was as if this was a real person who needed to know that God loved her, and her son and that families are eternal. It was a great great rest of the day after that. Today has been awesome too. It has been our P day so we have gone about doing laundry and we actually got to leave the CCM today. We went to the temple bright and early at 6:45 am. We were in the temple until about 9:30 and then we were able to go out and go shopping. I bought two ties, a coin purse and we went into town a little ways and I bought some InkaCola. Had to get me some of that!! It is delicious. I also bought some food from a street vendor, and it was DELICIOUS!!! Way better than the food they have here in the CCM. After I finish my emailing I get to finish laundry and go back to working hard for the next 6 1/2 days. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you that have supported me all this time. I can definitely feel your prayers and I want you all to know that I am praying for you all every day. I hope that you all know that. I look forward to hearing from you all for the next few... years :) Love Elder Bell