Hola from Tingo!.............

Hey there everyone!!

Hope everyone is doing as good as I am!! Not too much to fill everyone in on this week just a few cool little things though!

1st- I gotta admit. Tingo Maria is freaking beautiful. They have so many beautiful places to go visit and such!! I am so glad I got to start my mission here!! Last week on p-day we went to a waterfall again and I think we are doing that again today too! Way exciting. It is nice to get out of the city and go look at the beauty God has created for us!

2nd- So about two weeks ago, I comitted my first person to baptism. His name is Amado (beloved in Spanish) anyway, this Sunday we were talking and he asked me to do the baptism! I was so freaking pumped!!! He loves the gospel so much already and it is so cool to see him understand it and want to keep learning more. Reminds me of myself only a few years ago. We are going to be doing his baptism in the river!! I think that is way cool. Pictures to come after that baptism for sure!

3rd- I want to tell you the kind of food I eat everyday! Usually rice and chicken or beef yes. But every once and a while I get something different. Two times this past week for breakfast, our Pensionista gave us TUNAFISH SANDWICHES!!! Wow... that was a first for sure. And apparently not the last time! That is freaking so weird to me still but I am glad I can just laugh about it. Back home I would have said Heck to the NO! Also we eat deep fried bananas and a bunch of juice, fruit, cheese, and bread. yay!! haha

Lastly- This past weekend we had a baptism in our area. Elder Bush and Elder Angel baptized a little 9 year old girl named Nicol. Was a cool expierence, I got to be one of the witnesses. Afterwards, the ward mission leader asked her to share her feelings and thoughts about the baptism and whatever else she wanted to say. She didnt say much, but she did say this, "thank you everyone, for all your love. Mom I love you so much!!" She then started to cry really really badly, it was such a sweet sweet spirit in the room that everyone could feel. Testimonies do not have to be complex and long, they just have to be straight from the heart. That is exactly what this was. I did shed a tear or two, or three, or four, or I lost count. It really was just awesome. Nicols older sister joined the church pretty recently and her mother has yet to join but you could tell that the mom was moved by the words of her little 9 year old girl. I love how the gospel can change peoples lifes. How focusing on Jesus Christ can make all our worries a little less burdonsome, and let us know that someone knows exactly what we are going t hrough and how we can over come our challenges. I am very grateful for the knowledge I have, and the ability I have to be here and help these people change their lifes through the eternities.

I love you all, thats all I have for now from Tingo Maria. I hope you all have a blessed week and enjoy the time you have together with your families. Continue to remember, Christ is our brother, Heavenly Father is our literal Father, and they both love us more than any of us can imagine.

Adios!!

Elder Bell

My First Full Week in Tingo Maria.........

Well hello all!!

This week flew by.. not really but I like to tell myself that haha.. Anyway, Here are a few things that happened this week

1st- We have been able to talk to quite a few people down here, yes, all in SPANISH, it is pretty cool. Last week we went to a town called Aucayacu. Yeah good luck pronouncing that it took me a few hours to figure out too. This is a town about an hour away from Tingo Maria but it is in our branch boundries. Anyway, there we met with a 14 year old kid who had a million questions about the church. His name is Amado. Way way cool kid, he wanted to know more about the Prophet Joseph Smith. His questions basically stemmed from crazy websites and his first question was this, "how did Joseph Smith carry the gold plates back to his house, shouldn't they have been really heavy?" yeah pretty funny but we were able to explain things to him well and he was my first baptismal commitment. Way good. This sunday we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He already has a strong testimony and is growing in the gospel really fast. He will be a very strong member for this ward as he continues to grow up and follow Christ.

2nd- The waterfalls were beautiful!!! Wow I am sure lucky to be in a place that is so pretty,but it is way freakin hot not gonna lie. Hot and Humid. ALWAYS... I will send the pictures of the water fall home today. See Below.....

 

Friendly Dog that Followed T to the Falls

Taylor and Elder Bush

He ALWAYS takes such BIG bites!!!!!

3rd- The branch here is really struggling. They have 400 total members here in Tingo Maria, but only 150 are active right now. The branch president has asked me to help the ward mission leader organize their ward mission for them since I served as a ward mission leader back home. Really glad I get to help this branch build a foundation in the missionary work. It is so hard for the missionaries to do all the work in a ward. So building this foundation and getting some strong ward missionaries to help start the process will be key.

Anyway, that is about all I have this week it has been fantastic and hot and humid!! I love you all very much. Keep writing please, I love hearing from all of you very much!!

 

Til next week,

 

Elder Bell

1st Photos from T...........

Taylor Selfie :)

Good Morning...Monday 10-13-14 Breakfast

"Mi Casa"

And Tingo was it's namo.......

Hello All!!

I am here in Tingo Maria, which is about 3 hours away from Huanuco. I have no idea in which direction since there are so many mountains we get to go up and down. I think this is about as far away from the mission home as I can get. In total it is about 10 hours away from the mission home by taxi and bus.

 

I am doing great! It is so beautiful here and I am really excited to get to work.

We spent about 2 days in Huanuco after leaving Huancayo. The reason? We had a zone conference and President Henderson was coming to conduct interviews. So basically for two days I didn't do a whole lot except listen to people mumble spanish and eat many mountains of rice. 

After leaving Huanuco, which is the second largest city in the mission, we headed out, in a tiny car with 4 people out to Tingo Maria. This place is beautiful!! I dont have pictures yet but I will get plenty to send to you next week. I am in the jungle area, it is around 90 degrees and about 80 percent humidity. I love it! Except for the large bugs AND lizards AND SNAKES! Those can go to......... away....  :) Anyway, My trainer is Elder Recalde, he is from Ecuador, luckily he speaks a lot of English thank goodness. He is helping me a ton and with him knowing english it saves me from going insane. It is a very large city and we only have 4 elders that cover it. Another newby came along with me up here to Tingo and is helping me stay sane as well. What a councidince it was ELDER BUSH. Crazy that we got to stay together for another 3 months. I guess the Lord knows what he is doing! (Thanks Brad for introducing us before the mission). 

Ok so the past few days in Tingo have been good. Our apartment is.. interesting. Definitley need to do some real American Cleaning in it. But me and Elder Bush will do that definitely. This weekend was General Conference since they had elections last weekend in all of Peru. I guess it is a law that no one can do anything on the first Saturday and Sunday of October except vote. So I got to see conference twice which was great.  

After watching the first session of conference on Sunday, Elder Recalde decided to be a gentelman and to donate some blood at the hospital for a less active members dad who has lukemia. What a wild experience! I am now beginning to understand why everyone comes to the United States. What a humbling experience it was to just observe in the hosptial. That is all I will say about that :) I hope I will never go to the hospital here. EVER...

On the way to the hospital it decided to rain... and rain it did!! It was an absolute down pour!!! Literally 6-7 inches in the streets within 10 minutes. I was soaking. I was glad I had 3 hours in the hospital to dry off. 

Right now the work is kind of slow in Tingo. We have only 4 investigators and 1 baptism scheduled for the 1st of November. I am really excited to really dive into the language and to understand what the heck is going on. It is crazy down here though. They speak so fast, and not very clear. I am glad to have Elder Bush and Elder Recalde to speak a little English to every now and then.

That is all I have for this week. I will send home some pictures of this beatufl place next week.

Love to all,

Elder Bell

....1st Quest ~ Tingo Maria Peru...

Dear Bell Family

 

     We want to let you know that Elder Bell arrived safe and sound here in the Perú Huancayo Mission.  We are grateful to have him here!   He and the other 15 new missionaries arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and we oriented them that evening and for much of the day on Wednesday with their new companions.  Elder Bell and his training companion then headed to their proselyting area in Tingo Maria.

 

     Thanks for letting Elder Bell come to our Mission.  We look forward to two good years together with your good son.

 

President David Y. Henderson

Peru Huancayo Mission

 

Nickname: The Sleeping Beauty

Moto: The Door to the Amazonia 

 

Today's Weather: 82°F (28°C), 62% Humidity

Elevation: 2,240 ft.

Population: 60,000

 

 

The real Quest begins......................

Well, We made it!!

All 15 of us made it through the Andes Montanas today. The bus ride took 7 hours, we climbed more than 15,000 feet. We took a picture at the very top. I will have to send that next week. My camera died and a Hermana took the picture of me. We have officially traveled on the highest paved road in the WORLD. Pretty cool stuff. I got super sick on the bus. I didn't throw up but I kinda wish I would've. The headache and stomach pain from climbing the mountain so fast really got to me. Good thing I didn't eat anything. But we are now at the mission home. Presidente Henderson and Hermana Henderson are really awesome people with a very very good sense of humor. Which we all know I needed in order to survive this adventure. Anyway, we got here at about 3 this afternoon and it was really hot outside. It was awesome. It was the first time I think I could say that in the past 6 weeks. Oh also, we could see the sun and real clouds that look like home. It was a nice change from the straight smog we had in Lima. Tomorrow morning I find out where I will be spending the next three months of my mission, pray that it is not Cerro de Pasco. That city is about 15,000 feet high and always has snow they said. I am not ready for that at all.... My P-Days will now always be on Mondays so make sure you write me BEFORE Monday so I can respond. Other than that I have nothing else to report for the week, I hope your week went well, I don't have a whole lot of time to write so I will fill you all in on what happens my first week out in the field.

 

I love you all and I hope your week is great. Stay safe and get to the gym.. I am up 13 pounds.. I think it is time I listen to my own advice!!!

Adios!!

Con Amor,

 

Elder Bell

Week 5 of my Quest

Ultimo Sermana en el CCM........Well, 6 weeks is already almost up! I can´t wait to get out to HUANCAYO. It is definely going to be an adventure getting there. 7 hours in a bus, climbing up to 15,000 feet and then only droppping down to 10,500 feet.... I sure hope my body can handle that. We have been warned: DO NOT EAT BREAKFAST BEFORE LEAVING FOR HUANCAYO. Apparently people get all sick and throw up all over the place. I sure hope no one in our district eats because I might just push them out of the bus if they start yackin-it-up! Anyway, I am really excited to get out of here and to get out into the field. This week should go by fast.

Anyway, this past week has been a blur, nothing crazy happened besides the good ol times we have as Zone Leaders. We have a few missionaries here that still act like they are 5 years old. It is difficult for me to not smack them in the back of the head, but we are here to learn how to be Christlike and so I am doing a good job of keeping my hands to myself. I have had a few teaching opportunities with a few of these missionaries and that has been really awesome to be able to help them grow and become the kind of missionaries they will be when they enter the field.

 

One thing I want to really talk about this week is one of our teachers here at the CCM. Hermana Villenuava. She has been teaching here since February, so not super long but they can only teach here for two years max so she is kind of a seasoned vet around these parts. One night, we were getting feed back on how we had been teaching as companionships, and things we can improve on. Well, it was Elder Holmes and I turn to receive feed back and this is what she said to us, "Ever since I have been here, there has only been one other companionship that has been able to break through the fake investigator, and reach down and touch MY heart with the Spirit of the Lord. The other companionship was a trio of Sister missionaries. You and Elder Holmes really know how to teach by the Spirit and you know how to get down to what is really bothering the investigator and help them with their real problems." During this explination she was crying and was extremely grateful that we came out on the mission, and were able to help her personally with a problem she was having in her life. I guess if I dont help anyone else out here on the mission, at least I know that I was able to help her. And that makes it all worth it.

The rest of the week flew by. We had ice cream a few nights and that is always a party. We watched a few devotionals which are always a treat for us. And of course how could I forget, SPANISH SPANISH SPANISH!! It never ends. I think I understand it and then all of a sudden they throw in a new tense and I get all sorts of confuzzled. Anyway. I know I will understand it someday :)

This coming weekend is General Conference. We feel very lucky to be able to spend it here in the CCM. This weekend is election weekend for the people of Peru. So they dont get to watch it this weekend. But we do here in the CCM :) We might get to watch it next weekend out in the field too, that would be pretty awesome. I hope everyone tries to watch conference this weekend. I have a feeling we will be getting a temple down here in Peru. I pray for it every night. I hope they get one in Huancayo soon. They have a ton of members out there and I know they could definitely attend more if they did.

I am officially sick of the food here in the CCM. But they tell me this is the best food I am going to get for two years so I am a little terrified of what is out there in the field. Hopefully they are just joking around.

Entonces, this is all I have for this week! I hope everyone has a fantastic week and next time you hear from me I will be sittin on a mountain top in Huancayo... or at least I will be up as high as a mountain top!

Adios con amor!

Elder Bell