Some Clarity on Charity

Wow. The week of love. 

What a great week this has been for me to learn about love that lasts and love that doesn't last. I have been so grateful for this mission experience to help me learn about what TRUE love is.

True love is Charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ. Charity is loving others so much, that you are truly motivated by a sincere desire to serve them. Your thoughts become others-focused and you act accordingly. I have been blessed to see this powerfully in my companions and in members throughout the mission. I am working so that I can see it in myself. 

Charity lasts. 

Anyway. I had a great week. 

Monday, Sister Jones and I went out to buffalo wild wings for lunch and to take care of some weekly planning. Then we got a call from a recently reactivated member about coming to visit her. I just kind of had a really sick feeling about it. I told Sister Jones how I was feeling... but we didn't know what to tell her. So we just went over... 

It wasn't an uplifting experience. I don't really want to say more about it. But afterward, we were able to talk about it and it was such a positive moment to have open communication and talking about ideas that we could have done better or that we can change next time... I know I'm being very vauge about the situation and I apologize for that haha. But I just wanted to write about how grateful I've been all week long to have such open communication with my companion, because it's not always easy to have that with people - to be able to express how you both really feel in an open, constructive way. And I feel like this situation is where all of our communication really stemmed from. So that was cool. 

Moving on...

Tuesday a member family from Sister Jones' old area came to visit with her and to take us out to brunch. They were so nice and so kind to both of us. They brought me a birthday present, even though they'd never met me before in their lives. They were awesome! We were able to teach a couple of less active members and to find a potential weekly service activity so that was good. We reviewed our family feud game with the elders and the Clarksons and everything looked good. 

A member family took us out to eat at Hoss'. It's kind of like... the Pennsylvania version of chuck-a-rama, I guess you could say. It was fun. They were SUPER old and adorable and really nice. It was so fun to sit and listen to them tell stories. 

Then we had Book of Mormon class which was cool. I've never actually had a successful one of those before, but a lot of people came out. We were able to read from ether and moroni about Shiz and the destruction of the people and whatnot. We had an awesome discussion about that. Members are so cool. 

Wednesday we had an awesome team up with a member who decided that she wanted to be awesome and spend all day with the sister missionaries. Because she was so willing to help out, we were able to get so much work done. We saw a recent convert and met with two less actives. Then she took us out to lunch to top it all off! She was an angel in disguise, and so fun to spend time with. Members like that make missionary work SO much more enjoyable. We love Sister Howard! 

We had dinner at a members house that night and it was so funny because I forgot that Sister Jones had told me that one of the members is terrified of germs and everything. So we were thanking them for dinner and saying goodbye and I reached out to shake his hand, and he just nodded his head at me and then I remembered that he doesn't shake people's hands and my face went BRIGHT red and everyone started laughing with me and it was just so funny.

I was blushing for a good 20 minutes after that one. 

Blessed moments...

On Thursday we had a great exchange with the Sisters in Fairview. I was able to work in Fairview with Sister Aston. She's adorable! We had so much fun together. We went to their house in the early afternoon, and decided that we'd all just go to lunch together to discuss the exchange, since we all had to eat, and no one had any set appointments until one. First, we stopped by a chiropractors office. There's a member who owns it and he gives free adjustments to missionaries. It...was...AMAZING. I have missed going to the chiropractor so much. I love adjustments. He said that my back was one of the worst he'd ever seen in a sister, so I got extra special care and I felt like a newborn child when I left. It was definitely a highlight for me. 

Then we went to a Mexican restaurant. We found out that it was Sister Aston's year mark, so we got fried ice cream to celebrate :) 

Our exchange was awesome. We visited a less active who had this GIANT great dane that just came up and tried to sit on my lap. It was so funny. Then we did service for a nonmember who loves family history. We cut out obituaries from the newspapers and glued them onto note cards for filing at the family history center. She loves temple work, too. She always gets names for members to take to the temple. But she doesn't want to take the lessons? Someone explain that one to me...  She was so nice.

Then we had an awesome lesson with another less active. At first, we weren't getting a really good read on how to help her. But then Sister Aston started asking all these inspired questions, and the spirit was so strong. The member opened up and told us how her heart really wasn't in it. She knew she wasn't being humble or willing to accept the word and somehow we got on the topic of spiritual gifts and how she needs to figure out what hers are through faithful prayer and she just broke down crying and it was AWESOME! 

SPIRIT PUNCH. 

So that was a cool lesson. 

After that we headed to dinner but we were a little early so we tried to find a less active member who supposedly lived nearby. We found the mailbox out on the side of the road but there wasn't a house to go with the mailbox so we were really confused. We parked the car and started walking around looking for it. Then we realized that it was 9 degrees outside and walking around was really cold so we started RUNNING around this neighborhood... we probably looked crazy.

We didn't even find the guy. 

But the members were awesome. They were your typical back woods Pennsylvanians. They shared their conversion story and we shared a spiritual thought. It was awesome. 

Then we had my favorite lesson of the day with Renee and John and Reece. They are getting baptized this saturday, actually. But they were just so attentive and listened so well and really thought about the questions we asked. It was an awesome lesson. By the end, Renee was telling me, "you should leave Gettysburg and come live in Fairview." haha it was so sweet! So Sister Jones and I are going to do all that we can to make it to their baptism this Saturday. 

After that, we had a quick visit with an elderly member who let me ride around her apartment in her electric wheelchair. It was better than Herhsey Park.

Friday we exchanged back at Zone training. I was happy to be with Sister Jones again. :) We had a good training. Sister Johnson trained on the parable of the sower. President Johnson said some words on how safety trumps all. The zone leaders taught about "Teaching the Savior's Way" and we were able to help out in teaching that. I was nervous but it ended up okay, I think. 

After training, we headed home with the Clarksons to set up for Family Feud. Then President Johnson took us out to dinner with him, his wife, and the Clarksons. It was so fun. He's the best mission president in the whole world.
 

After dinner, we all went to Family Feud. It was a great turnout, and I think people had a lot of fun! 

I feel like I always start these emails so gung-ho to tell everyone about my week... and then I just start fizzling off. I really do have fun as a missionary, I swear. 

Saturday there was a wedding at the church. We set up for that and helped get everything ready and go smoothly. It was kind of fun spending valentines day at a wedding. It was also cool just knowing that hopefully some day that couple will make it to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. 

The highlight of the wedding was line dancing to boot scootin boogie with Sister Jones and all the little kiddies. We were laughing so hard. 

We had to leave the wedding a little early because we had dinner and a lesson with our AWESOME investigators Don and Teri. They made birthday dinner for me and birthday dessert, too. They even got me a birthday card. It was the sweetest thing of all time. They are miracles. Teri is a fantastic cook. She made me SKOR BAR CAKE. MOM, did you hear that? It was the best. 

We had a lesson with them and talked about prophets. I always have a hard time in our lessons with them, because I don't really feel like they're my investigators, you know what I mean? I feel like they're still Sister Jones and Sister Peterson's investigators, not Sister Jones and Sister Bills' investigators. I don't know why I feel that way. So during our lesson on Saturday I made an extra effort to try and help them and to speak up and answer questions and whatnot. I felt a little better, but not much. I love Don and Teri. I just don't feel like I'm helping them at all by being there. It's a pride thing and I know it. So on the way home from our lesson, I voiced my thoughts and concerns with my companion. She was able to help me so much. We were then able to talk about other things that had been on both of our minds all week. I can't express enough how wonderful of a blessing it is to have a companion that you can just be so candid with and still have it be a positive experience. 

I love Sister Jones. 

Sunday was so fun. It was kind of a bummer. Because the weather has been so cold and the roads were so icy, they cancelled church and so we had a snow day. So I was just bummed out all day because I couldn't renew my baptismal covenants. But it turned out to be pretty fun. We were sitting there, eating chocolate cake for breakfast, and a member family decided to brave the weather and come pick us up so we could spend the day at their house. They are like our family out here, seriously - the Shearer's. We love them. We're actually going over tonight for a family home evening with them. But anyway. We spent all day yesterday with them. Laughing and playing games and watching 17 miracles and playing the ukulele and telling stories. It was so wonderful. They make my life perfect. 

So the snow day ended up being a blessing. 

Today should be awesome, too! We'll be going bowling to celebrate my birthday. I love my district.

But anyway! I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm going to be 20 tomorrow!! I can't believe that I've been alive for so long. 

Thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes and support. I love you all!! 

The Lord lives. 

Love, 

Hermana Bills 

Ps. I still have pictures from like 4 weeks ago that I need to send out. Sorry for the delay ;)

The Craziest Week of My Whole Mission to Date

Wow I just need to take five seconds to try to breathe right now. I'm not even sure what just happened last week. But it felt like the longest and shortest week of my whole mission at the same time. 

Allow me to expound. 

Monday we had Pday, as you're all aware. We went on a lame tour of a potato chip factory and then went to chick-fil-a for lunch as a district. We managed to complete some shopping and cleaning before heading to Carlisle for my very first exchange as an STL. 

Tuesday I spent the day with Sister Amendola in Carlisle. Sleep over! It was so fun. She's such an awesome sister. We were able to do service at like a food pantry thing or whatever and then we taught a lesson later that day with a less active member. He was really struggling with why bad people get away with doing bad things to good people. So we talked a bit about that with him. 

Sister Amendola is a winner at being very healthy. She cooked me a fillet of fish and tossed a bed of spinach together with some broccoli and we enjoyed that meal together. I was so impressed with her cooking skills. She is lovely. We parted ways as good friends. I adore her.

Although I had a good time in Carlisle, I was happy to be back in Gettysburg with Sister Jones. When we got back from Carlisle, we had dinner with a member, went to a mutual activity, and had ward correlation for Gettysburg ward. It was... so funny. It just had been such a long day and we kept laughing at each other because Sister Jones was being distracting and making dumb faces! The elders kept asking if we were okay. Haha... it was a funny night. You had to be there ;) 

Wednesday was nice. We had district meeting with all of the elders. That was nice. We were able to see a couple people before going to dinner at our Bishop's house (the Bishop for Gettysburg ward). This was such a cool night for me. They had both us and the elders over for dinner and a family home evening. Dinner was delicious. We talked about life and our families and how the Book of Mormon has blessed our lives. The spirit was so strong. And it was a dinner conversation!? After dinner, we went into the living room and read a chapter out of the book of mormon together. We took turns reading verses and... it was just... it was just really cool to sit there on the floor of our bishops home with his family and the elders and to think "Some day, this will be my family having the missionaries over for dinner, reading out of the Book of Mormon." The spirit was crazy strong. Their home was seriously like a temple. It was so wonderful. It made such a powerful impression on  me. 

Being a missionary is seriously amazing because you get little bits and pieces of what you would like your family to be like just by spending so much time with the member families in your respective wards. It's something that I've been so grateful to see. I can just take different values and habits and traditions that I like from each family and integrate them into my future home. :) What a blessing that I get to see and learn so much from these faithful members. 

Thursday was a whirlwind. We Had to be in Chambersburg by 1 to meet up with the Zone Leaders to drive to Pittsburgh for MLC (mission leadership council). So we had studies in the morning and then got lunch really quickly on the way to our lesson with our investigators in Hanover. We had a member come out with us to teach and it went really well. We talked about baptism and keeping the Sabbath day holy. Brady talked about how he'd been keeping his committment to pray daily and how he'd gotten a call about possibly getting a new job that would allow him to have Sundays off so he can come to church! It was such a miracle. 

After our lesson, we hurried off to Chambersburg, hopped in the zone leaders car with all of our stuff and headed out for Pittsburgh. It was a long drive (about 4 hours) but we managed to make it. When we got there I had to go to the bathroom SOOO bad but we stopped at the lookout to see the view of Pitt at night. It was lovely.

But then I made the elders stop at this ghetto McDonalds and it was sketchy beyond belief. I love Pittsburgh. We strolled around downtown for a while. Everything was closed, but it was just cool to see the city. Then we got to meet up with Elder George (my old district leader) and his companion!! We all went to dinner at a super yummy pizza place. It was so fun!! 

We spent the night with the Pitt 3rd sisters and slept on their couches.

Friday was MLC. It is just this big meeting that all the STL's and Zone Leaders get together for with President Johnson and the AP's and we all talk about what's happening in the mission and how things can be better, and then we talk about what zone training is going to be on and when it's going to be. Then we eat lunch together... talk a little more... 

It was a really good meeting. Just super long. Also I kind of felt like I didn't belong there, really. Because here you've got all these super smart, awesome, experienced missionaries who know what they're doing and there there's sweet little Sister Bills who can't even say the opening prayer with out shaking... But President helped me feel better, and it was good to see two other missionaries there who came out at the same time as me - Elder Miller and Elder Garduno. So that made me feel a little bit better. :) 

After MLC, we got supplies for our zone from the mission office and then headed back out east. We stopped to fill up for gas and then Elder Guerrero realized that he couldn't find the SD card with ALL of his mission pictures. We looked for a while but couldn't find it. We knew we had to keep driving so we said a quick prayer that it would turn up, and kept on keeping on. We stopped at Chickfila for dinner and some people saw us praying over our food and came up to thank us. That was pretty cool :)

We got home from Pittsburgh around 11:30ish. It was a late night. 

Saturday we took an early Pday. The best pday of my life. We still had to wake up around 5:30 (extra early) because the Shearer family was coming over to take us to DC to do a session in the temple, so we were pretty tired. But it's not hard to wake up really quick when you're with the Shearer family. They're so funny. You feel right at home with them. 

We did the 9:00 session in DC. It was wonderful. I felt so spiritually fed. It was so lovely. The most incredible thing was as we were all praying for the missionaries and I realized, powerfully, that we receive SO many prayers every day all over the world. And that was so cool.

I cried like a baby. 

But yes. The temple was gorgeous. Wish I could say more but... you know how that goes ;) 

After being so spiritually fed, we managed to talk the Shearer's into stopping at Cafe Rio for lunch. It was literally the best thing ever. I haven't had that sweet ambrosia for over 7 months now. I never knew anything could taste so good. Tyler Shearer thought that it was decent and that Chipotle was better. I was so disappointed in him. ;) 

Then we headed back within mission boundaries. On the way back, we stopped by a llama farm and I thought I was in heaven. We hung out at the Shearer house and played pass the pigs and sang along to Tyler playing his guitar. Brother Shearer seriously reminds me so much of my dad it's hilarious. 

After hanging out with the Shearer's all day, we met up with the Clarksons for dinner and a lesson and Don and Teri's house (they're our investigators. They're awesome.) It was such a good lesson. I was just so spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically drained from the whole week that I broke down into tears half way through the lesson. It was embarrassing. I just wanted to help them understand the need for an apostasy but couldn't find the right words to say to help them. I kept thinking about how wonderful the temple was and how badly I wanted Don and Teri to feel of the wonderful spirit in the temple but I couldn't explain to them how important Joseph Smith is and how he truly IS a prophet. So I just started crying. Haha it was pathetic. 

So after that we went home to recuperate. It was such an excellent day for both Sister Jones and I, but also hard in a lot of ways. I guess you could say the same thing about our whole week, really. So we just needed to regroup a little bit.

So Sunday was awesome for that reason. Teri was able to come to church for ward conference and she got some great face time with our stake president. She was even able to help out a less active member who was struggling to feel that she had been forgiven. She bore powerful testimony of the atonement. It was a great experience. Being able to partake of the sacrament and to recommit to do better this week was spiritually charging. I felt so much better after sacrament meeting. Having just attended the temple, I felt like I got so much more out of each class that we attended. It was lovely. 

After church, we did some more regrouping - finally sitting down to really plan and set goals for the upcoming week. That helped both of us feel like we had our hats on again. It was much needed. We had dinner with the Burton's. Their home is so like a temple as well. We listened to mormon tabernacle choir and ate Pennsylvania Dutch food. It was really good. Then we played a game with the articles of faith to earn our dessert. We were laughing so hard. I had so much fun. Then we were able to come home and have some studies before going to bed. Right before we were finishing up for the evening and finally feeling like we had a handle on things, we got a call from President Johnson. 

Him and Sister Johnson are coming out east for Zone Training on Friday and "we're just wondering if Sister Jones and Sister Bills would like to come out to dinner with us and the Clarksons, and then hopefully we can work in your area with you for a little bit afterward?" 

WHAT!?

President and Sister Johnson want to come see investigators and less actives with US?

What is this!?

So we had a mini panic attack before realizing that Friday night was our missionary activity. We're throwing a Family Feud game night with both the Gettysburg and Hanover wards. So we told them about that. 

Wanna know what President Johnson said? 

"Oh! That's fine! We'll just come to that with you then."

WHAT!?

So now our mission president is coming to our missionary activity and we're kind of losing our minds again...

It's a beautiful ride. 

Love, 

Hermana Bills 

I Think I Found the Promised Land. . .

(I'm sorry if I repeat anything! I'm just so scatterbrained today!) 

Well Ladies and Gents! I made it to Gettysburg PA safe and sound. It has been quite the trip these past couple of days but I can honestly say that I'm so stoked to be serving here. 

Let me start with some shoutouts and then I'll move on to some fun facts about my new area. :) 

First off I have to shoutout to McKell becasue I'm the worst stepdaughter ever and I forgot about your birthday last week. I know it was transfers and everything but that's no excuse! Happy birthday to you. I hope you had a great birthday and that Andruw got you a coach bag and that dad took you out somewhere yummy for dinner :) You're the best stepmom ever and I'm so blessed to have you as part of my life. Thank you for all that you do for me. :) 

Shoutout to Sister Mellow for going into surgery this week. You're so brave and I hope that you'll get feeling better really soon. :) I still miss you! 

Alright. 

So basically Gettysburg is awesome. Technically we are the "Gettysburg East Sister Training Leaders". But we don't actually live in Gettysburg, we live in this little place called McSherrystown. It's like a little Irish village or something. The town over is called Irishtown. So I am excited to spend St. Patty's day here. Maybe these people will really know how to celebrate. 

We're right in the heart of a lot of American History sites and so it's cool to be a part of that. I'm so grateful for this country that we live in, and I'm excited to serve around where it was fought for and founded. It will be quite the experience. We got to drive past some of the Revolutionary War battlefields the other day and I just got chills all over. It was such a sacred moment. I love it out here.

Our area is ginormous. We are the only area in the Pittsburgh Mission that covers two wards, and so it's a little crazy trying to get to know everyone. It will be a challenge to learn everyone's names. Sunday was interesting because we're trying to attend two wards that overlap one another. There's not really any time to rest. It was fun, though. The ward members are so sweet and really reached out to me and helped me feel welcome. I was feeling a bit under the weather. This area is really busy and so it's just go go go all of the time. A lot of the time we will have both lunch and dinner appointments. I don't know if I'm going to be a very good pen pal these next couple of months so I apologize ahead of time. But I still love each of you and appreciate letters of encouragement. I also just like to hear what you are all up to and how you're doing. You mean everything to me!! 

Our district is really fun. We have two sets of elders, us and then the Clarkson's - the senior couple from England. 

I. Love. Them.

They are my heroes.

Honestly my biggest fear for serving in Gettysburg is that the Clarkson's won't like me as much as I like them. They're fantastic people. They have the best accents. They're such hard workers. They're always making me laugh. 

I love them.

The other best part about serving here is my companion. She is literally an angel. She glows so much. She's like... as bright as the St. George temple when the sun is out. She is the most dedicated missionary I've ever met. She sets such an incredible example for me. I don't know how I will ever live up to the missionary that she is. I'm in awe of how much she knows and how much she does. She's so spiritually in tune and always on the ball. 

I am going to have such a good time serving here. 

We're going on my first official exchange as an STL tonight and I'm a little bit nervous. But Sister Jones has confidence in me and so I'm sure it will be alright. 

Our apartment is really cute. We just moved into it a few weeks before I got here, so it's still kind of... in the works. But we'll give it some TLC and it will be great :) I'm excited to be here. 

The wards that we serve in are awesome. Gettysburg ward and Hannover ward. The members are incredible. We literally already have a meal for every day of the upcoming transfer, and several days of the coming transfer are already filled as well. We have people feeding us lunches and bringing us groceries and giving us money and helping us out... They're angels. I seriously love them.

Tons of stuff happened this week. My first week out in this area and we had two funerals. It was so interesting to see the difference between the two funerals based on the knowledge the people had of the gospel. I am so grateful to know that death is not the end of this life. 

We're teaching some of the best people I've ever met. People are progressing so well... studying the scriptures, coming to church... it's awesome! I am endlessly blessed. 

One particularly exciting story happened Thursday evening on our way to dinner at a members house. We were riding with the Hannover elders and it was snowing lightly. We didn't think it'd be a problem. (I've been driving around because Sister Jones' wallet is in Pittsburgh at the moment). But as we kept going, the snow kept picking up. We were about 3 minutes from the Shearer's house when we hit a hill and I was trying to zigzag up the hill and we were making pretty decent progress until we weren't anymore... so Sister Jones hopped out with the elders and they all started pushing from behind. We were all laughing so hard. We finally made it to their house safe and sound. We waited for the snow plows to come before we headed back out, though. So we played guitar and ate pizza and watched the Joseph Smith film and played pass the pigs and laughed... it was awesome. Brother Shearer reminds me SO much of dad. It was funny. Made me a little homesick, though. 

I'm having such a great time out here. I can't even begin to tell you about the miracles and blessings I've received just being here for 6 days. I'm so happy to be here. 

It's a little bit stressful, I'm not going to lie. Juggling all of the new blessings the Lord has given me. Two wards, a leadership calling, a giant area... I did end up making myself sick just trying to learn everything and feel like I was keeping up. The Clarkson's were so sweet this morning. They had us all over for breakfast this morning and they gave me a blessing and then headed out to the store to get some medicine for me and just... they're just so nice. My companion and I are working on being less stressed and not being so self-critical. :) It's going to be a good transfer.

I appreciate (more than you can all know) The love and prayers and support that I receive from all of you. Thank you for your letters, your emails, and your friendship and love. Heaven knows I need it. 

This work matters. I love being a part of it. 

Well... I hope I remembered all of the things that I wanted to write about. I'm a little homesick for Lebanon and Hermana Landa, but I really am so excited to be here. :) 

Love, 

Hermana Bills 

PS - I'll try and send some pictures really soon! 

A Change in the Weather

Well... Saturday night transfer calls came, and just as we predicted, I'm leaving the nest. This little pichon has got to spread her wings and fly. Packing was just as awful as I predicted it would be. Not as bad as the news that came Sunday when President Johnson called us to tell us about our new leadership positions. Hermana Landa will be training the new Spanish sister, and I'll be heading to either Pittsburgh or Gettysburg to be an STL. 

(For those of you who are unfamiliar with that term, it stands for Sister Training Leader. So... It's kind of like a Zone Leader? but for sister missionaries. If that still doesn't make sense... it's just... really nerve wracking.) 

President Johnson's comforting words to me were, "You'll be one of the youngest members in our mission leadership meetings. But you shouldn't be afraid to speak up and share your thoughts. Your input is important." 

So now I'm feeling even more nervous, haha. 

It will be good, though... 

Just... crazy. 

I have been so touched by everyone's love to me this week as I've said goodbye to all the people here in Lebanon that I've come to love. I love the people in this ward. They have blessed my life in countless ways. Sacrament meeting yesterday was such a powerful experience for me. As I sat in our little pew, I started saying a silent prayer of gratitude in my heart for each member. I just looked around the chapel and thought about all of the pleasant memories I have had with each member or each family and I was filled with so much gratitude. I have seriously LOVED serving here in Lebanon. It has been one of the greatest blessings for me. 

I love Hermana Landa. She has been an incredible strength to me through these past 12 weeks, and I am grateful for her example to me of strength. We were with our Sister Training Leaders the other day and they asked us to give compliments to one another and I was sitting there, trying to think of some way to describe Sister Landa in a way that these STL's could really understand just how amazing she is and I think I found the perfect descriptions

"Hermana Landa has the faith to move mountains, and the wisdom to know where to put them."

She is such an example of Christ to me and I am going to miss her dearly as my companion. She is so strong. Everything is changing. Our ward is getting a new bishopric, our Zone Leaders were both transferred out within the last 3 weeks, our District Leader is being moved this transfer, and I'm leaving too, along with half of the people in our zone that are going to new areas. But she just faces everything with such strength and determination. She is incredible. I know that we will always be friends, though I don't think I'll ever quite understand how I came to deserve a friend like her. She is going to be a killer trainer and probably the best missionary in this world.

As for me... although I still feel some nerves, I know that I am ready for this new calling and this new area. The Lord has prepared me and He will strengthen me. I am so grateful for the knowledge that He is in charge of the work, because He truly does see all and He knows best. Sometimes I get a little nervous and scared and sad. But I am trying to put all of my faith in His perfect hands. He will change me into the person He wants me to be. So I am thankful for this opportunity to grow. :) 

The work here is going so well. I will miss it.  We picked up a few promising investigators this week. I am excited that the new Hermana will have the chance to help them on their journeys. 

One sweet little lady that we've been teaching is a real live angel, I think. Her name is Alba and she is the nicest person I have probably ever met. She opens the door when we knock and just smiles and says, "Muy bien. Adelante." ("Very good. Come in.") And she just smiles so big to see us. She doesn't waste time to chat. She wants to get right down into the good stuff - the scriptures. She always relates everything we teach back to Christ's life and the miracles He performed and the work He did. And when she found out that we usually eat dinner with the members, she insisted that we come over to her house some time and told us that if we didn't have an evening open, to come for lunch. Who does that!? Alba does. 

She came to church on Sunday for the first time and it was such a miracle... She doesn't speak a lot of English and so the members in the ward who speak Spanish really reached out to her and it was wonderful to see. They translated for her and helped her feel at home. She said that she loved it and can't wait to come back. 

We had an awesome Sunday - one of the best we've had in this area - with 3 investigators at Sacrament meeting and 9 less actives at church. Two of those less actives are now reactivated!! To me, that's just as important as any baptism. These members have already entered into the covenant of baptism, but aren't fully keeping that covenant. They need JUST as much help and support as any person who doesn't know the gospel. To see them coming back to church and loving it, and feeling love from other members... That means so much to me! Because I remember when I was in their shoes, and I remember how, through the consistent and loving outreach of several leaders (my home teachers, my young womens leaders, and especially my bishop) I was able to feel loved at church and to really feel like I belonged. It changed my whole perspective!  

I am so grateful for those members who never gave up on me, even when I was struggling. It has strengthened my testimony that you can never give up on anyone! Even if it seems hopeless. I am so grateful for members all over the world who have true charity for those whom they are trying to help. In Relief society yesterday, we were discussing Elder Oaks' talk: "Loving Others and Living with Differences". I would encourage all of you to listen to that one! It's so good! When we have the love for others that it takes to help them come to church... when we truly love them the way that Christ loves them... THEN miracles happen. We are commanded to love one another! And when we keep His commandments, the Lord blesses us. Plain and simple. 

So love each other!! :) 

I love you guys! 

Please keep me in your prayers these next few weeks. I will need all the added strength I can get! ;)

Going forward with faith, 

Hermana Bills

MLK

Shoutout to MLK for being such a rad person back in the day!! I'm happy that you were born, man!  

Well howdy everyone! I hope that your new year is going wonderfully! I hope that you still have your resolutions at the forefront of your mind and that you're working at them as diligently as you intended to on December 31 ;) 

This past Tuesday we were able to have interviews with the mission president. I love sitting down to speak with President Johnson. I am so grateful for his leadership and love. It looks as though this will be my final week here in Lebanon. That's just a wild guess though. I'm trying not to read too far into President Johnson's subtle question: "So, Sister Bills. Are you ready to leave Lebanon?" 

He is the master of subtlety, my friends. 

The master. 

I've been having mixed feelings about the idea of leaving. Here are my thoughts:

"I hate packing."

"I hate packing!"

"I hate packing."

"I really like the people here. How am I supposed to say goodbye?" 

"I finally know my way around this place. I'm gonna be so lost in a new area!" 

"What if my new companion and I don't get along?"

"I've never been transferred before. I don't know if I'm ready to leave my first area."

"It could be fun..."

"I'll probably really like my new ward"

"Maybe they'll have a baptism lined up for the week I get there..."

"I should probably just do what the Lord wants."

"I wish I could just stop stressing about it"

So that's how I'm feeling this week.

I don't have a lot else to report on. We got really sick this week. There's been a nasty nasty flu making it's way around Lebanon, and we managed to be some of the lucky ones to contract it. Seems like it's hit almost everyone we know at this point.

Hermana Landa was puking on Tuesday so we stayed in. She was still sick all Wednesday so we stayed in. It was a boring day, because I was completely healthy. I studied the scriptures a lot and did some jumping jacks and tried to remember how to do simple algebra. College should be interesting.

Thursday... I woke up sick. So we stayed in. Friday, I was even worse, so we stayed in. That gave Hermana Landa ample time to recover. 

Saturday it was back to business. We had a zone training in Harrisburg, so we didn't really have an option as to whether or not we felt bad. We just kind of had to be better again. ;) No, I'm kidding. We were so done with being cooped up in the apartment. It was really sweet though, the members and the elders in our ward really reached out to us and took care of us. They brought us food and came to give us blessings and brought us medicine and really just nursed us back to health. I love being a member of this church.

Zone training was awesome. We learned about the different ways people learn from a guest speaker from a different ward in our stake. He was really knowledgeable and funny. It was a very interesting training. 

When we got back from Harrisburg, we went over to one of our less active families homes for a lesson with Nate - our investigator. 

So little refresher on Nate. He's wanted to get baptized for a while. He likes the church and everything. But in HIS mind, he was thinking that "maybe 5-10 years" before he would set a baptismal date. So we haven't been pushing the baptismal thing. But recently, his Fiancee (the less active member who just had a baby but didn't know she was pregnant... ps I love her so much she's the funniest person ever) got really sick. She was suffering from a lot of pain and a really high fever, and she received a priesthood blessing, which he was present to witness. They testified that the spirit was so strong and then Nate shared with us that he knows that the priesthood is real. He knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. He knows that Thomas S. Monson is God's prophet on the earth today. And he wants to be baptized this May. 

Needless to say, Hermana Landa and I burst into tears and couldn't compose ourselves for a while. It was the greatest miracle ever. 

I've been thinking a lot lately (because of Nate and others) about Christ's hands. There were many things that our Savior did with His hands. He healed, he lifted, he encouraged, he rebuked, he loved... But the image I love most of the Savior is of Him with His hands outstretched... because He never stops reaching for us. In the Church today, we are Christ's hands. He sends us to heal and to lift and to love. He sends us to His children to be His example, and He expects us to constantly be reaching out to those around us. I am so grateful for those people in my life who constantly had their hands stretched out for me, because they are the reason that I am who I am today. I am grateful for my home teachers and my young women's leaders who never gave up on me, even as I was struggling with my testimony. I am grateful for my wonderful and faithful friends who have constantly supported me - before and during the mission. I am thankful for supportive family for lending their help to me constantly. I am thankful for the countless prayers that have been offered on my behalf and in behalf of other missionaries around the world.

I am so grateful.

I am especially grateful for the Savior, who loved each of us enough to suffer and die for us; and I am grateful that He lives again. I am grateful for the gift of repentance. I am grateful that I can be washed clean weekly through the renewal of my baptismal covenants. I am grateful to be a part in watching others come unto the Savior. 

I love this gospel. 

Go share the love with someone you know this week!! 

I'll let you all know next Monday if I'm getting transferred for sure!! 

Talk to you soon! 

-Hermana Bills

O Ye that Embark!

Has everyone heard the 2015 new youth song, Embark? 

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/embark-in-the-service-of-god-2015-theme-song?lang=eng

You've got to check it out. 

I am so pumped this week! The adversary has been working so hard on us and that means that we're doing good and that better things are coming. He thinks he's so strong! But he's not. That's the secret! He tries to intimidate you and make you think that's he's all that but he is nothing compared to our Savior Jesus Christ.

I just need to take a minute and glory in God. He is so good. 

So many incredible miracles happened this week. We picked up two new investigators. 

Heather - She is the sister of a recent convert. We met with them for a dinner appointment. She is a hoot. She tells the best stories. She works at like an old person home and so she has the funniest experiences. Dinner was a blast. Then we were trying to figure out what to say, because we know her sister wants her to take the lessons... but she's really involved in her church. So we were really nervous. I was praying so hard! The spirit said, "open your mouth and it will be filled."

So I did! 

At first, it felt a little like word vomit. But, because the spirit was there, her heart was touched, and she agreed to take the lessons.  It was awesome! 

Alba - She's the cutest person ever. She was a media referral and she is STOKED to be learning about the gospel. She's probably one of the only people I've ever met who will actually keep her commitments. Because she's so awesome, we picked her up on Wednesday and then were able to teach her on Saturday again. She's agreed to be baptized! 

Wednesday, we were out trying to find people and we were just seeing so many miracles. We just finished an awesome lesson with Alba and were ready to head home to wrap up the night and plan for the next day. But we got this feeling to go to Matt and Samantha's house - they're our investigators that have been struggling lately. We swung by, and we were in the middle of sharing a scripture of how the Lord uses our faith to bring to pass miracles... and in walks RYAN.

Anyone remember Ryan?

He's the one from forever ago that we shared a "He is the Gift" card with. We were gonna try to talk to the family, but instead we said hi to him and he was interested in hearing more? 

But we never got his number! 

It was so frustrating because the spirit had been so clear to us that he had been prepared, but we hadn't seen him for a couple weeks. We didn't know how we were ever supposed to find him.

And all the sudden he just comes waltzing into Matt and Samantha's house. 

WHAT?

We didn't even know that they knew each other! 

It was insane! We were able to see him, give him our number, and talk with him a little bit. It was so good! 

Guys. 

We didn't have to be at Matt and Samantha's house. 

Ryan didn't have to come over to get his videogame right at that moment.

But the Lord put us both in the right place at the right time. This is His work. I know that. 

More good news! We don't have bedbugs. The previous scare was just that... a scare! We had an exterminator named Ernie come in and check the apartment. No visible signs of bedbugs. So that was awesome! Also, we were able to teach Ernie some Spanish while he was checking the house, and he asked us questions about the Book of Mormon. Future investigator??? ;) 

Also! This week I was gifted my very own Jehovah's Witness bible. 

Side job? :) 

Quote of the week: "So... what are you girls... like... nuns in training?"

Also, a giant pitbull ripped the zipper off of my bag. Who knew that getting attacked by dogs was an actual thing that actually happened on missions? So cool. 

Also, you know those crazy stories about people who are pregnant and don't know they are until they actually HAVE the baby? I never even understood how that could happen... but that happened to someone in our ward and we just found out about it this week! It was crazy! She's actually the fiancee of one of our investigators. 

Now we're super nervous to teach the law of chastity...

We had a cool mission farewell on Sunday for Kyle. He'll go into the MTC on Wednesday. He's coming to the Provo MTC so yinz give him a warm welcome for me. He gave such an awesome talk. He'll be a great missionary. It made me remember giving my farewell talk and all the feelings that I had when I was just preparing to come out... I am so grateful to be serving a mission. Even through all the hard times and the things that go wrong... like your investigators not being able to be baptized because they're not willing to commit to pay tithing, or when the moisture coming out of the sky isn't snow or rain... it's ice... despite all of  that... this work is worth it an it will always be worth it. It is our calling as members of Christ's church to share the gospel, and I am so happy to be able to do it full time. 

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

-Hermana Bills

Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Okay funniest story. (It goes with the title... Ps, I can't stand that hymn. I'm sorry. I feel like a blasphemous missionary for saying that, but I just... *shiver. No bueno).

So over Christmas we were singing to some old people, right? Well we were in this home where there were a TON of really super sick people and we were singing to them. And then we were like... done with all the Christmas songs and Elder Birrel (one of our zone leaders) is like, "let's sing 215!" 

well A- none of us knew the song, so it was already a train wreck.

But do you guys know the words of that song? The first verse is all like, "ring out wild bells and let him die."

I mean, I know it was talking about the old year and it's welcoming the new year and whatever but... Seriously! I felt like we were singing about some of the older gentlemen in the room. It was awful. My face was bright red. But we sang it yesterday at church and Hermana Landa and I couldn't stop laughing. 

Something for y'all to laugh about this week. 

We had a great week and an awesome New Years! We are so blessed. We were able to spend New Years with the elders and a less active member which was awesome. We had traditional bulgarian food (anyone remember the story of little stephanie?) and I tried tres leches for the first time! We spent the night telling stories, burning things, and playing pass the pigs, and laughing until our sides hurt and there were tears streaming down our faces. We had to be in by 9:00, though. So we went back to the apartment and went to bed. But since we're party animals, we set and alarm and woke up around 11:54 to do martinelli's shots and tell each other "feliz ano nuevo". We returned to our pleasant slumber at 12:01. It was pretty crazy. #missionlyfe

This week we received so many blessings. We have been working very closely with a lot of the amazing less active members in our ward. Some of them, for a long time, seemed like a lost cause. But studying the scriptures, we know that the Savior never gives up on us, and so we can never give up on others. This week, because of a mixture of things (more boldness, exact obedience, mostly the Lord's guiding hand) we have reached new milestones with some of these less actives that we thought might never progress. 

We had the incredible blessing of teaching a less active/part member family this week and we were talking about new years resolutions and what we can change... and then we started talking about good places to eat, and they volunteered to take us out to a restaurant today! We're so excited to go with them. We had thought, at first, that maybe they didn't like us! But this will be an awesome opportunity to get to know them better. 

Another less active got up yesterday to bear his testimony and told the congregation that he was sorry for his absence and that he wouldn't be making excuses anymore, just coming to church! It was such a shock! We got a little embarrassed when he started talking about us... we never know how to react when members say nice things about us. Hermana Landa and I are both so socially awkward so it's always a pleasant experience...

Not all the less actives are doing well, though. We had a lesson this week with the Hernandez family and it went so well! The spirit was incredibly strong and they all committed to waking up and coming to church on Sunday. They even gave us a phone number that we could call Sunday morning at 7 to wake them up. Everything was looking up! Then sunday morning came... they weren't answering. We called at 7. we called at 7:30. We called at 8. We called tons of times! Finally, I just said, "this isn't happening." So we literally drove to their house and knocked on their door for like ten minutes. Nothing.  So they ended up not making it to church this week, and we were so sad for them! We want to get them to the temple so much. We want to help Brother Hernandez with his goal of baptizing his youngest son when he turns 8. "What more could I have done for my vineyard..."

So sometimes things are rough.

Another trial that we went through this week was not being able to do a lot of missionary work because we were cooped up in our house, quarantined from the bedbugs. Correction: Bedbug. There was only one. I mean, an exterminator will be coming Tuesday to make sure we don't have a secret infestation... but honestly our apartment could not be more spotless than it is now. It's like the temple. Or the CK. It helps when you have a companion that used to be a janitor. 

THE FIEND!

In other news, we're finishing up with teaching Joe all of the lessons this week so that he can have his baptismal interview this weekend! He'll be getting baptized in just 12 short days! He's such a miracle. He loves coming to church and has even started participating in class. Reading from the book and commenting on things. He's so awesome. 

In my studies lately I've loved reading about how we receive equal and opposite blessings for all of the trials that we go through. It means a lot to me right now as I've been struggling with some silly homesickness and lack of motivation. I know that if I can just push past these feelings and think of others rather than myself, that the Lord truly will bless me with all that I need to do His work. He loves us and wants us to be happy. Whatever we face, we are His children. He loves us and He will never leave us. I am so grateful for His love. I am so grateful for His grace. I am so grateful for the awareness of my own shortcomings, because it allows me to rely on Him and to be humbled to see His guiding hand in my life. 

Pretty Pennsylvania

I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for His gospel! He blesses me so much.

I love all of you! Thank you for your support.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

love, Hermana Bills 

Sister Mellow loved the hat!

Hermana Landa - the artist