Letter to Dad Feb 18, 2013

Hey Dad!

Sweet stuff! Thanks for checking the balance on the card and making sure it was good to go. It saved my life a couple minutes ago. There was money on it then.... probably not anymore.

Yea, I don't know what the deal is with these people here in Katy I keep running into. It's pretty funny though. Seriously, Katy is the coolest! My companion and I helped do a Stake Leadership Training on Saturday and I got to see many wonderful people from my first ward, Westlake, one of which was Letty! It was SO GREAT to see her and these other people again! It honestly felt like coming home. Having people like that really inspires me to be better and to do better here. That puts on a lot of pressure, though.

Right now we are working with 7 or 8 different serious investigators.

Just a couple days after I got into the area, we were at dinner with a family and the 17-year-old girl had her 19-year-old boyfriend, Ryan, there. After dinner, we asked them all if we could teach a lesson, as is customary after member dinners. They agreed and we started sharing the Restoration (the first lesson that we teach to investigators) and Ryan committed to be baptized on March 23rd. He is very worried what his family will think but we are trying to strengthen his faith to keep him going strong. He is pretty cool. He does BMX competitions and such, not really in school or anything, just working and doing BMX.

The next person we are working with is an 18-year-old girl named Emily who loves at our apartment complex. We were working on a Ward list on the computers one day when she came in. We started talking to her and she agreed to learn more. We taught her right then and then again the next day and she committed to be baptized on March 16th. She came to Church with us on Sunday and got to see President Eyring and Elder Scott for Stake Conference. (It was a broadcast, they weren't actually there.) I am very hopeful for her and praying that she will stay strong and continue to progress.

The lady, Paulette that texted Mom is actually another of our investigators. She has been investigating the Church for quite a while, but we are very hopeful that she will commit to be baptized soon. She has been taught everything by previous Elders and has been coming to Church for many months. When we asked her at dinner the other day if she had thought about joining the Church, she revealed that the only thing holding her back was the fact that she doesn't feel like she knows enough and was worried what her family would say. We are going to try and set a baptismal date at our next meeting on Wednesday.

Another family we are working with are named the Ebbinghaus. They are a couple with two small children. They have been investigating the Church for a couple months. I love them! They are so awesome! I really don't know them that well at all, but in talking, Brother Ebbinghaus actually wanted to be a fighter pilot and went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida to pursue that. Unfortunately, at the time, the military was letting pilots retire early because they didn't have a huge demand for them, so he decided to do something else.

And after this, there are a couple of other part-member families we are teaching, and a family we tracted into my first Sunday in the area. Good stuff, though!

As far as the District, I don't know what the goals and such are. I am no longer a District Leader. I just do what I am told.

So good to hear about the family scripture study! Great stuff! I am very excited to be a part of that. YEA!!!! How is everything else going for you? Work going well? Any new business? And what's up with Jordan? I haven't heard from him in a couple weeks, is he dead?

As far as what I need, just your love! Thanks for always asking and always being so quick to respond. You are awesome! (This is the Johnsons- the couple from Jordan's mission.)

 Love,

-Elder Ryan A. Bell

Editor's Note: I just cant say enough about Bro & Sister Johnson they took care of Jordan while serving with him in Tallahasse, Florida. We had the opportunity to meet them when we picked Jordan up last October... And here they are back home and keeping an eye on Elder Ry!! 

I'm BACK !!!

Hey People!

I'M BACK!!!! IN KATY THAT IS!!!!

Yes, no more Spring for a while; back to Katy! The land where my Father stalked me in a van and Melinda broke multiple laws, climbing over my apartment gate with a Hello Kitty backpack.

I am right next to the Katy Mills Mall, a couple miles from where I was before at the start of my mission.

So there have been quite a few miracles this week. Knowing that I would probably get transferred, and having way too much stuff, I asked a 19 year old member who is preparing for his mission to drive all my stuff wherever I would get transferred. So at the transfer meeting, this young man was getting very antsy and wanted to get going, but we had to wait for another Elder who was in a meeting. The member boy made excuses for why he had to get going. He didn't bring his phone with him and his car didn't have my new apartment address in it, so I gave him my GPS and he said that he would meet us at our apartment. As he drove off with all my belongings, I had that feeling- the "I'll never see that stuff again" feeling.

Off he went, and ironically, we were able to leave RIGHT after he left. So we drove all the way over to Katy to our new apartments, but to our surprise, we didn't see the black van the member was driving. We walked through the whole apartment complex looking for him. Nothing.

Oh man. He had all my stuff. I was now in a new area with absolutely nothing.

We drove to other apartment buildings nearby thinking he might have gotten confused and went to one of them. He didn't. I prayed for a miracle and had full faith that I would have one.

Not really knowing what else to do since he forgot to bring his cell phone that morning, we just went to drop some other Elders off at their apartment complex. On our way back, up yonder on a turn, I saw a black Honda van and yelled out, "CHASE THAT VAN!" so my companion chases down this black van (Which is pretty bold now that I think about it) and we continue to chase it all the way to the freeway almost. We pull up next to it- AND IT'S HIM!!!! So we signal to him and pull off. He said that he through all of my stuff on the porch of an apartment he THOUGHT was ours, but isn't and forgot some other stuff still in his van, so I got all of it and we booked it back to our apartment complex.

We went to the porch of the wrong apartment and were able to recover all of my stuff safely.

OH MY GOODNESS......... MIRACLE!!!!!!

So now I have clean underwear.

We have seen many other fantastic miracles here in Katy already! I can feel each of your prayers and I would like to thank you with all of my heart for them. THANK YOU! I can feel your love, your concern, and your thoughts!

Katy feels just like Farr West, so really I'm only a couple minutes or a thought away.

I love you!

                                                 Love,

                                          -Elder Ryan A. Bell

Mission Accomplished...

I have THE BEST NEWS!! Does everyone remember the show, "Twister"? You know, about the tornados, and Zach watched it over and over until he had nightmares? Yea, that one!

 

Remember the part when the whole gang is eating lunch at the one old lady's house and they are talking around the table? Well, there's a part that I never understood. The main guy is talking and says, "Well, you see.... there was another Bill..... an evil Bill................ and I killed him."

 

It's because he was on another show called, "Kill Bill"! THAT'S FUNNY!!!!!

 

Too bad it took me 10+ years and half of a mission to figure it out. It literally came to me while we were driving to a mission conference with Elder Ballard.

 

The Church is true. My mission is complete. I'm going to Ireland.

 

                                                                                           Love,

                                                                                 -Elder Ryan A. Bell