ETERNAL OUTCOMES!!!

July 9th 2012 

Hello Again Everyone! Sadly, I am not a very wise time-user during e-mail time, end up writing someone a ten page e-mail and then the rest are left with a couple lines. So I am going to start out with my letter to everyone and then I will read your individual e-mails and respond to them. Sorry I haven't been doing so good about that lately, and sorry for the not-letters. You will all be happy to know that I have continued writing letters to you, just not sending them yet. So someday soon you will all be bombarded.

This week was an interesting one. The 4th of July was exciting! Very patriotic here. TONS of people were out and about. We have been working in our 3 wards with some awesome investigators and families! In one ward, an investigator got baptized on Saturday (I need to get you pictures for that and Patrick's baptism) his name is Ben Pelkey, a 9 year old trooper-of-a-kid whose dad was killed in combat a couple years ago. There are two more baptisms set for July 21st at 10:00 am in another ward, a couple named Bruce and Oi Stofer. Oi is from Thailand and Bruce..... well he is just awesome! He is very knowledgable, but also very humble so we have great conversations! We are working with a man named Michael who is an ex-Marine missing a thumb in his 60's. He is set to be baptized the beginning of August. Additionally, we are teaching a sweet lady whose husband left her after 30-something years of marriage. She is really struggling now, and I love visiting with her. She has read the Book of Mormon twice and even typed up an outline of it and a page of questions she had. We spend an entire lesson answering her questions.

So there are many AWESOME people who are already beginning to see the blessings of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the coolest thing to be a part of this and teach them the principles, while preparing them for the ordinances! Even though these wonderful people are not baptized yet, it is more than evident that they are experiencing mighty changes in their hearts! Now this is no light thing, which is what is so eternally mind-blastingly incredible about missionary work- it alters ETERNAL OUTCOMES!!! It brings change of an infinite nature and consequence! There's no other work in the world that does that! NONE!!!!! This is why I think Joseph Smith said "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." Because preaching the Gospel makes a direct and eternal difference, in fact, our preaching of the Gospel is the difference between others and our own enjoyment of principalities, powers, kingdoms, dominions, glory, all heights and depths; or the glory of a lesser kingdom.

We met with our investigator, Michael this week (ex-Marine, missing thumb, awesome guy) and in the opening prayer, no idea why, but we asked to be guided in our conversation. Definitely a different thing to pray for. But, that prayer was answered, and I believe I see the wisdom in being led to pray for that. As we were talking with Michael about his reading, questions he has, and talking about the Law of Moses and circumcision (Thus were his questions) he asked about our method of baptism. Now, in our first meeting with Michael, we had done the awkward thing that you are taught to do at the MTC, which is to invite everyone to be baptized during the very first lesson. Most missionaries, I would guess, don't do this. It is most definitely uncomfortable, bold, very forward, and there is a high possibility of the investigator declining the invitation. But, this is something I have been trying hard to obey. So in that first lesson, we invited him to be baptized to which he, a little stunned replied, "I will get back to you on that. Some hesitation getting baptized as an adult."

Big deal, he didn't say yes the very first time. But I firmly believe that invitation worked within him for a couple of weeks until this meeting when he asked how we baptize. This was the perfect opportunity to read from the Book of Mormon how baptism is done by immersion. In a very reflective way he informed us that he didn't believe he had been properly baptized. He had told us before of his baptism in the Catholic Church in his much, much earlier days. But now, suddenly, he told us of how he has been coming to feel that his prior baptism wasn't correct and therefore he had not yet been baptized and would like to take that next step. It was a wonderful lesson. To see the Spirit working within him for weeks, and even then, at that very meeting was incredible! He cried as we set the beginning of August as the time for him to make this sacred covenant.

Oh my goodness....... AMAZING!!!!

Anyway, thought I would share that with you as this week's miracle! We tried to do what was right and our performance was consecrated for the gain of ALL when we invited Michael to be baptized weeks ago. The miracle was the Spirit working within him- for this is a mighty miracle!

Alma 23:6-

"And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them..."

This week, your strange Duck of a son got to see this taking place- the power of God working miracles in someone else, preparing his heart to receive a greater portion of His word.

What a wonderful experience! How great is this work! How sad it is for those who submit to their reservations to get out and engage and therefore never get to see, feel, and experience these mighty blessings and miracles which flow naturally and abundantly in missionary work. YEA!!!!!!

This Church is true, my beloved family! With the gift we have, being among those to whom "it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world." Let us share this gift, upon which others, with their respective gift are dependent for the knowledge and testimony we enjoy, "To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful." (D&C 46:13-14). Let's share our gift with others and each other! Let your testimonies ring out in word and deed so that, recorded in heaven, angels may look upon and rejoice over them! Don't deprive yourself of having MORE of your gift as you exercise it and definitely don't deprive those who depend on you for their chances at eternal life.

Heavenly Father lives! Jesus is the Christ! Need we any further reason to labor?

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

                                                                                         Love,

                                                                              -Elder Ryan A. Bell

Happy Fourth of July!!

July 2^nd, 2012

Happy Missionary Monday and Happy July 4th!!!!

Thanks everyone for the great e-mails and support. I have received no letters in the mail by anyone except Jordan who faithfully writes every week. I am out of stamps and have been for a couple weeks now with no way to get more so if you are wondering where your letters are- that's where. Sorry! I feel so guilty about this that I don't feel guilty anymore.

This week was a good one. We got the privilege of attending the Temple, doing interviews and getting training, and really getting to start work in the new 3rd ward that we now cover. We have three awesome people with baptismal dates coming up! (One of my favorite moments of the week was getting to talk with one of these on the phone for 30 or 45 minutes and extending a baptismal date. We read from the Bible together, we laughed, we talked through concerns; man, it was just.... AWESOME!!!!) He is an incredible guy and his name is Bruce. He and his wife, Oi (From Taiwan, or Thailand) are set to be baptized on July 21st. Our other young candidate is a boy about 9 years old who lost a father in the military.

My companion probably hates me because I am a weirdo about this Power Hour thing. I just LOVE it!!!! We have to sacrifice dinners, make members jump through the rings, but, oh man, does it bring miracles!! So this last week, there was a day we went to a house for dinner with like 10 minutes before Power Hour started. I HATE even being 1 minute late, so when the rule is to start at 6:00 pm, that doesn't mean 6:01 pm or 6:02 pm. So we quickly shared a message, got on our knees and the head of the household offered a prayer. We grabbed the dinner that they had packed for us and suddenly the man of the house asked if he could come with us. Well, YEA!!!!!!!!! So he throws on some clothes and we run out the door. This fantastic example of a man went TRACTING with us. And it was his idea! He loved it! I loved it! He drove us all over the place, talking to everyone, we stopped by some families he knew and wanted to teach (Including one who did not want the missionaries over.) By the end of the night, I was stoked and pumped.

Then, the next day he texted us and told us that he had found a family for us to teach! What in the world?! His name is Brother Eggett and his name shall be written on halls of glory.... or something like that.

On Sunday, we were at Church from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, attending all three of our ward's services and it was INCREDIBLE when this member stood up and bore a powerful testimony about the day he came and did Power Hour with us and about how he has regained his fire for missionary work. It was even more of a MIRACLE when this happened consistently in multiple of our wards' fast and testimony meetings.

The point is- the Church is true! God Himself accomplishes His miracles in His way, and the coolest of which are the kind like this- where eternal outcomes are changed, where people are changed! Fires have been lit, the good word shall now proceed forth from the pumped up members of many wards. Miracles should cease to cease. Make it happen people! God lives!

I love you all and acknowledge every one of you as a miracle to me!

                                                                                         Love,

                                                                              -Elder Ryan A. Bell

Me and my Mission Peeps!!

                                                            June 29th 2012

Power Hour!! "You guys Jehovah's Witnesses?"

Jun 25, 2012

Saturday was a hard day! I stressed the night before because we had no appointments scheduled, we were out of miles, the heat-index was into the high 90's or 100's and yet, we still needed to get out and work. So I planned, and called, schemed, plotted, sought help and none of my plans worked out. I prayed hard that we could go out and whole day Saturday and work effectively even though we didn't have any appointments.

After a massive miracle, I could not believe it when we left the apartment and set off into the world. All I really knew is that there were a ton of people on one of our ward lists and neither myself nor my companion knew any of these people, so we were going out to meet them, strengthen them, and set up follow-up appointments; with the added benefit of being able to talk to people by the wayside.

We went house to house and met some great people. One family fed us lunch (Which was great, because I stressed about how we were going to eat lunch). We met some less-actives, strengthened families, and were even taken to a home where the husband spontaneously asked us to give him a blessing. It was a beautiful thing to be part of! No one in this area has asked me or my companion to give them a blessing except one other time for a less-active family's 2 year old son. It was a magnificent experience to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and make known to this man all that was to be made known to him. I felt edified by this miracle and this tender mercy!

Then, after eating dinner with another family, we went out to do a thing many missionaries highly dislike. It's called "Power Hour." You get with a member at a little before 6 pm, share a powerful quick, message. Then ask the head of the household to give a prayer, combining everyone's faith that we would be able to find someone(s) to teach. Then, from 6- 7 pm we go out and FIND!!!! Yea, you can probably guess why this isn't the favorite activity of many missionaries. But I have been pushing and pushing to go out and do this every single day! On this day, we shared a powerful lesson, we asked the head of household if he knew anyone that would be blessed by the message of the restored gospel, he pointed out two houses and said, "Good luck." We went to the first one and nobody was home. Then, we went to the second house where the member described the man living there as "Extremely Christian."

After ringing the doorbell, a man comes to the door, pokes his head out looks both ways and says, "You guys Jehovah's Witnesses?" "No" we say, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." "Wow! This is rare, come in." he says. We then had a very long and awesome conversation with this man and got a new investigator!! It was AWESOME!!!!

After this, we walked a few miles back home, a member driving by drove us the last mile and we finished our day as it should have happened- filled with miracles, and both extremely sweaty.

The Lord's hand IS in this work! He guides and inspires his servants according to their diligence and righteousness. He WILL gather His sheep, regardless of whether we are worthy and ready or not; His purposes will be accomplished. But if we are ready, willing, and worthy; we get the amazing blessings which come from taking part in His work.

I testify of Christ! I testify that He lives! And that is all the reason in the world to go and labor diligently despite the challenges which may seem less than ideal.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love Ya All 

Elder Ryan A. Bell 

Amazing Baptism !!

June 11^th 2012

Thank you all for the wonderful packages, letters, e-mails, encouragement, and upliftment. This has been a great week for me. I got to return to my old area on Saturday to baptize the last investigator I was working with. His name is Patrick Patterson, and it was an AMAZING baptism!!!!!! I have never had quite that experience baptizing someone until Saturday. The kind where you just put them in the water, pull them up, and then just embrace in a hug of purity!

How could I ever have had an experience like that or felt the joy of teaching Patrick and watching him learn, progress, and grow if I had not left home to come out here? It could never have happened! I never would have met the people I have, I never would have seen the miracles I have seen, I never would have had my own testimony and relationship with God strengthened to the degree that it has been if I had not come to this place; and how grateful I am for that!

These great experiences do not come without a price, as you all well know. I firmly believe that the family has a much harder time on a missionary's mission than the actual missionary themselves. So I wanted to take a minute this special Monday to tell each of you thank you for making the sacrifices you have so that Jordan and I could go forth in the power of the Spirit and do the work we are doing! I love each of you SO MUCH for this!!! For spending the time and putting forth the effort to make my mission even better by listening to these rants every Monday and sending support and encouragement in the form of letters, e-mails, packages, and prayers.

I really cannot express what I feel for each of you. Think of something like the deepest abyss and then throw in a volcano of love and that might come somewhere close.... but I don't know.

Hopefully I can send pictures of the baptism next week. I would love for each of you to see Patrick!!!!

                                                                                                                Love,

                                                                                                     -Elder Ryan A. Bell

I got Transferred!

Guess what? I did get transferred last Thursday. I am now in a magical place they call, "The Woodlands" if you are ever bored and on Google Maps, go check out some of the houses here. Probably about the same as Bountiful or comparable in Utah, but for the Houston area, they are monsters!  But, I do get to go back to my old area on Saturday to participate in the baptism of an awesome investigator named Patrick….

Anyway, I am now in the Woodlands which is the richest part of the mission. Crazy houses up in here, lots of affluence, nice cars, nice people, and no soliciting signs. In this area, the missionaries cover 2 wards, so I get to come to know 2 additional families to add to my list of famililes that I will eventually abandon. (You are the first on that list). It was so cool getting to meet ward members on Sunday! Both wards were very welcoming to me. In one of the wards, the Bishop, whom I had never met, stood up in Sacrament Meeting and said, "We have a new missionary in the ward, his name is Elder Bell, I hope each of you will get to shake his hand and get to have him over for dinner." I was so surprised! It was awesome!! I have had the opportunity to go on splits and meet 10 families in the past couple days, doing missionary work, talking about missionary things, and just- AWESOME!!!! I am so stoked to be here!

Yes, it is definitely a hard change, but if I am as blessed as I have been so far on my mission, I will be just as sad to leave this area as I was to leave my last one. Love just never hurt so much!

Mucho Love, 

Elder Ryan A Bell 

New Address 

425 Rayford Rd

Spring, TX 77386