More Glorious and Bright: Thanks for all the Valentines!

If this week were written on a single page it would be entirely blackened with everything that's happened. I'll try to keep it to the highlights!

First thanks for all the Valentines! Especial thanks to my Young Women from my home ward. That was so sweet of you all to send me notes! Love you all!

We got to hoist flags for our service activity. We got to pick out the countries' flags represented at the MTC! They go on really tall poles so that everyone can see them. Of course we picked South Korea's. We also had to do Latvia's because there were visiting dignitaries that day. Super cool. We ended up racing to see which companionship could get theirs up the fastest. Sister Phillips is just a machine, so we won.

I got sick! Despite using hand sanitizer at least four times a day, and taking a probiotic every day, and being as careful as possible, I am sick. Yesterday morning I woke up with a hoarse voice (today it was no voice) and a small resentment against a certain sister in my room. She has been sick for over a week but has refused to go to the medical center. Anyways, she got me sick, and now poor Sister Phillips is getting sick. I woke up yesterday morning and knew I was sick. I was REALLY upset. Learning Korean is difficult enough without being ill. So I lay in my bed feeling sorry for myself. Then the thought came to my mind, "I would rather be here sick as all-get-out, serving the Lord, than anywhere else perfectly healthy and not serving Him." So I swung out of bed got started with the day.

I've been better about forgetting things! I haven't forgotten my nametag once. Today though I forgot my camera, so we went back for it. As we were walking down the stairs I realized I had also forgotten my connector cord. My companion remarked dryly, "It's okay, I didn't even put my key away this time." Oh she of little faith :)

I got to host this week! When you arrive at the MTC, a more seasoned missionary helps you get settled in and everything. It's weird to think that I'm the more seasoned missionary now. I got to greet cute Sister Woods. It was kind of hard watching her say goodbye to her family. I was glad they kept it brief because if they don't I have to tell them to hurry it up a little bit! I asked her how she was feeling and she got this blank look in her eyes and said, "I don't know...good, I think?" I felt that way my first day too! It's so confusing. I wish I could express how it gets even better than you could imagine every day here.

We learned three new sentence structures yesterday and I'm dying. Sometimes it feels like I am the only one. But a couple things have happened to help me feel more confident. First, a native Korean missionary, Elder Park, told me that my Korean is actually very good and my accent is reasonably decent! Very comforting. Second, in many of our lessons this week, we have been able to completely allow the Spirit to guide. We forgot to focus on the hardships of the language and instead focused on what our investigators needed. The Korean came, and both of them told us that they could see a light in us, that they could feel something so strongly. It made us both cry. It was so special. It's good to remember that we aren't here to learn Korean, we're here to learn how to help others come unto Christ. Korean is simply a tool.

Today alone has brought many miracles.

1. I accompanied my friend Sister Warren for a special musical number audition. I was struggling a bit with the piece but finally felt like I got it. I was just super nervous to play in front of the presidents' wives (note: yes we are Mormons, but that's multiple presidents, one wife each). She sounded beautiful. Then today I was sick, and it was a blessing in disguise because I was so out of it I didn't even care that they were listening. My eyes were burning a little and it was hard to read the music. I had gotten to practice it only a few times, but the Lord came through and I had it nearly memorized. It went really well. Today I was reading in the Book of Enos, and I realized the lyrics came from there - the title is 'My Soul Hungered'. Sister Warren is a convert and this song was really special to her; it talks about receiving comfort from the Lord after a great trial.

2. This morning I read a letter from my dad, in which he told me the story of a couple who had gone to the temple and received an answer to a very specific question. In fact it was so specific that my dad said "I don't know why I tell you this story". But today, Preparation Day, is our temple visit day. I love the temple more than anything but I was so out of it that my companion said "Okay, executive decision, we're skipping today, no way can you sit through a 2 and a half hour session." But I read the letter from my dad and felt really strongly that we just needed to go. So we went early, before our assigned time, and decided to forgo the long session for just sitting in the Celestial Room of the temple, its most special part. I know that my dad sent me that story for this reason: to get us to the temple.

3. We went and just sat there. I can't describe how happy the Celestial Room makes me. I can feel God's love so strongly there. I had a couple questions I had really been pondering for a while. They were answered perfectly in the Celestial Room as I sat and pondered the scriptures. They were hard questions too, and I know I didn't answer them through wish fulfillment; the answers didn't come from me. 'Less me, more thee.' The first place I turned to was Enos. Not only did I find out that the lyrics of the song came from this book, but it taught me about having faith in God. Enos 1:8 says that Enos' worries are taken care of because of his immense faith in Christ. In the same way, my worries have been swallowed up by Him. I know that the hardships of a mission are allayed by my faith in His divine existence. The next two references I found were also about faith, decidedly so. It felt so wonderful to have all my fears taken care of by His tenderness. One scripture especially on my mind has been "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole." In the Celestial Room, the pieces of myself that had been cut away by all my concerns returned, and I felt whole. At the same time I know I have so much more growing to do. But it certainly feels nice to have a solid foundation to build on. In Him and in my faith in Him I am made whole.

4. As we were sitting in the Celestial Room, this sweet old lady got up and sat on our couch next to us. She was probably in her late eighties. She introduced herself as Rhonda and told us that she had something to tell us. A few weeks ago she had been prompted strongly that she needed to share her story; this prompting had been reinforced by her visiting teacher's own prompting that Rhonda needed to tell someone her story. Rhonda told us that a few years back she had been prompted to tell her children , 5 of whom live in Missouri, one in Texas, that their houses needed to be blessed by the priesthood. They were. A few days later the Joplin Missouri tornado came tearing through and destroyed their town, but they and their houses were protected and untouched by the devastation. She laughed then and told us that her daughter in Texas was okay too. Then she told us that we, as missionaries, are also blessed and protected. She told us that the Lord loves us fiercely and that we are His children. It was so special to hear that, especially with how much pressure we put ourselves under. We were in the exact right place at the right time. I am sure that we didn't go there, at that time, by any accident.

5. After the temple we were walking down the hill. Funnily enough this didn't come from any prompting; the lady had a dog on her lap and I haven't even SEEN a dog in weeks so of course I ran over to pet it. The lady's name was Chris and she is one of the most interesting people ever. She looks a bit like Jane Goodall and their personalities are similar. From what I gathered, she was born in Holland, and she has lived in many other countries; she told us Provo was one of her favorite places because of the spirit of the MTC. She herself served a mission in Holland. Her father was in her district but he never converted. We talked to her for probably 20 minutes; she had this pure light exuding from her. She taught us (ironic for missionaries) about Joseph Smith and how strong her faith was in him. I've never doubted Joseph Smith or the Restoration, but I definitely have had questions about it. It's a hard part to teach, that God and Jesus appeared to a fourteen year old. But she really built my faith about him, and she taught me through example that the best way to convince someone of something is to show your own love and belief for and in it. She told us to never forget that God loves us and to never forget our faith. I'm starting to see a pattern :)

Another fun thing, our Korean branch (I guess we're one of the more advanced ones now that others have gone to Korea) got to take a field trip to another MTC campus where they want to build! It was really cool to get outside the MTC bubble. We get so claustrophobic sometimes; they had a revolving door in the building and the missionaries went crazy.

In the Asia building there are around 50 Japanese missionaries, probably 25 Koreans, and only 3 Vietnamese! Poor souls. I take them candy sometimes, they're so alone over there. Keep 'em in your prayers, they're starting to go a bit stir crazy.

My time is up, so in conclusion, I love you all and I know that God loves us all with an impossible love. He guides our path and makes our feet into wings. I love this gospel and every days I am blessed! I am so immeasurably excited.

XOXO,

Sister Bell

MTC Sister Valentine Slumber party...