Hard week...

Date: Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 4:42pm

Email # 69 – Jerome, ID

Dear Bevells

So I am terrible at writing letters now. I still haven't finished your letters yet, know though that Elder Bailey and I have had a hard week as well. Right now we only have two investigators that are showing very slow progress. And finding has been rough. Yes we have a lot of names from the wards but it seems that all these people are never home when we drop by.

. A few good things though that I count as great blessings are my companion Elder Bailey who I get along great with. I am really going to miss him, transfer calls are this Friday btw. We feel that he will be leaving. 

Another blessing has been the members. We have a dinner every night, and full member trust. And over all I see this as a temporary slow time for the area. It’s one big circle, you have amazing work for a certain amount of time, then it slows down a little.

I'm sorry you all had such a rough week. know that I've been praying for you all. Stay strong Breck, i know you can pull through. Izaak, great job on your talk!  I wish I could have been there. You truly are amazing. Mom, I hope you get to feeling better too, and thank you for all your love and support. And good job Dad for holding down the fort! You're the best!

I'll try to finish your letters this week and get you some pictures as well! I took some good ones today that you will just love! Fight the good fight, and stay cool!

Elder Bevell-

Pepe Le Pew!

Date: Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 10:45 AM

Email #68 – Jerome, ID

Story from Home:  How to catch a skunk?!

So --- fun news ---  We had a visitor on Tuesday evening, Chris.  Anyway we were enjoying our visit and then as I headed off to bed we hear this weird noise outside the back door.  Dad said it sounded like something scratching on the back door.  This is on the Living room side of the house.  So what does dad do?!...  yep , he opens the door only to find a skunk trying to come in the house.  YIKES!  so he quickly shuts the door and now I am wondering what is going on.  Then Dad goes out the front door and around to see what is going on and the skunk is stuck between the screen door and the door to the house.  Ok... THIS IS NOT GOOD!  So, your dad is trying to open the screen door and not get sprayed at the same time.  Somehow he got the screen propped open only the skunk WOULDN'T leave.  I guess it was facing the door straight on with his tail straight up in the air.  Ok... by now he is definitely spraying.  So then upon a closer look your dad realizes that he had slammed the skunk’s front feet in the door to the house.  THE SKUNK COULDN'T GET AWAY!!!!  oh great! Who does that!?  Catches a skunk by the toe?  LOL.  So Chris came back in the house to open the door just enough to get the skunk free.  Needless to say he wasn't moving very fast... and then he hid behind a table on the back porch.  So dad and Chris scared it away from the house.  Then Dad got the 22 and was going to kill it... I made my helpful remark... "Don't shoot your eye out with that thing".  LOL.  It was so funny seeing Dad and Corny chase this skunk around the back of the house and then Dad comes back in --- looking frustrated.  I asked if he got him and he said... " The SAFETY was on!!!!"  LOL, LOL, LOL... So Pepe Le Pew lives another day!

Dear Bevell Family,

   Sounds like the Bevell family had another adventure this week with large groups of people and evil skunks! lol. I loved the skunk story and almost wish I could have been there for it. Almost. lol.

   Anyway I did get your letters yesterday and I enjoyed them very much. I will be mailing my responses sometime this week. So I will just wish Breck an early happy birthday. HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY BRECK!!!!!! The big old 18! Man, everyone is just growing up while I'm gone!

   Elder Bailey and I had a pretty good past week. A big thing that happened was that President Cannon came to spend a day in Jerome! He spent the day with one of our zone leaders so we had the other one with us. So we were a tri-panionship for the day. We also had lunch with President over at a small burger joint called the Burnt Lemon. They have good burgers there.

   We are also seeing improvement in ward mission work. We got another list of names to contact and the ones we don't know too much about the people in the ward are contacting for us. Its slow going but good to see the wards catching the spirit of missionary work!

   Now let me tell you about a cool spiritual experience I had this week. (as if you can say no.) Yesterday in Church my favorite talk was given by a youth speaker. She spoke about flamingos! Did you know that the reason their feathers are pink is because of the food they eat? If they stopped eating whatever it is they eat their feathers would turn white. She talked about how because of their food they stood out and could be identified as flamingos. We are the same. Whatever we eat/ take into ourselves (physically and spiritually) influences how others see and identify us. If we are members of the church then we should be feasting upon the words of Christ. It's by doing so that we get that "shine" that others see in us and wonder about. It's a cool thought right!

   So Transfers are coming up next week. Next Friday is when we will get transfer calls.

    And you will be glad to know that I have a camera card ready for you all!

   Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all, Tell Zephrah I am so proud of her for choosing to get baptized! Take care and stay cool!

                          -Elder Bevell-

Two Spiritual Experiences...

Date:     Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 6:10 PM

Email #67 – Jerome, ID

Hey Bevells,

   Wow what a week! It started out with Bailey and I getting food poisoning!! It wasn't too bad, I just felt sick for a day, we think it was the dinner we had the night before. The hamburgers were probably not cooked all the way! I was afraid that the rest of the week would go badly because of that but I proved myself wrong. It's amazing how when we put our minds to it we can do great things!  Our total lesson goal was 1 for the week and we managed to get 10! We would have had 12 but two fell through but hey who's counting!! (oh, I guess I am. lol) of course it's not about the numbers the numbers just shows our progress and I am just happy to see progress.

   I had two big spiritual experiences this week. The first came at an investigators home, his name is Shayne. His friend Jason lives with him and at first didn't want to hear anything about the church. But this week he came to us with some questions.   As I testified to him of the church he asked me "What have you seen or felt that makes you believe your church is true?" When he asked that I felt a great calm come over me and I felt prompted to share my conversion. Which I gladly did, also sharing the scripture Moroni 10:3-5. At the end he didn't have anything to say. I could tell though that he was trying to fight the spirit which made me feel really sorry for him.

   The second spiritual experience came at a dinner appointment. The Andersons fed us and they are a wonderful family. We had breakfast for dinner, and I shared a spiritual thought with the family. It was a trick that I have learned on the mission that involves two forks, a glass and a tooth pick. I interlock the forks prongs so that they stick together and using the tooth pick I balance them on the cup. I then use a match to light the end of the tooth pick that is hanging on the inside of the cup. As the pick burns you watch as it gets closer to the edge of the cup and burn out. You then knock off the burn end and watch as the forks stay balanced on the cup!! You then relate it to how if we have faith in Christ we will always be supported. The kids loved it, and afterwards the parents told us that they could feel that Elder Bailey and I were true missionaries and they thanked us for coming into their home. The kids even shared their testimonies with us!

   That was my big spiritual experiences for the week. Sorry I emailed so late in the day, the library was closed again because of Martin Luther King Jr day.  Thanks for Tylers address I will try that again. Glad to hear you all get a little while longer to relax. Breck, good job on handling your seizures, and Izaak, stay cool! I love you all and think of you often and you are always in my prayers. Stay cool!

Homemade Milk Shakes

Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 10:48 AM

Email #66 – Jerome, ID

Hello Bevells,

It was great to have an email from you Dad

   Anyway, I had a very busy week. Now that the holidays are over and we have had a ton of baptisms we now have to start over and find new people to teach. So Elder Bailey and I decided to start by going to our ward mission leaders and asking them for a list of people that we could spend some time in contacting.

   Some really cool news now! Yesterday at church, Gage Burnham and Tony Worring received the priesthood. The cool part was that Gage asked me to give him the priesthood!  That was my first time doing that and it was great! And get this! Before Gage received the priesthood he already had his list of fast offerings! That kid is going to be an amazing member! We're also having dinner with them tonight!

   Now to explain the pictures. The man Elder Bailey and I are with is Brother Baker. He is the member that sat in on Gage's lessons and we have become great friends with him and his family. What we are drinking is homemade milk shakes!! Those were ssooooo goood! lol. And the size of the glasses only made them better!

   Now for the spiritual, this last fast Sunday was the best! We have been visiting a guy named Shane. This last Sunday he came to church! The best part was while at church he turned to us and said, "I feel really good!" Oh yeah! Anyway we expect he will be coming to church much more often.

   That's all I have for this week. It's been great and I look forward to this week as well! I love you all and pray for you. Sorry I don't write as much, I will try and find some time to do so. Take care and stay cool Bevells!!

             -Elder Bevell-

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Date: Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 10:45 AM

Email #65 – Jerome, ID 

Dear Bevell Family,

   HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! I am glad to hear that you all had a great new year. We had a great time as well. Elder Bailey and I had the zone leaders, Elder Gage and Huyet, and Elders Duddley and Thompson, over to our house! 

Sister Farnsworth made a ton of snacks for us, chips, popcorn, seven layer been dip. Oh it was great. We played apples to apples bible edition, that was fun. We also learned that Elder Bailey has not seen “It's a Wonderful Life”, and when sister Farnsworth heard this she pulled it right out and put it on for us. Here's the crazy part, it was in COLOR!!! Man that was different. We also got to watch the ball drop in New York. Over all a great new year’s party.

   

I too have made some new years goals; one of them is to read the Book of Mormon every day this next year. I know that by doing this I will feel the spirit in a new and better way. I have also resolved to work harder than I have before, physically and spiritually. I only have 9 months left out here and I am going to make the best of it.

   I do have a pretty miraculous story for you as well. I had my first meeting with the stake president yesterday, it went well. He thanked us for all the amazing work we have been doing and how much the wards love us. He then told us the baptism goal for the whole stake. They had a goal for 50 baptisms, and at the end of the year we had helped them reach 40!!! That's so amazing! They are keeping the goal of 50 baptisms for this next year and I can see them making that goal.

   Now how are all of you? I was looking through pictures the other day and had a small moment of home sickness. I miss you guys and can't wait to see you all again

   Anyway, just a short email, Know that I love you, I pray for you, I'm working hard and loving the work. You guys are the best. Take care, and stay cool!!