Bell, Rigdin PT

This is my last weekly email here on the mission. I've learned so much serving the Lord, and I want to keep learning more about Him and becoming more like Him for the rest of my life. I'm about to start a new part of my life, and I'm both scared and excited, but I feel prepared. MONDAY was pretty fun with us playing a ton of different sports and other activities, as well as doing a bunch of transfer journal signing. TUESDAY was a weird day because our zone leadership thought it would be a good idea to do whitewash zone-wide exchanges with everyone. I was put into a full Spanish area with an Elder who had just started learning Spanish. It was a weird day with a bunch of random stuff happening, including a missionary who served in that area previously calling us while in the middle of a lesson with a recent convert he had just baptized a couple of days ago. WEDNESDAY we ended the zone-wide exchanges with a big brunch with everyone in the zone. I also had green chili enchilada...

I've got this email, the next one, and then I'll be home! I'm so grateful for what the mission has done for me, and I'm so grateful for how much it has helped me get closer to the Savior. MONDAY wasn't anything too special this week because no one got together until around 4. But I did get to work on some basketball skills with Elder Burnett, which was a bunch of fun! TUESDAY was a little crazy because, right in the middle of zone council, the other 3 departing missionaries in the zone and I all got our flight plans for returning home. You can guess what all of us were doing during the zone lunch. Then, to top it off, we had dinner with our ward mission leader that night, and he gave me a bunch of advice about returning home. WEDNESDAY we had some funny things happen. The first was that me and my comp weighed the exact same when we weighed ourselves, and the second was that Elder Burnett kept getting jumpscared by random birds. It was pretty funny to me, at least. T...

100 emails while I've been in the field. It's crazy that I only have a little bit left here in the mission field. A couple people have asked when I go home, so I thought I'd put that my official release date is July 15th. MONDAY was fun for a couple of reasons. One of the biggest ones was that we got rain for the first time in months! It was so nice that I just went outside the church and walked around in it for a bit. The other thing I really enjoyed was that the STLs had set up a game of real-life Clue for the zone to play. They split us up into teams with a couple people acting as the pieces and another controlling them. We had to go around the church to different rooms looking for clues to find out which team had ate the cake. It was a lot of fun and got a little crazy at the end with people running into each other to try and get the final clue. TUESDAY was interesting because we really got to see the Spirit guiding us to where we needed to be. We finished up with Distr...

I've now officially been set apart for 2 years now! The group I'm going home with seems to just keep getting bigger, with some people telling me that there are 17 of us leaving! MONDAY we had a district p-day activity making tie-dyed shirts. It was pretty fun, but it was super hot out and it ended up staining my hands. The rest of the day was just more basketball, as is the new normal. TUESDAY I was just sore and tired all day from p-day. But, President and Sister Willis were there for district council, so it was nice getting to talk with them. WEDNESDAY I had interviews with President Willis. It was a really special experience because I was able to do a temple recommend interview with President and talk about what I've gained on the mission. Then the rest of the day we were just teaching a bunch of our recent converts. THURSDAY a lot of our day got taken up because of helping out at the soup kitchen and then getting cleaned up afterwards. And then, to make matters worse, w...

It's been way too hot this week, and I really don't like it! When weather in the 90s feels cool, I think there's something wrong with the weather! MONDAY we played a lot of basketball. We spent almost the full day playing basketball with the missionaries and then with some YSA members in the evening. It was a ton of fun, and I got a really good workout, but I was really dead afterwards. TUESDAY we got to try out the new district council schedule. Now, after lunch each week, we have to do an hour and a half of roleplays on different topics with the whole zone. I'm not too big a fan of it, but we'll see how it goes. WEDNESDAY was just a really long, hot, and boring day. Nothing too special, but you have to have those on the mission sometimes. THURSDAY we had a lesson with one of our recent converts so early in the morning that it was before we even went to the food bank at 9. It was a good lesson, and overall the whole day was pretty good because we got fed 2 dinners ...

I'm officially in my last transfer now, and it's really weird to think about that. But I've still got time left, and I'm gonna make the most of it! MONDAY we said goodbyes to the missionaries going home and did a bunch of transfer journal signing. It was the birthday of one of the sisters in the district, so her mom paid for everyone in the district to go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was really good, and I was very grateful. TUESDAY was an eventful day with us having a couple of lessons, giving a blessing, packing, and saying goodbyes to people. WEDNESDAY was transfers, but before we went down to El Paso, we went to Dutch Bros to get the stick of the month. It was a fun way to finish off with Elder Riggle, and I'm glad we did it. I said hi to a lot of old companions and other missionaries at the transfer site and picked up my new companion, Elder Burnett. THURSDAY was a super exciting day for me because I was able to watch my younger brother, Deacon, ope...