Mi familia!
That's Spanish for “my family”. Ha! Wow, the Lord knows me WAY better than I know myself. I hope. ;) I'm in California and the adVENTURAs are insane! Let's start from the beginning.
When we landed in the Santa Barbara airport we were greeted by President and Sister Castro as well as some senior missionaries, Elder Blue and Elder Mecham. The new sisters rode in the van back to the mission home with President and Sister Castro and we talked with them and got to know them better. When we got to the mission home, we ate lunch - Salad (one salad a day, right Nan?), which tasted so good because I hadn't eaten at all and I had been up since 3:45 in the morning. After we ate, all of the sisters went to the mission office in Oxnard (Which all mail to me should be sent to the Oxnard address. Sister Mecham then forwards it to the missionaries) and filled out some paper work and had our first interviews with President Castro. In my interview, President Castro told me that he didn't know me before meeting him that day. He said that all he knew about me was what was written on the info for the mission papers and he knew what I looked like from the picture that came with the info. But, he said, as he met me and spoke with me that morning (as he tried to get to know ALL of us) he said that he felt a strong impression that I would be a very diligent and successful missionary. He said that he felt the spirit very strongly around me and he could feel my desire to have the companionship of the spirit as I teach and live my life. Then he went on to tell me that he felt very impressed to then tell me that I need to be patient. He said that as I start working in my first area I will be tempted to be frustrated with myself because I expect so much of myself. “Patience,” he said. Well, I know that he is a very inspired man. I knew it in that moment in that interview because I felt the spirit telling me that I needed to heed his council. I also know that he is inspired because now as I have gone out and worked I have been struggling to not be hard on myself. I just think in my head, "Remember what President said. Be patient Haley, be patient!!" Well, pray for me to have more patience. I need it a lot right now because it is a struggle for me. I just want to be able to teach with power and authority and I know that I'm being humbled right now and my understanding of the importance of relying wholly on the Lord is increasing rapidly.
My trainer’s name is Hermana Tippetts. Yes, Hermana. She is a Spanish-speaking sister who is now an English sister. The Lord seems to have great trust in me because He has asked me to do a great task even as a brand new missionary. Hermana Tippetts is actually Trevor Tippetts cousin. Trevor Tippetts is married to Michelle Pitts who is the sister of one of my very best friends named Sarah Beth Pitts. Sarah Beth, if you read these emails, tell Trevor that his cousin says "hello!" If you don't read these emails you will never know and he will never receive that hello and you will be sad. Back to my new area and why the Lord must have a lot of confidence in me. I am serving in Moorpark. Moorpark used to be an area that Elders served in. That was until this past Wednesday when two sisters "whitewashed" in and took over the area. Those two sisters are Sister Bennett and Hermana Tippetts. We are brand new to this
That's Spanish for “my family”. Ha! Wow, the Lord knows me WAY better than I know myself. I hope. ;) I'm in California and the adVENTURAs are insane! Let's start from the beginning.
When we landed in the Santa Barbara airport we were greeted by President and Sister Castro as well as some senior missionaries, Elder Blue and Elder Mecham. The new sisters rode in the van back to the mission home with President and Sister Castro and we talked with them and got to know them better. When we got to the mission home, we ate lunch - Salad (one salad a day, right Nan?), which tasted so good because I hadn't eaten at all and I had been up since 3:45 in the morning. After we ate, all of the sisters went to the mission office in Oxnard (Which all mail to me should be sent to the Oxnard address. Sister Mecham then forwards it to the missionaries) and filled out some paper work and had our first interviews with President Castro. In my interview, President Castro told me that he didn't know me before meeting him that day. He said that all he knew about me was what was written on the info for the mission papers and he knew what I looked like from the picture that came with the info. But, he said, as he met me and spoke with me that morning (as he tried to get to know ALL of us) he said that he felt a strong impression that I would be a very diligent and successful missionary. He said that he felt the spirit very strongly around me and he could feel my desire to have the companionship of the spirit as I teach and live my life. Then he went on to tell me that he felt very impressed to then tell me that I need to be patient. He said that as I start working in my first area I will be tempted to be frustrated with myself because I expect so much of myself. “Patience,” he said. Well, I know that he is a very inspired man. I knew it in that moment in that interview because I felt the spirit telling me that I needed to heed his council. I also know that he is inspired because now as I have gone out and worked I have been struggling to not be hard on myself. I just think in my head, "Remember what President said. Be patient Haley, be patient!!" Well, pray for me to have more patience. I need it a lot right now because it is a struggle for me. I just want to be able to teach with power and authority and I know that I'm being humbled right now and my understanding of the importance of relying wholly on the Lord is increasing rapidly.
My trainer’s name is Hermana Tippetts. Yes, Hermana. She is a Spanish-speaking sister who is now an English sister. The Lord seems to have great trust in me because He has asked me to do a great task even as a brand new missionary. Hermana Tippetts is actually Trevor Tippetts cousin. Trevor Tippetts is married to Michelle Pitts who is the sister of one of my very best friends named Sarah Beth Pitts. Sarah Beth, if you read these emails, tell Trevor that his cousin says "hello!" If you don't read these emails you will never know and he will never receive that hello and you will be sad. Back to my new area and why the Lord must have a lot of confidence in me. I am serving in Moorpark. Moorpark used to be an area that Elders served in. That was until this past Wednesday when two sisters "whitewashed" in and took over the area. Those two sisters are Sister Bennett and Hermana Tippetts. We are brand new to this
area, both of us, and
have just been working very hard to find people and to contact people who had
been taught before (which there aren't many...at all). We have a HUGE task
ahead of us to really get the work in Moorpark going. The Lord put us here for
a reason and I know that we will be successful if we work hard. But wait,
there's a twist. Hermana Tippetts is one of the traveling sisters. Usually the
traveling sisters are companions, but for some reason President was inspired to
have Hermana Tippetts and I work together in this area, so he changed
everything around in order for us to be companions. That makes me have even
more faith that this is the area that I am supposed to be serving in right now.
It also intimidates me to know how important it is for me to be obedient and
work hard in order to help these people in Moorpark learn about the gospel.
It has been a hard week. It's felt like it's been 2 months rather than a few days, but that's how it was at the beginning of being in the MTC. I just want to be at the point where I am absolutely loving the work. I want to love every second of ever yday and never think about coming home. I'm not at that point yet, but that's where patience comes back in. I think one of the hardest things so far has been knocking and declaring. I'm not afraid to talk to people, that's not the problem. I just sometimes feel that while we are talking to people that we are just trying to say the entire message of the restoration so that they hear it and hope that somehow they felt the spirit. I just haven't come to an understanding yet of how we can allow these people, that we meet on the street or the people whose doors we knock on, to feel the spirit as we teach them. I know that only through the spirit can these people truly learn, so I am struggling to understand the importance of knocking because I have yet to feel the spirit as I do so. However, at the same time I know that we must do it. How else are we going to be finding people to teach here in Moorpark. We have gotten two new investigators from knocking, but I just have been praying that I can gain a testimony of the importance of knocking and declaring the gospel to people.
It's also been kind of hard to have these people be pretty rude. I mean they are my people. We are all people who live in the same country who are very similar to each othe,r but they just don't treat us very well. Don't get me wrong, there are very nice people here as well, but it's been hard for me to be treated the way that we have been sometimes, just because these are my people. I don't know if that made sense, but I've just been trying to understand how God sees them and understand how they must feel in the situation and that has been helping me a lot.
We have one investigator that we've gotten to teach so far and I had a great spiritual experience with that, but I will write more about it next time because I'm running out of time. Sorry!
Well, I really need to go. I'm sorry again that this isn't very long but I've taken too much time on the computer.
Sister Bennett
It has been a hard week. It's felt like it's been 2 months rather than a few days, but that's how it was at the beginning of being in the MTC. I just want to be at the point where I am absolutely loving the work. I want to love every second of ever yday and never think about coming home. I'm not at that point yet, but that's where patience comes back in. I think one of the hardest things so far has been knocking and declaring. I'm not afraid to talk to people, that's not the problem. I just sometimes feel that while we are talking to people that we are just trying to say the entire message of the restoration so that they hear it and hope that somehow they felt the spirit. I just haven't come to an understanding yet of how we can allow these people, that we meet on the street or the people whose doors we knock on, to feel the spirit as we teach them. I know that only through the spirit can these people truly learn, so I am struggling to understand the importance of knocking because I have yet to feel the spirit as I do so. However, at the same time I know that we must do it. How else are we going to be finding people to teach here in Moorpark. We have gotten two new investigators from knocking, but I just have been praying that I can gain a testimony of the importance of knocking and declaring the gospel to people.
It's also been kind of hard to have these people be pretty rude. I mean they are my people. We are all people who live in the same country who are very similar to each othe,r but they just don't treat us very well. Don't get me wrong, there are very nice people here as well, but it's been hard for me to be treated the way that we have been sometimes, just because these are my people. I don't know if that made sense, but I've just been trying to understand how God sees them and understand how they must feel in the situation and that has been helping me a lot.
We have one investigator that we've gotten to teach so far and I had a great spiritual experience with that, but I will write more about it next time because I'm running out of time. Sorry!
Well, I really need to go. I'm sorry again that this isn't very long but I've taken too much time on the computer.
Sister Bennett
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