My California AdVENTURAs: BUMBO!

August 6, 2012

Dear family,

I saw a bumbo this week at a member's home where we were eating. For those that don't know, a bumbo is the coolest invention ever for babies. It makes it so they can sit up and seem like real people or something. Anyway, I saw it under their coffee table and it reminded me of being at Britt's house before I went into the MTC, because that's where she keeps hers. I then thought to myself, I really hope someone will get a bumbo for Erin, because Eilish needs one! EILISH! I can't believe she is coming tomorrow. I am so excited for Erin to finally have her so she doesn't burst. Tell Erin that I love her if she doesn't read this, and make sure that someone sends me pictures of Eilish. Also, thank you Britt for your email and the pictures you emailed me as well. Rowyn is so adorable, and Cortz looks so cute in the picture of them. The DeMill family pictures are ridiculously cute, as well, so send me a hard copy so I can look at them more than just once on the email.

This week was a pretty good week, in terms of growing and learning. I am still new. That's what I say to myself about 2000 times each day. It's not really even when we get rejected or anything that I need to remind myself that I'm new, but it's when I have time to think about myself. I am still trying really hard to push thoughts about myself out and replace them with thoughts about my investigators. It's still a work in progress. I pray every day to be able to have more charity so that I can grow to love this work so much that I feel like I wish time would stop. I know that it will come, but the update on that is that I am still adjusting. This morning I was talking about this with Sister Wilkinson, about the fact that I am adjusting to a totally different lifestyle still, and that I need to recognize that I have only been here for 8 weeks. The cool thing was that she pointed out that it's great for me, because I can identify with the people that we are teaching because they are changing their lives just like I currently am. They are making the same type of adjustments. While they are getting used to feeling the spirit of God on their own, through reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know that it's true, I am getting used to feeling the Spirit in greater abundance and am also getting used to identifying the promptings, or things that the Lord wants me to do, for these people. That's one thing that I think about all of the time - the importance of the spirit in this work. The power of the Holy Ghost is so important. It is the feelings that people get as they learn about the truth and read in the Book of Mormon that is going to change them and make them want to come closer to Christ. I have really gained a testimony of that. I know that my fancy words or my "cool" personality isn't going to be what causes these people to make changes in their lives, but the Spirit teaches them of truth through their thoughts and their feelings. I pray so hard every day that I can feel the Spirit and understand better how it works through me so that I can identify ways to be more worthy of it. We must have the Spirit guiding us in this work, because the Lord knows these people that we talk to, we don't.

This morning I was reading in Preach My Gospel about eternal marriage. Eternal marriage is possible through the priesthood by sealing man and wife to each other for time and all eternity in the temple, for those that read this and don't quite know what I'm talking about. We know that we can be with our families forever through the sacred covenant of eternal marriage. One thing that I read that I have been reflecting on is that happiness in family life is achieved when founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. I know that that is true because that is what my life has been like. I am truly grateful that Mom and Dad raised us on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his gospel. I know that Jesus Christ is the way, that we, as a family, are close and have been happy in this life because of the teachings we learned in the home. That is where we are supposed to learn these things, in a home with a loving mother and father. That really hit me and made me think about what a blessing it is that I was raised in the gospel and how important it is to teach the people here and help them gain the same witness that I have. As I teach different people and help them come into the gospel, I am helping these people create the foundation for their future families.

One cool thing that happened this last week was when we were eating at a member's home. We were at Sister Zapata's home. Her husband was gone, so we had dinner with her and her children. She is a return missionary who went to Taiwan way back when. Anyway, it was fun to talk with her and to hear about her experiences. She is actually working on sharing the gospel with her son's speech therapist, and I was just so impressed by her and her great example to me of always being a missionary and looking for opportunities to share the gospel - even when you aren't set apart as a full-time missionary. After we taught the lesson, I expressed to her how grateful I am for examples like her of people who don't stop being missionaries when their missions end. We then had a prayer, which I said, and after the prayer we looked up and she was crying a lot. She told us that she could just feel the Spirit with us so strongly, and that even when we walked into her home that it was almost like a force-field was around us of the Spirit. That really hit me. It went right back to what I was talking about before, about being worthy of the Spirit. I guess I didn't really realize that we do have the Spirit with us strongly, and that others feel that. It was nice to hear it from someone to help me recognize what it really means to be set apart as a missionary and to represent Jesus Christ.

This past week was kind of hard, as far as the work goes. We had 70 declarations, which means we declared the gospel to 70 different people (tracting or just street contacting), and we only got like 4 new investigators who are not solid at all. That was hard for me. I think the reason that it is hard is because I don't want it to be me who is hindering these people's opportunities to receive the gospel. I keep thinking about my obedience or worthiness, because I know if I am not being exactly obedient that it will affect the people I teach. I was really struggling with that, but as I prayed about it I felt at peace that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, but I know that I need to be patient. I need to show my faith in the Lord and his ability to touch these people through the Spirit. I know that every door I knock on isn't going to be someone who is ready, but it was hard to have talked to so many people and not find one. However, I did learn a lot from that. It's all about pushing forward with faith in the Lord and knowing that he knows what's best for these people and in what situations it will be best for them to learn more about the gospel. Every door we knock on is one door closer to someone prepared, so we're 70 doors closer after this week. Waaaahoo!

We got a really great new ward mission leader in the 1st ward. His name is Brother Pierson. He is so pumped and excited about the work. He has really great ideas about how to get the ward members involved, and I just love that he wants to be super involved in the teaching and in all of the work going on in Moorpark 1st ward. He talked about how whenever we need, we can bring investigators to his home to be taught. He is really great, and he has the cutest little family. Brother Lutz, in the second ward, is really great too. He is really involved and is always making sure we are taken care of. I really love his wife, Sister Lutz, as well. She is such a great missionary, and whenever we need someone to come with us to appointments I know that she is willing to come. It really is a great blessing to have such dedicated ward mission leaders.

This week we taught Wendy at the Pierson's home. We taught her about the plan of salvation with a focus on the temple and family history work. It is always really nice to teach Wendy. She has progressed so much since her baptism. She seems like a completely different woman, which is crazy because she was already so great. She talks about how she doesn't feel any different, that there was no huge change in her since her baptism, but it is so obvious to me that she has changed. She is so much happier and when she is at church she talks to everyone she sees and is always sharing her insights in the classes she is in. I love it! I love teaching her because I learn so much from her. As we taught her about baptisms for the dead and family history work I was getting really excited because I know she's going to go wild with family history work. I know that she'll find so many of her family’s names and be baptized for them. How cool is that? She also said that she would be willing to come to appointments with us, which is a great blessing because she has such a strong testimony of how the Book of Mormon and Bible work together so well. I still just feel so blessed to have been able to teach Wendy.

On Tuesday we taught Eric and Cristina again. It didn't go well. I was really frustrated with myself afterward, because I felt like I wasn't fulfilling my purpose as a missionary. I allowed them to just go on tangents and I felt like we basically didn't even teach them a lesson at all. They hadn't read in the Book of Mormon, so we were going to read with them, again. Then Cristina said that she wanted to find a good scripture so we spent about ten minutes just finding a good scripture to share with each other. It was weird. I felt like we should have had more direction to the lesson and I felt like we didn't help them feel the Spirit at all. I never want to feel like that again. My purpose is to help people feel the Spirit. I am not on a mission to become friends with people and to help people know that I am cool, but I am here to help them build their faith in Jesus Christ. We are teaching them again tonight, and I am taking control of the situation, as guided by the Spirit, and making sure that we stay on topic. I just know that without the Spirit present, nothing is going to happen with them. They need something to take place so that they can feel it strongly enough to make them want to change, because they haven't had that happen yet. I know that they've felt the Spirit, but they still need something more to happen to have that increase of faith unto repentance.

We had our first lesson this week with Paula and her dad, brother Kalanzi. Brother Kalanzi is an active member of the church. He is from Jordan. We were supposed to be teaching both Paula (20 years old) and Carol (15 years old) but Carol wasn't there, so we just taught Paula about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we taught Paula, I could really tell that she is a smart girl and that the things we were teaching her were making sense, which is really good. As we talked about Jesus Christ setting up his perfect church on the earth, I felt prompted to ask her how she would feel if she could be a part of Jesus Christ's church. She said that she would feel whole. That if she was a member of His church, and knew that it was His church, that she could be whole because she would know that nothing is missing. That was really cool. We then taught her about the great apostasy, the time after Jesus Christ's death and the apostles' deaths when there was no authority from God on the earth to perform baptisms or to direct the church as instructed by the Lord. We then taught her about how Jesus Christ's church was restored to the earth in 1820 through the young boy, Joseph Smith. I love sharing his experience because I receive the witness from the Spirit, over and over again, that Joseph Smith did see God the father and His son Jesus Christ and that Joseph did restore the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth through the power of God. How cool is it to have your testimony reaffirmed every single day? As I study the scriptures every morning I strengthen my testimony because it is attacked every day. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have. I love it when I can say to every single person I meet that I KNOW that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church restored to the earth in these days. Anyway, we invited Paula to be baptized and she said that "of course" she would be baptized if she found that these things were true, and we set her with the goal of finding out and being baptized on the 15th of September. That was so great!

A sad thing from this week is that we had an appointment with Nancy, we were planning on doing it at brother Pierson's home, and she didn't show up. We have called her many times and have stopped by her home many times, but we haven’t talked to her since that day. It was weird because we called her the morning of our appointment and she said that she would be there. Then we asked if it would be ok to do it at brother Pierson's home and she said yes but never showed up. I don't know what's going on with her, but I'm worried. I think that maybe the Lord is helping me understand and see how much I really love these people, because I don't want to lose Nancy. That's not because I don't want to lose someone who is scheduled to be baptized, or because I want someone to teach so we are teaching a lot of people, but because I have seen how much Nancy has progressed and I know how much the gospel has already begun to bless her life and how much it will continue to bless her life. I have prayed so much for her and to know what we should do, so I will just have faith that the Lord is doing what's best for her and that things will work out according to what he knows is best.

OH! We also taught Kayli V today. She is the one who has been going to church for 3 years and is scared to ask her dad about being baptized, even though she could just be baptized because she is 19. Well, we taught her and told her that she just needs to be baptized. That we know that if she shows her faith and sets a date to be baptized, that the Lord will take care of her parents and he will soften their hearts. That may not be before she is baptized, but I knew, as I was talking to Kayli, that everything would work out with her family and I told her that. I told her that she needs to be baptized so that she can be the gospel link for her family and so that she can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is a member already, basically, but she isn't receiving all of the blessings she would be receiving if she was baptized. Anyway, we were able to set her with a date of August 18. She said that it isn't set in stone, but she really wants to be baptized on that day. I know that she can be. Guess what? She actually talked to her dad and he said that it's up to her, of course, and that she is an adult and can make her own decision. He said he would prefer that she would wait a bit longer, but that it really is her choice. She said that she didn't tell him about the 18th. She just has to talk to her mom now and we'll see if it really will happen on the 18th. I have been praying especially for her, because she needs this.

I have a lot of funny stories for this week.

1. One day we talked to this guy while tracting, at his door, and he wasn't wanting anything to do with us. We did our best, but he was still rejecting us so I put out my hand to shake his hand and leave, but he wouldn't take his dumb phone out of his hand and put it in his pocket so he stuck out his pointer finger and I just shook his pointer finger. What the?

2. OH! At one house that we knocked at these people had cat graves all over their lawn! They had these little stones that looked like the paw of a cat and it had a name and dates on them (ex 1991-1997). They had 27 cat graves! I'll put a picture on this email so you can see it! It was so weird. And they had statues all over in the front area of their home of cats, even their doorbell thing had cats around it.

Kitty Paws

Pet Cemetary!!!

3. At one door some little girls answered the door then ran off and we heard them saying "OH OH. It's the girl scouts! BUY SOME COOKIES, PLEASE MOMMY!"

4. One man, who's door we knocked on, wouldn't listen to our message but he wanted us to take his money. He kept trying to shove it in my hand and wouldn't let go! We were like "NO! We can't accept this!" It was pretty funny. He wanted to give us money so we could have a good meal, he said. So I told him that he could keep the money and just have us over for dinner. Hahah. He said "never." haha.

Well, I hope you all have a really good week! Keep praying for me, because I need it.

Love,

Sister Bennett