Hello family!
General Conference was AWESOME!!! I am freaking out, and now I'm freaking out even more because only Mom emailed me and she didn't say anything at all about how girls can go on a mission at 19 years old now! What did you all think? At first I was just thinking, oh that's really cool, and then I realized that Cortney is 19 and she has always said she wants to go on a mission! What's the status on that? I wish someone would have emailed me about it. Cortz, are you going on a mission now? We could have two sister missionaries out at the same time! That would be so crazy, weird, and amazing! The really amazing thing about the ages of missionary service being changed is that it makes me think about how the Lord is enlisting everyone he can to go out and bring more people into the fold. The time of the second coming is so near, because he needs everyone in His army declaring the truth! The way is being prepared for Him to come again! So cool!
Kayli V, one of my lovely recent converts, who
I love so much, has been thinking about going on a mission and praying about it
(she's only 19). Last Sunday she was actually fasting about going on a mission
and we taught her, Tonya, and Caitlyn a new member lesson about missionary
work. She took that as something of a sign. Then, when President Monson
announced at Conference that 19 year old girls can now go, she got really
excited and she really wants to go now. I'm so happy for her! That was
seriously such great news when she told us that she really wants to go on a
mission! I have been telling her a lot that she should go. I'm just excited for
her.
Thanks for the package you sent, Mom. It was
so nice! I loved the pictures! Everyone looks so good, and that picture of
Britt with Rowyn is super foxy, as well as the picture of Mom, Nan, Britt and
Rowyn. Well, they were all really cute pictures. Thanks, Ammon, for the candy!
I was able to munch on some while I watched conference at the stake center.
Mmmmm, my favorite kind of candy - tootie fruties.
What did everyone think of Conference? What
were your favorite talks? I loved all of them, especially President
Uchtdorf's and Elder Holland's (of course). Elder Holland's was so powerful! I
felt the Spirit a lot as he spoke, and at the end when he talked about the Lord
asking each of us "dost thou love me?" I was filled with emotion as I
thought about the Savior and what he asks of me. Am I reaching my potential? Am
I a disciple of Christ? I just want to serve with all my might so that I am showing
Him how much I truly love Him. I want to become who He knows I can become and I
don't want to disappoint Him or make Him ask me again "dost thou love
me?" after I have answered him that I do.
Here's the weekly work update!
We taught some great lessons this week, and I felt really good about them. I did have some struggles this week with my companion, I won’t lie. The thing is that I was really happy throughout the week, but it just felt like she didn't want to be happy. It makes it hard when she decides to be upset and I don't know any reason for it. I have been trying hard to watch what I say and how I say things and I've been trying to help her feel happy, but I don't know how much that worked. I just decided that I'm going to be happy and I'm going to work hard and just try to serve her. That's all I can do- my best to be a good companion. I can't force her to do anything or feel any way. Pray for me to be patient. I know I can be!
This week we taught the Matweyew family,
Nancy, Kelsey and Nanci B (less-active and investigator daughter), Anthony,
Tyler, Rose, Brother Peters, Wendy, Annette, Heena, Connor (recent convert),
Delfy, Hans, the Bergs (less-active), and our recent convert group of Kayli,
Caitlyn, and Tonya.
Our lesson with Stephanie and Gavin (Matweyew)
was really great! We watched the restoration DVD, which is a clip from the
Prophet of the Restoration movie of everything leading up to the first vision
and the Book of Mormon being translated. After we watched the movie, we asked
how they both felt as they watched it. Gavin said it helped him understand a
lot better what happened and he said that he felt really good while he watched.
Sister Matweyew started crying and talked about how she understood what Joseph
Smith went through. She felt like she's gone to so many churches growing up and
felt like she was just waiting to find the truth. I felt the Spirit a lot as
she was talking about that, and I know that she has finally found it. This is
Christ's church on the earth, and I was so happy to tell her that. I felt so
much power in those words as I shared my testimony with her. She also talked
about how she's felt so much more strength in her life as she's been meeting
with us. She said she has had strength to do things that are really best for
her family that she never would have done before. I really felt grateful that
the Spirit was there, because I had been praying a lot that when we taught them
they would have a spiritual experience. Just as President Monson spoke about,
our prayers are answered in the small and large blessings we can see in our
lives! As a missionary, I feel like we are really able to know the power of
prayer because we aren't left alone to do this work, of that I am sure.
This week with Heena, we went to the church
and did a church tour with her. It was really cool to walk around the church
and just tell her about what each room is used for and what she would be doing
when she comes to church. We paused at different pictures of Christ and I felt
the Spirit a lot as we just stood there in silence and took in the images of
the Savior. Heena seemed to really be enjoying it. The best part, of course,
was when we walked into the chapel at the end. I really feel like I stepped
through a force field of the spirit as I walked into the chapel. It was so
peaceful and calm as we sat in a pew and taught her about the sacrament and
read in Corinthians about the Savior instituting the sacrament with the
apostles. I am so grateful that I can feel the Spirit every day. It's something
that was missing in my life before my mission, and after feeling it so often as
a missionary I will never want to go back to just feeling it once a week in
church or whatever. We are entitled to have the Spirit with us at all times
when we have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I wasn't taking full advantage of
that gift. Now that I have started to understand it better, that gives me a
great desire to help others receive that same gift after baptism, because it is
so amazing to have the presence of the Spirit in your life all the time. At the
end of the tour, Heena said that she really liked it and she really felt good.
She is so wonderful. She talked to us about how she's been praying the way we
taught her every night and now she said she's doing it in the mornings, too,
before she does her Hindu prayers! That's great! She is always talking about
how good praying makes her feel, and we constantly are reminding her that she
is feeling the Spirit. I just want her to get baptized so she can have the Spirit
with her all the time! We're working with her to get her to come to church. She
came to General Conference with us Sat morning and said she really liked that
as well, so she's been making big steps in the right direction. Now, we just
have to help her continue progressing toward baptism. I just love her!
Anthony is one of my favorite people to teach,
because I just love getting to teach youth. I think I love it because I know
how the gospel will change the course of their lives, and being able to help
them know the truth early on is really exciting. Anthony isn't a normal
teenager. He is so focused as we teach him, even when he doesn't seem focused.
When we ask him questions to range how much he understood or was listening, he
is always able to answer in a way that shows that he really understood what we
were teaching him. He reads the Book of Mormon in between each visit, and I can
tell that he really wants to learn and be baptized. Once again I am grateful
for the Spirit, because I know that Anthony can feel that the things we are
teaching him are true. He has talked about how good he feels as we teach him
and I am so happy that he is recognizing a difference. His lesson was really
great because we had it at Tonya's house with Tonya, Kayli, and Caitlyn there.
They have really taken Anthony under their wings and are trying to get him as
involved as they can. They are so wonderful and I know that it will really help
Anthony to have that support because I'm not sure if he has any coming from
home. Every time we leave after teaching Anthony, I am always filled with so
much love for him and I know that's a blessing that comes from the Spirit as
well.
Hans is a man that we've shared scriptures
with on his doorstep like 5 times, but we have never gotten to go in because
he's a single man. We've set up appointments so we could bring a woman with us
and he would usually have something come up and would cancel. We finally got to
teach him this week! We actually met him at a park near his home and brought
Sister Omer with us from the ward. Sister Omer served a mission in Brazil. She
was great to have along with us. Hans is such a cool guy. He has a lot of
knowledge about, well it seems like everything. When he had cancelled on us one
day, he had told us in a text that he still wanted to meet with us because he
could tell that "[our] message has great purpose." Isn't that
awesome?! Well, as we taught him about the restoration he was very intrigued.
He asked a lot of really great questions. At the end of the lesson he told us
that what we had just shared with him is really huge. He talked about how he
had never heard anything like that before. I was thinking "I know Hans,
because you haven't heard the truth yet." Haha. My favorite part of
teaching him was when we had him read Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:3-5). He read
it out loud and before we even asked what it meant to him, he told us that it
was obvious that everyone is being invited to read the Book of Mormon to find
out if it's true. Then he said that the most important part of what he read was
that the only way he would get an answer is if he's really sincere and desires
it. He talked about how no one could go into finding out if it's true half-hearted.
We invited him to take Moroni's promise and read and pray about the Book of
Mormon. He told us that he would absolutely pray about the message that we
shared and that if, as he prays, he is directed to read the Book of Mormon that
he would do so. I know that he will if he does take the time to pray and ask
God if what we taught him is true. I am so excited for Hans to learn more. He
just seems like a lonely guy. He told us himself that he is a searcher. I just
want to help him find what he's been looking for - the gospel! He's so great. I
can't wait to teach him again.
One sad point of the week was that we had to
drop Gary Gunn. That was hard for me because I really love Gary. I had been
praying so much, and so hard, that he would open up and let the Spirit touch
his heart, or more likely respond to the Spirit which has definitely already
touched his heart. However, he just isn't ready at this time to receive the
message of the truth. I think his mind is just too clouded by his sorrow over
the loss of his wife, and he can't find room in there to give to finding out if
our message is true. I don't know, though. I just know that what he needs is
the gospel. That is what will heal the wounds that he has from losing his wife,
but he wasn't willing to read or pray and he stopped coming to church. I'm
going to continue to pray for him and for missionaries to visit him again
someday when he is more prepared. It was really sad as we drove away from his
home, because I knew that I would probably never see him again. When I finish
my mission, I am definitely going to write him a letter and find out how he's
doing. Hopefully by then he'll be more prepared. Only the Lord knows when Gary
will be ready to receive the message of the gospel.
We had our last lesson with Tyler this week.
Now he is in the hands of the YSA elders. We brought Kayli with us to the
appointment and it was great. Tyler's relationship with God, through prayer, is
really strong. He told us about how he's felt as he has been praying and talked
about how he has been getting a lot of answers to his prayers. He had been praying
a lot for his best friend, Allie, to be less against him being baptized and he
found that the Lord did soften her heart. That was a great blessing, because
I've been praying for those around him to have their hearts softened toward the
gospel, as well. Kayli shared how she overcame her trials before she was
baptized followed by a really powerful testimony. I was really glad that we had
invited her to come, because it's hard to not feel the Spirit when she's
bearing her testimony. It is so simple and pure. I think Tyler felt the Spirit
a lot from hearing the testimony of someone who has gone through what he is
kind of going through as he works toward baptism. Tyler is just really awesome
and I'm sad we don't get to teach him anymore, but it's what's best for him. I
just hope the elders take good care of him!
It was a good week. I see the hand of the Lord
in this work whenever I take the time to look for Him. I know that we are not
alone in the vineyard, just as it talks about in Jacob 5:71-72. The Lord is
laboring here with me and he will continue to work here after I'm gone from
Moorpark. I just hope to work with my might and bring forth fruit that is
pleasing to Him.
I hope you all will have another good week! I
want to hear about missionary experiences my family is having, but no one ever
shares any. That means you aren't having them! Haha. Will you all pray to have
missionary opportunities? It's so important for everyone to share the gospel.
The Lord needs all of us.
I love you all so much.Sister Bennett
Funny stories:
When we had exchanges last week, we stayed up
talking with Sister Lillywhite for quite a while. In the time that we were
talking I just fell asleep, but Sis Wilk and Lillywhite continued talking. At
one point I kind of started waking up and I heard Sis Wilk say "Well, I
guess we don't really have much more to talk about so we should probably
sleep." I was still kind of asleep, however. I then heard the blinds over
the sliding screen door moving and remembered that I hadn't shut the screen
door before I went to sleep. The thought popped into my head that someone might
be in the apartment. A few seconds later I heard running and opened my eyes and
someone was in the doorway. I gasped! The first thought that popped into my
head was "We're missionaries! How can this happen to us? We'll be
protected!" I was frozen. I had no idea what to do. Then Sis Wilk said
"what?" It was her standing in the doorway. She went to get the fan
and I must have fallen back asleep after I heard her say "let's go to
bed." I cannot tell you how real I thought that was. I truly believed that
there was an intruder in our apartment. The worst part was that I was frozen!
If that really happened I wouldn't even be able to defend myself! That was so
crazy. I seriously had a heart attack. After I realized it was Sis Wilk I
recognized that I was breathing really quickly and my heart was pounding!
Hahahahah. It was so so so so so scary. That was the scariest moment of my life
so far. Good thing it wasn't real. Right mom?
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