September 17, 2012
Hello to my family!
Thanks for the emails Mom,
Nan, and Cortz. To the rest of you...no thanks. California is great! Moorpark
is the greatest! It's been super hot here, though. Mom asked if it was cooling
down at all - nope. It's been the opposite. It's been the hottest days of the
year here. It was in the 100s the past 3 days. On Saturday I seriously thought
I was going to die. We were just standing there talking to a lady at her door
and sweat was dripping down my face. Disgusting! I'm sure I looked and smelled bad. Oh well.
I'm a missionary. Oh and about the lizards title of this email. I don't know if
I've said this, but I see at least one lizard run across the sidewalk in front
of me every day. Seriously. I have never seen so many lizards. They're on the
houses, running on top of cars, inside McDonalds (probably - I just made that
up though). I'm just saying - they are everywhere. Kind of cool, huh? Until
there's one in our house...hopefully that won’t happen.
Mom, about what happened
with moving that lady. I did write about that in my letter to President Castro,
but he didn't say anything about it. He did write me back though, which never
happens. This is what he sent: "Sister
Bennett: Thank you for your weekly letters. You are doing wonderfully. Try not
to think too much about the time you have left in the mission. My
recommendation would be to focus on the next day ahead. Set daily and weekly
goals and concentrate in accomplishing them. That should help push out of your
mind thinking too far ahead and risking becoming a little anxious or unsettled.
You are doing fine. It is a pleasure to have you serving in this great mission.
President Castro"" That's what
I'm going to be doing this week - just focusing on the next day. I've been
thinking a lot about goals and how I need to focus more on the goals we set, so
we'll see how that goes.
I had an
epiphany (how do you even spell that?) this week. I was trying to understand
why I always feel like I'll be here forever. That was before reading President’s
response to my letter about focusing on the next day only, which I know will
help. I realized that what Dad said to me before my mission was right. I was
always so focused on "fun." Everything I did before my mission needed
to be fun. That's all I cared about. That's why I didn't do as well in school
and why I didn't spend more time studying the scriptures or doing other things
that I should've been doing. It was because I only cared about having fun.
Missions are fun, don't get me wrong, but it's a different fun than what I
thought was important before my mission. Now, I have to adjust to recognizing
that life isn't all about fun. Life is full of joy and happiness, but I don't
need to be having fun every second to have joy. I find joy in sharing the
gospel and it is fun. I just need to continue adjusting to being a missionary
and recognize that like Dad said, life isn't all about having fun every minute
of every day. I'm here to work hard, so I need to get over how I used to be. I
know I have already changed a lot in that area, but I need to continue being
patient with myself as I keep changing and growing. Anyway, Dad, you were
right! I'm glad that I have such good parents who are able to recognize things
in me that I can't.
Another
thing that I thought about this week has been how Heavenly Father has really
blessed me with the gift of feeling love for other people. I was talking to
Sister Wilkinson about it and was asking if the way I feel love through the Spirit
is considered to be charity or just a spiritual gift that I've been given? I'm
guessing charity, but I don't know. I just really feel like I have especially
been blessed with the spiritual gift of loving those we serve. All of my spiritual
experiences so far have been associated with feeling incredible amounts of love
for people we teach or just talk to. I was thinking about this one morning in
personal study because I was doing a personal study activity in the back of
chapter 4 - recognize the spirit. It talked about recording in your journal, or
reading in your journal, about spiritual experiences that you've had. It talked
about recording situations when you were lead to talk to someone in an unusual
way, or other things like that, and then it talked about feeling love for
others. That was the only one I really identified as how I've felt the spirit
the most. I haven't had any crazy stories where we went to this place and met
some person and they wanted to be baptized when they saw us, but I have felt so
much love for other people. It has definitely been a blessing from the Lord. I
know that for sure. Pretty cool, huh?
Heena took us to dinner
this week! We went to some restaurant called Elephant Bar. While we were
sitting there I heard some people at the table next to us say "Joseph
Smith." I wasn't quite sure I heard right, but then I heard the name
"Brigham Young" so I knew they were talking about the church. I told
Sis Wilkinson that I wanted to go and talk to them, so we got up and walked
over to their table. They were a group of 3 older couples visiting from
Florida. They were visiting the Ronald Reagan museum in Simi Valley. They had
been talking about Mitt Romney of course! It was really cool to talk to them.
Sister Wilkinson ended up starting a conversation with one couple and I was
talking to another at the same time. I answered a lot of their questions and
shared a part of the restoration, about how Joseph Smith was a prophet who
restored Christ's church to the earth. They had some really funny questions
like "Do women have higher standing when they have more children?" I
replied by saying "No, but I think my mom might have thought that. There
are 9 kids in my family!" Hahah. They laughed a lot at that. It was good
that we got to talk to them and answer some questions. They had really good
things to say about the church and I gave them a mormon.org card and told them to go on there whenever they
hear different things about the LDS faith because of Mitt Romney. They said
they would. That was fun! :)
It's so
cool to see how much I have grown in just these 4 months as a missionary. I
know there is so much more for me to learn, but it's been good for me this past
week to take a moment and recognize how much the Lord has already been molding
me into a better person/missionary. I need to recognize that more often,
because it really helps me gain the perspective that I should have - I'm here
to learn and grow as I help others learn and grow. It's been a good "eye
opening" week.
We taught the Matweyew family this week (Gavin and Stephanie), Tyler (twice), Nancy, Amanda (less-active), Annette, Brother Mason (less-active), Sam, Maurice and Erica, Ally & Donna, brother Luke (less-active), Kipp and Monique (less-active), and our recent converts - Tonya, Caitlyn and Kayli.
We started the week off really well with the Matweyew family. We talked to them about baptism and about the goals that they have set in order to know for themselves if this is true so they can get baptized. They set the day to be baptized as October 20th and I can really tell that they want to know this is true, especially Sister Matweyew, for their family. We taught them about the plan of salvation. The lesson went really well. Sister Wilkinson and I were very unified in our teaching and I felt that we were both really focused on helping them understand what having a knowledge of the plan of salvation will do for their family. Brother Matweyew loves his family so much. He feels that it is his responsibility to get his family to the temple someday and he said that the weight of that responsibility is great. When we taught about the spirit world and how people who have not accepted the gospel will have an opportunity to accept it in the spirit world, brother Matweyew shared with us that his dad, who is very active, had a dream about a year ago in which Sister Matweyew's mother was basically asking for them to get her temple work done. She needs someone to be baptized for her in the temple so she can accept the gospel. Sister Matweyew was crying as we talked to her about how her mother is most likely being taught the same thing that Sister Matweyew is being taught right now, or she already knows that it's true and is aware that Sister Matweyew is learning about it right now. The Spirit was really strong. The opportunity we have as missionaries to help families see their potential is so amazing. We can help the Matweyew family accept the gospel and ultimately enter the temple to be sealed as a family. That's why I love being a missionary, because my family is so important to me - I know what great comfort and blessing it is to know that I can be with them forever. I want that for all whom we teach. That knowledge is definitely something that drives me as a missionary, and to feel the Spirit with the Matweyew family is so rewarding because I know that this is what they've been waiting for.
We also went over and did some service for them on Friday night. They are moving into a different house here in Moorpark, so we went over and helped Sister Matweyew pack boxes and we helped take Courtney's (18 year old daughter) stuff to the new house. We hadn't seen Courtney in a long time, so it was good that we could help her. We really want to teach her, but she works every time we come over. Well, she used to. Now she is only working on the weekends, so she will be home when we teach them on Monday nights! What a blessing! We invited her to come to church and she said that she would, but sadly she didn't come with her family. I'm just excited for the opportunity to teach them tonight with Courtney there, because we want their whole family to be able to learn about this and accept it together. We just need to help Courtney see how important this is for her in her life and help her feel the Spirit.
The highlight of the week, for me, was teaching Tyler on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday we taught Tyler about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really great because we were able to bring Sarah V with us. Sarah is going on a mission to New York in October. She goes to the singles ward right now, so it was perfect for us to bring her along so when we hand Tyler off to the YSA elders it will be an easy transition. During our lesson, Tyler told us that everything we were teaching him was really hitting him hard. He said that after the past weekend, when he went on vacation, he's been thinking about a lot of stuff and he said that he knows that he needs to repent. He told us that he couldn't believe our timing on the lesson. That what we were teaching was exactly what he needed. What a miracle! The Lord knew exactly what Tyler needed to hear and He helped us to prepare a lesson that would help Tyler's faith grow. As we continued in the lesson, Tyler started to get kind of fidgety and we asked what he was thinking about because he was obviously deep in thought at the moment. When we asked the question he answered and said "I'm just getting nervous because I think I really want to be baptized." I almost shot straight out of my chair. He had already said that if he found out that these things are true that he would be baptized, but he was expressing a great desire to be cleansed from his sins. He talked about how he was going to repent and how he really wanted to feel the Spirit again in his life, because he had recognized that he didn't feel it as much as he once did. The Spirit was thick in that room. I think I could touch it, it was so strong. On Thursday, we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and keeping the Sabbath day holy. He said that it all made sense, and even though he just turned 21 and had bought some alcohol just that day that he had been looking for, for a while, he was going to try his hardest to stop drinking because he knows that it is necessary for him to be baptized. The Spirit is amazing. It truly can touch the hearts of people and change them. I am so excited for Tyler and I'm a bit sad that we don't get to teach him the rest of the way, but I know the singles ward elders will be so good with him. Maybe in a year Tyler will be going on a mission! That would be so cool!
We taught Brother Mason this week about the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well. I had really been thinking a lot about Brother Mason and how we can help him change his life so he can be happy. I realized that we need to focus on one thing at a time. Brother Mason says that to stop smoking and drinking he'll need to just stop cold turkey, but first he needs to get into the habit of coming to church. It just must have felt overwhelming to him to think about needing to stop smoking, drinking, and get to church each week and read the scriptures everyday when he hasn't been doing any of that consistently. We talked about how we just want to focus on him coming to church every week first. That he just needs to sacrifice at least one hour, every Sunday, so he can go to church and feel the Spirit there. Well, he came to church yesterday! That's the second time in the past 3 weeks! I was so happy to see him there! Last time he came, we were at the other ward, so I was happy that we could be there to see him and make him feel good about coming to church. He only stayed for sacrament meeting because his leg bothers him a lot, but I just thought it was so great! It's so rewarding to help those that have fallen away make steps to come back to our Savior.
When we taught Amanda this week it was not the best teaching situation ever. We showed her a clip of people bearing their testimony about the prophet Joseph Smith and we read in JSH about the first vision, and we were hoping that it would be a really spiritual experience for Amanda, but I didn't feel the Spirit at all. Her daughter was running around like crazy, and Amanda just seemed like she was barely paying attention to what we were teaching her. I think that happened because we didn't create a spiritual atmosphere when we got there. That's really helped me understand why we do "How To Begin Teaching" from PMG. When we got there, Amanda was just telling us about all of these fun things that's she's been doing and dates she went on and we didn't really set the tone for a lesson. We just said a prayer and dived in. Especially with Amanda, we really need to make sure we focus and take control of the situation. She needs to understand our purpose in coming over and that will happen as we use "How To Begin Teaching" with her. We'll be seeing her tomorrow night, and I am really determined to be more on task with her so we can have a spiritual experience. I'll be praying for that a lot today and tomorrow.
Kayley K. dropped us this week. I was crushed. Kayley had been making so much progress and I know that learning about the gospel was making her so happy, but she is so involved in school with her AP classes and everything that she decided that learning from us was just adding too much right now. I can't even explain the way I felt after Laurel Bennett told us that Kayley didn't want to continue doing lessons. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I almost cried. I just know what a difference this would make in Kayley's life and I know that she needs this. Everyone needs the gospel. I have felt the Spirit so much with her as we have been teaching her and I know how much Heavenly Father loves her. She needs the foundation of the gospel in her life, and especially at her age of 15 it would just prepare her so well for the future. It was really hard for me to think about her not learning anymore. I guess this isn't the right time for her. I know that she will come back to the gospel someday and learn more. I pray for that day to be sooner than later so she can receive the blessings. Laurel said that she'll keep inviting Kayley and I know that Kayley will probably keep going to activities and everything, so I have faith that everything will work out the way Heavenly Father sees it should.
It really was a good week, but last night as I was looking at the numbers from this week and thought about things, I just felt like we could have worked harder. I know that it is possible for us to reach the goals we set each week if we work hard enough and trust in the Lord to help us reach them. I just want to make sure that I am working my hardest all the time. I don't want to get to the end of my mission and wonder "did I do enough?" We should be able to have more new investigators each week and when we first became companions we were doing really great, but we've been tapering off for some reason. This week I'm really going to be focusing on what we need to do better so that we can find more people to teach. I know that as we are obedient and work hard, we will find, so I guess we need to work harder! This should be a good week. I hope Sister Wilkinson will be able to keep up, because we are going to be very tired from all the work we're going to be doing.
We taught the Matweyew family this week (Gavin and Stephanie), Tyler (twice), Nancy, Amanda (less-active), Annette, Brother Mason (less-active), Sam, Maurice and Erica, Ally & Donna, brother Luke (less-active), Kipp and Monique (less-active), and our recent converts - Tonya, Caitlyn and Kayli.
We started the week off really well with the Matweyew family. We talked to them about baptism and about the goals that they have set in order to know for themselves if this is true so they can get baptized. They set the day to be baptized as October 20th and I can really tell that they want to know this is true, especially Sister Matweyew, for their family. We taught them about the plan of salvation. The lesson went really well. Sister Wilkinson and I were very unified in our teaching and I felt that we were both really focused on helping them understand what having a knowledge of the plan of salvation will do for their family. Brother Matweyew loves his family so much. He feels that it is his responsibility to get his family to the temple someday and he said that the weight of that responsibility is great. When we taught about the spirit world and how people who have not accepted the gospel will have an opportunity to accept it in the spirit world, brother Matweyew shared with us that his dad, who is very active, had a dream about a year ago in which Sister Matweyew's mother was basically asking for them to get her temple work done. She needs someone to be baptized for her in the temple so she can accept the gospel. Sister Matweyew was crying as we talked to her about how her mother is most likely being taught the same thing that Sister Matweyew is being taught right now, or she already knows that it's true and is aware that Sister Matweyew is learning about it right now. The Spirit was really strong. The opportunity we have as missionaries to help families see their potential is so amazing. We can help the Matweyew family accept the gospel and ultimately enter the temple to be sealed as a family. That's why I love being a missionary, because my family is so important to me - I know what great comfort and blessing it is to know that I can be with them forever. I want that for all whom we teach. That knowledge is definitely something that drives me as a missionary, and to feel the Spirit with the Matweyew family is so rewarding because I know that this is what they've been waiting for.
We also went over and did some service for them on Friday night. They are moving into a different house here in Moorpark, so we went over and helped Sister Matweyew pack boxes and we helped take Courtney's (18 year old daughter) stuff to the new house. We hadn't seen Courtney in a long time, so it was good that we could help her. We really want to teach her, but she works every time we come over. Well, she used to. Now she is only working on the weekends, so she will be home when we teach them on Monday nights! What a blessing! We invited her to come to church and she said that she would, but sadly she didn't come with her family. I'm just excited for the opportunity to teach them tonight with Courtney there, because we want their whole family to be able to learn about this and accept it together. We just need to help Courtney see how important this is for her in her life and help her feel the Spirit.
The highlight of the week, for me, was teaching Tyler on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday we taught Tyler about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really great because we were able to bring Sarah V with us. Sarah is going on a mission to New York in October. She goes to the singles ward right now, so it was perfect for us to bring her along so when we hand Tyler off to the YSA elders it will be an easy transition. During our lesson, Tyler told us that everything we were teaching him was really hitting him hard. He said that after the past weekend, when he went on vacation, he's been thinking about a lot of stuff and he said that he knows that he needs to repent. He told us that he couldn't believe our timing on the lesson. That what we were teaching was exactly what he needed. What a miracle! The Lord knew exactly what Tyler needed to hear and He helped us to prepare a lesson that would help Tyler's faith grow. As we continued in the lesson, Tyler started to get kind of fidgety and we asked what he was thinking about because he was obviously deep in thought at the moment. When we asked the question he answered and said "I'm just getting nervous because I think I really want to be baptized." I almost shot straight out of my chair. He had already said that if he found out that these things are true that he would be baptized, but he was expressing a great desire to be cleansed from his sins. He talked about how he was going to repent and how he really wanted to feel the Spirit again in his life, because he had recognized that he didn't feel it as much as he once did. The Spirit was thick in that room. I think I could touch it, it was so strong. On Thursday, we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and keeping the Sabbath day holy. He said that it all made sense, and even though he just turned 21 and had bought some alcohol just that day that he had been looking for, for a while, he was going to try his hardest to stop drinking because he knows that it is necessary for him to be baptized. The Spirit is amazing. It truly can touch the hearts of people and change them. I am so excited for Tyler and I'm a bit sad that we don't get to teach him the rest of the way, but I know the singles ward elders will be so good with him. Maybe in a year Tyler will be going on a mission! That would be so cool!
We taught Brother Mason this week about the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well. I had really been thinking a lot about Brother Mason and how we can help him change his life so he can be happy. I realized that we need to focus on one thing at a time. Brother Mason says that to stop smoking and drinking he'll need to just stop cold turkey, but first he needs to get into the habit of coming to church. It just must have felt overwhelming to him to think about needing to stop smoking, drinking, and get to church each week and read the scriptures everyday when he hasn't been doing any of that consistently. We talked about how we just want to focus on him coming to church every week first. That he just needs to sacrifice at least one hour, every Sunday, so he can go to church and feel the Spirit there. Well, he came to church yesterday! That's the second time in the past 3 weeks! I was so happy to see him there! Last time he came, we were at the other ward, so I was happy that we could be there to see him and make him feel good about coming to church. He only stayed for sacrament meeting because his leg bothers him a lot, but I just thought it was so great! It's so rewarding to help those that have fallen away make steps to come back to our Savior.
When we taught Amanda this week it was not the best teaching situation ever. We showed her a clip of people bearing their testimony about the prophet Joseph Smith and we read in JSH about the first vision, and we were hoping that it would be a really spiritual experience for Amanda, but I didn't feel the Spirit at all. Her daughter was running around like crazy, and Amanda just seemed like she was barely paying attention to what we were teaching her. I think that happened because we didn't create a spiritual atmosphere when we got there. That's really helped me understand why we do "How To Begin Teaching" from PMG. When we got there, Amanda was just telling us about all of these fun things that's she's been doing and dates she went on and we didn't really set the tone for a lesson. We just said a prayer and dived in. Especially with Amanda, we really need to make sure we focus and take control of the situation. She needs to understand our purpose in coming over and that will happen as we use "How To Begin Teaching" with her. We'll be seeing her tomorrow night, and I am really determined to be more on task with her so we can have a spiritual experience. I'll be praying for that a lot today and tomorrow.
Kayley K. dropped us this week. I was crushed. Kayley had been making so much progress and I know that learning about the gospel was making her so happy, but she is so involved in school with her AP classes and everything that she decided that learning from us was just adding too much right now. I can't even explain the way I felt after Laurel Bennett told us that Kayley didn't want to continue doing lessons. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I almost cried. I just know what a difference this would make in Kayley's life and I know that she needs this. Everyone needs the gospel. I have felt the Spirit so much with her as we have been teaching her and I know how much Heavenly Father loves her. She needs the foundation of the gospel in her life, and especially at her age of 15 it would just prepare her so well for the future. It was really hard for me to think about her not learning anymore. I guess this isn't the right time for her. I know that she will come back to the gospel someday and learn more. I pray for that day to be sooner than later so she can receive the blessings. Laurel said that she'll keep inviting Kayley and I know that Kayley will probably keep going to activities and everything, so I have faith that everything will work out the way Heavenly Father sees it should.
It really was a good week, but last night as I was looking at the numbers from this week and thought about things, I just felt like we could have worked harder. I know that it is possible for us to reach the goals we set each week if we work hard enough and trust in the Lord to help us reach them. I just want to make sure that I am working my hardest all the time. I don't want to get to the end of my mission and wonder "did I do enough?" We should be able to have more new investigators each week and when we first became companions we were doing really great, but we've been tapering off for some reason. This week I'm really going to be focusing on what we need to do better so that we can find more people to teach. I know that as we are obedient and work hard, we will find, so I guess we need to work harder! This should be a good week. I hope Sister Wilkinson will be able to keep up, because we are going to be very tired from all the work we're going to be doing.
I love
you all. Have a great week and do some missionary work!
Sister
Bennett
P.S. -
Funny story. Gary G offered to let us live in his house so we could save money.
It was really funny. He's like our dad. He just wants to take care of us.
hahah.
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