October 15, 2012
Hey family!
I don't have much time, so this will probably be short!
I don't have much time, so this will probably be short!
I'm staying in
Moorpark! We got transfer calls this morning and I get to stay!!!!!! I couldn't
believe it. I still can't believe it!! I'm so happy! That will be six months in
Moorpark. My new companion will be Sister Putnum. I hear she's really quiet and
I bet she'll be good for me. I'm really excited. I just can't believe it, to be
honest. I was so sure that I was going to leave Moorpark. Haha.
I got some mail this
week from the sweet primary kids in the branch - a bunch of really funny
pictures and some letters. I didn't know half of the kids, but I recognized
Blake and Jared. That's about it. Mom, you'll have to tell them thanks from me.
I'll try to send them something cool, but I don't really have time. hahah.
I'm sorry I won’t
really be replying to any questions. I just don't have time today. I will
answer any questions/respond to your emails through written mail or next week.
Thanks Solon for sending me an email and a pic of the finished bathroom. It
looks really nice!!! Woooot! Someone teach Dad how to send pictures because
when I get them they're so small. Anyway, I'm going crazy right now! I'm
staying! AH!
Now for the update,
This week was good. It
seemed like we had a lot more time to tract and find new investigators,
although we didn't pick up as many new people to teach as I had hoped. This
past week we taught Heena, Nancy, Anthony, Annette, Amanda V. (less active),
Sean, Sam, Brother Mason, Stephanie and Gavin Matweyew, Delfy, and the new
converts.
We had a bit of a mix
up this week with Anthony. He is really hard to get in contact with because he
doesn't have a phone. Cody, his cousin who is a member, usually relays messages
from us to Anthony at school. Well, that method isn't the most reliable because
sometimes Cody forgets what he is supposed to tell Anthony or forgets to tell
him anything at all. We went by his apartment a few times trying to catch him,
but nothing was working! Finally, on Saturday morning we went over and Anthony
was home. He looked so happy when he opened the door. He said "I was
worried you were mad at me or weren't going to teach me anymore." That was
pretty funny. On Saturday morning we read in the Book of Mormon with him, and
he really enjoyed that. He said that he learned a lot and he thinks it's really
fun to read with us. We set up an appointment to teach him on Sunday at Tonya's
house, which is what we usually try to do with him. Yesterday, we taught him about
following the prophet. It still always surprises me how much he takes in as we
are teaching him. You would never guess that he is listening when you're
teaching him, but whenever we ask him questions or when he asks questions it
shows how closely he really was listening. He really wants to be baptized so
we're working toward that with him. He wants to be baptized by his cousin,
Cody, who isn't worthy right now to do so, but we are going to figure out what
goal to set with Anthony for his baptismal date when Cody will be able to
perform the ordinance. I love Anthony and I love the recent converts (Tonya,
Caitlyn and Kayli) for bringing him under their wing. The thing that is
stressing me out is that Anthony lives in the boundaries of the 1st ward but
all of his support and his cousin live in the second ward. I'm not really sure
what to do, but I've been praying about it and trying to understand what will
be best for Anthony.
Nancy met with the
Bishop in the 1st ward to get to know him and so he can get to know her. That
was really good for her, because afterward she felt like she really has support
from him and from the ward. She decided that she needed to push her baptismal
date back. She was supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, but she feels
like she isn't quite ready and like she doesn't know enough. I would be
disappointed about that, but I was feeling like she wasn't ready to be
baptized. Nancy has a hard time understanding things sometimes because she is
basically illiterate. We have the Book of Mormon on CD for her to listen to and
we are working with her a lot, going over and reading with her a lot of times,
so she'll be able to feel more comfortable with what she knows. Also, I just
didn't feel like she could be ready for baptism since she's only been to church
in 1st ward once, hasn't been going every week, and doesn't keep all of her
commitments. Sis Wilkinson really felt like she should just get baptized, so we
didn't know what to do. I guess Nancy coming to us saying she wanted to push it
back was an answer to my prayers about it. Sister Tolliver has been really
great with Nancy, so we'll keep working with her and get her ready to be
baptized on November 10th!
We also pushed the
Matweyew's date back to November 10th. They said that they would get baptized
this Saturday, but Sister Matweyew needs more time. She has somewhat of a
belief in everything we teach her, but she needs time to get a testimony of
Joseph Smith and that this is Christ's church. When she talked about baptism,
she talked about it like she's ripping a band-aid off, as if she just wants to
get it over with quick. That kind of put up a red flag for us and we decided
that they needed more time to really come to a knowledge of these things for
themselves. She felt good about the 10th. She actually said that's what she was
thinking before. We just have to make sure that we don't let her keep pushing her baptismal date back. We've
set this goal with her and we're going to help her take the steps to reach that
goal. It was really cool because on Monday we asked them why they want to get
baptized. Sister Matweyew said that she wants the weight taken off of her that
she believes will take place when she's baptized, she wants to be washed clean.
Gavin said that he really wants to feel like he's a part of the church and he
knows that baptism is a part of that. He also said that he wants to be clean as
well. The Matweyew family is really great. The gospel will bring so many
blessings into their lives and they really need that right now. Sister Matweyew has
been noticing the way things have been turning around for their family as she
has been keeping her commitments and has begun to obey the commandments that
we've taught her about - like the Word of Wisdom. I was worried about teaching
her that, because she loves coffee, but she agreed to keep it and she hasn't
had any coffee since she said she would live that law. I'm just so excited to
continue working with them and watch them progress and be baptized as a family.
Hopefully we can break down Courtney's wall and she'll be taught as well. I'll
be praying that we can teach her.
We had two short
lessons with Heena this week. We had just stopped by both times before going to
other appointments, but last night was really great. We only had time to share
a scripture with her. It was a great experience for me because a scripture I
had read a few days ago came to my mind that we could share. The scripture was
Alma 22:18 - talking about King Lamoni's father's prayer in which he asks if
God is there, and is willing to give up his sins to know God. I had thought
about Heena a lot when I studied that particular scripture earlier in the week,
so I was grateful that the Lord prepared me to share that with her last night.
We talked about real intent with her and how King Lamoni's father had real intent
as he prayed to God. The Spirit was really strong and we invited Heena to pray
only to Heavenly Father, the way that we pray, and not do any Hindu prayers for
one week. We promised her that she would feel the strength and support from
Heavenly Father and her relationship with Him would be really strong. We also
promised her that if she did so, she would recognize that He is our Father and
He is the one and only God. I know that if she does what we invited her to do,
she will have very powerful spiritual experiences and it will help her progress
toward baptism. She talked to us about how she feels like there has been a void
in her life since her husband left her and requested a divorce. I know that it
has been really hard for her, and she talked about how happy she has felt as
she has learned from us. Once again, we told her that is the Spirit that she's
feeling that makes her so happy and told her that she can have that with her
all the time if she is baptized. I know that the gospel will fill that void in
her life.
Sister Bennett
Pictures: The kid with
the long hair is Anthony. The guy with the Ravens shirt on is Tyler! He's so
awesome!!!
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