November 12, 2012
Well Hey There Family!
It's gotten a bit
chilly here for the last few days. The actual temperature is nice (60s-70s) but
it's been windy so it makes it kind of cool. It's still better than the weather
in Utah and Minnesota, though, so I'm happy. I have nothing to say to Collie
though because I know it's the warmest in AZ. Haha.
It was a very eventful
week. We had district meeting on Wednesday, mission president interviews on
Thursday, the Matweyews' baptism on Saturday, and their confirmation on Sunday.
It made for a really busy, but amazing week! We taught a good amount of lessons
in between all of the different things that we had going on. I felt like it was
a good growing week for me, personally. I can feel my desires changing and my
attitude toward missionary work continually becoming what I really want it to
be. I've been reading in Alma in my Book of Mormon reading, and it’s hard not
to want to have that great desire that Alma and the Sons of Mosiah had toward
sharing the gospel. I have a great yearning to bring souls unto Christ, as they
did, and I know that as I continue to understand the Atonement more that I will
feel as they did that "they could not bear that any human soul should
perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any should endure endless torment did cause
them to quake and tremble." (Mosiah 28:3)
Mission president's
interviews were really great as always. We have training going on while
President Castro interviews the different missionaries in our district + half
of another district in our zone. The Assistants had called us earlier in the
week and asked us, Sis Put and I, to do a part of the training. We were to
teach about "I will go where you want me to go" and what we DO when
we get there. I enjoyed preparing for that, a lot, because I learned a ton.
Well, we taught right after President Castro shared a message with all of us
and he decided that he wanted to wait to start interviews until after we taught
our part. It didn't really make me nervous to have him there, but I could tell
that Sister Putnam didn't like the idea that President would be sitting in.
Teaching went really well, and all of the other elders and sisters who were
there told us that it was really powerful and simple. That's great and exactly
what we wanted! After we shared our message, the assistants and zone leaders
taught about "I'll be what you want me to be" and "Say what you
want me to say." Obviously we were going with a theme from hymn 270 (I
think that's the number). It was great and I learned a lot of things that I can
apply to the work and to the investigators we're teaching. My actual interview
with President Castro went really well, as always. He talked to me a lot about
the change in age of missionary service. He said that he totally understands
now why I came into the mission at the time that I did before they changed the
ages. He said that I will be a great leader and teacher to these young,
incoming sisters. He said that he knows that I will become like a "Sister
Dalton or Sister Tippetts" to these younger missionaries - meaning someone
that they really look up to and strive to exemplify. I told him that I really
enjoyed what he shared with everyone at the beginning of interviews. He talked
about how when we're obedient, tribulation still comes and it's after those
tribulations that the blessings come (D&C 58:2-4). I told him that I've
really been striving to be obedient and have been wondering and kind of worried
about being more obedient. He stopped me as I was talking and said "Sister
Bennett, for some missionaries that message that I shared is very necessary. In
your case, you are on a different level than most missionaries. You need to
just take what I taught and tweek it to meet your needs." He said that he
knows that I am exactly obedient. He also said that he can see how much I have
changed and he said that the best part is that I have been letting the Lord
change me. That hit me hard and it made me feel really good, because that's all
that I've really wanted. I just want to allow the Lord to mold and shape me to
become a great missionary and a good person. President Castro said that a lot
is expected of me and I know that I can reach those expectations with the help
of the Lord. He also told me I need to have better posture when I speak. haha.
He said that I do most of the time, but then there are glimpses when it's like
I think to myself all of a sudden "what am I doing in front of these
people? I can't do this!" That's probably true, but I'm glad he gave me
that advice, because he said that I'm very powerful when I speak and share my
testimony. He also talked about remembering who I am - a representative of
Jesus Christ - a sister missionary. He said that I just need to leave Haley
behind for now (he actually said my name....that was SUPER weird) and become
Sister Bennett 24 hours a day. I agree with that and it's what I'm really going
to be working on - my posture and remember my calling as a missionary. I have
more power than the kings of the earth because I have been set apart to preach
the gospel! (My Missionary Commission). Anyway, interviews were great.
President Castro really knows how to make me feel humbled and feel like a
million bucks.
With another baptism,
it brings me to recommit and refocus on my purpose as a missionary. Baptisms
have always helped me regain the perspective of this work that I need and the
Lord has blessed me to have baptisms at very crucial times when I needed my
vision raised. After the Matweyews' baptism on Saturday I, as always, was
brimming with the Spirit. While we were driving back to Moorpark from Thousand
Oaks, I thought a lot about how "this is what it's all about." I had
just seen a mother and son enter into that first, so important, covenant with
our Heavenly Father. I have been so blessed to have been a part of teaching
them and helping them make those links in their family chain. We serve as
missionaries to help families come together - for eternity. I think this
baptism hit me the hardest for that reason. It has been an amazing experience
to watch the Matweyews as they have accepted the gospel. It's miraculous to see
the difference in them. They understand who they are and where they are going
as a family and I know that in the not so distant future Zach and Courtney will
have a desire to learn about the gospel because of the example of their family.
The baptism itself was very spiritual. The Matweyews had family members who
came from all over California, as well as Utah and Arizona. Many prayers were
answered on Saturday that have been prayed for more than 20 years now. I felt
very humbled when Grandma Matweyew (Bro M's mom) came up to me and wrapped her
arms around me for a long time. She was crying and told me that she had been
praying for Michael (Brother Matweyew) and his family to be able to be sealed
for so long and that now they will be able to go to the temple and be sealed
together forever. She expressed a great deal of gratitude toward my companion
and I. All that I thought at that time was how grateful I am to my Father in
Heaven for using me as that instrument for the Spirit to teach this family. I
feel so lucky that I have been in Moorpark as they have learned. Sister
Matweyew cried a lot at the baptism and Gavin just looked so happy. He had a
smile on his face for the entire baptismal service! The happiest person in that
room, however, was Brother Matweyew. That was the first time that he has used
his Aaronic priesthood. He was very nervous, but his smile seriously took over
his face. He did a great job in baptizing them and I felt really proud. Now, in
a year, their family will be going to the temple to be sealed - Sis and Bro M
to Gavin. Eventually they will be there with their entire family, with Courtney
and Zach. I look forward to a year from now when I can come back after my
mission and join their family in the sealing room and see them take upon them
more blessings that come from living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had some other
great lessons this past week, as well. We taught Jose, Steven, Brother Mason,
Maria, Nancy, Nanci and Kelsey, Delfy, Heena, Judy S, Justin, Anthony (finally!),
Eddy, Melanie, Brother Peters, and Steven E with Kayli and Caitlyn there.
We got a lot of new
investigators this week, which was a blessing that came, I know, as a result of
our obedience and hard work. We spent a good amount of time out tracting and as
we showed our faith to find new investigators, we had success! Jose, Steven,
Melanie, Steven E, and Maria are all new investigators. Maria is one that
sticks out to me a lot. We had met her two weeks ago while we were walking from
an appointment to go get our car. She was outside with her dog, walking to her
apartment from her garage. We said hello and started to talk to her. She told
us that she had seen us around a lot and that we always look very happy. We
laughed and told her that it's because we have such a happy message that we
share! We talked with her for a bit longer and set up an appointment to come
back and teach her. We had that appointment this last week and she was home and
invited us in! We taught her about the restoration on the gospel. She already
has a foundation of great faith in Jesus Christ. That was very obvious to us.
As we talked about prophets she made the comment that the prophet is the one
who tells us what the Bible ACTUALLY means. I liked that a lot. As we taught
her I felt the Spirit working through me and that is just the best feeling in
the world. She was very receptive and said that she'll have to do some studying
of her own and pray about the things that we shared with her. We said
"great!" That's exactly what she needs to do! Her husband is some
kind of pastor and she said that she wanted to ask him about Joseph Smith. Who
knows what her husband will say, but we're planning on inviting her to have us
over when he's home so we can teach him, too. We have an appointment with her
this week and I'm excited to go back and see what she has found as she's read
from the Book of Mormon.
One of the biggest
miracles of the week was that we found Anthony, finally. Anthony had moved and
didn't know where he was moving to before they did the actual move. He doesn't
have a phone and the only way to contact him is through calling his mother. We
had tried getting into contact with Anthony through his cousin, Michael, who we
are also teaching, but Michael wouldn't respond to us. I was getting a bit
frustrated because Anthony has been preparing to be baptized. Well, on
Wednesday when we tried calling Anthony's mom again she answered and we just
decided we wouldn't ask for Anthony, instead we just asked her if we could get
their new address so we could stop by and see him. The idea was a success! She
gave us his address and we went by on Saturday morning, which is when we
usually can find Anthony at home, and Anthony was there. It was so funny, when
Anthony opened the door he looked so surprised and happy. I was worried that he
was going to hug us. I kind of scolded him for not trying to contact us, but he
said that he had lost our number in the move. We sat down outside and taught
him right then and there. When we finished with the lesson we brought up
baptism to him and told him that we would probably need to push it back a week
to make sure that he is ready and so that we can finish teaching him the
lessons that he needs. He looked really confused and said "we already had
to change it once from the 3rd to the 10th. Now we need to change it
again?" It was nice to see that he still has a great desire to be
baptized. We told him that the 24th of November would be the best because we
need more time to teach him, and Cody, his cousin who he wants to baptize him,
would have more time to be ready to perform the ordinance for him. Anthony
still looked a bit disappointed but agreed to the 24th. We invited him to come
to the Matweyews baptism that night and he agreed, so the Lutz family picked
him up and brought him. After the baptism we went over and talked to him and
asked what he thought and he just smiled - the biggest smile ever. That was
enough for us to know that he had felt the Spirit a lot and was ready to be
baptized. He's so great! We're really excited to be back on track with him and
that he'll be baptized in a few weeks.
We had a really cool
experience with one of our new investigators, Justin. We went back for our
return appointment with him on Saturday before the baptism. When we got to his
house, as I was getting out of our car, I saw Justin and his family pulling up
and he looked surprised and almost like he said "oh great" to his
wife. I was thinking that he was going to find some excuse of why we wouldn't
be able to teach him right then, but I said a little prayer to myself that he
would be receptive - especially because it was getting chilly outside and I
didn't want to go tracting. We walked over and started talking to him. He was a
bit standoffish at first, but then as we were talking he told us that he had
read the entire introduction and the testimonies in the Book of Mormon right
after we left, the first time that we met him. He said that he had some
questions and started asking them, but we jumped in and said that we would love
to answer his questions as we taught him. He said ok and invited us into his
home. I have taught the message of the restoration many times and many people
have shown interest as we've taught them, but no one compares to how intrigued
or how interested Justin was. He had tons of questions. He also talked to us
about a LDS friend he had in high school and how Justin thought that this
friend always had the best attitude and perspective toward life. It was great.
I was a bit worried about Justin's wife, but she came in at the end and talked
about how she thinks it's great that we're coming over because she's been
trying to get Justin to go to church forever. We invited her to sit down with
us next time we come over and she agreed. Justin told us at the end that he
thought that was so great! He said "ok, when are we doing this again? I
love this. What's the next lesson going to be about?" It was a cool
experience to see how he was, at first, not excited to talk to us, but by the
end of the lesson he wanted more. He also asked us what he should read to get
ready for our next lesson. I'm really excited to be teaching him and his
family. Sadly, he can't meet for two weeks, but I have faith that he'll read in
the Book of Mormon and be just as excited to sit down and meet with us again.
The last lesson I
wanted to write about was with Steven E. Steven is the kid who was set to be
baptized the Saturday after Sister Tippetts and I got there. Sadly, he had
crashed his dad's BMW and his dad told him he couldn't get baptized. Since that
time Steven had been continuing to come to church and we had met with him every
other week, but then he dropped off the face of the earth for about six weeks.
Well, two weeks ago he showed up at church again and he told us that he was
staying with Tonya and Caitlyn because he needed a place to stay during the
week since he works and goes to school in Moorpark while his dad actually lives
by Malibu. Well, Tonya has been on his case and has told him he needs to get
back on track to baptism. Last night, we had a lesson with him at the Lutzs'
home with Kayli, Caitlyn, and Cody there. We taught him about the restoration
and we watched the 20 minute video about Joseph Smith's experience. The Spirit
was really strong while we watched the video, and afterward we asked them all
what they felt and thought about what they just saw. It was neat to hear a few
of them bear their testimonies and that really invited the Spirit even more. We
invited everyone there, including Sis Tolliver and Sis Lutz, to take some time
when they are alone and kneel down and pray about Joseph Smith. When we asked
them if they would do that, Steven piped up and said that he already has and he
knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said that he (Steven) felt like his
story is similar to that of Joseph Smith’s. That he had been searching for the
truth and as he prayed about it he had gotten his answer. We told him that he
should pray about it again so that he can strengthen the testimony that he
already has even more. I have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, but I
still pray every single day to know if it is true, and the amazing thing is, I
have it reconfirmed to me every day that I pray about it.
It was really a great
week. We've been seeing a lot of miracles here in Moorpark. We actually started
a "Miracle Board." We got a poster board and taped it up on our wall
and each night we write down at least one miracle. Most days we can't just
narrow it down to one, so we write down two or three miracles that we saw that
day. That has been really fun and it has helped us a lot to recognize the
blessings that are coming as we've been working hard. We are not alone in this
work. That's for sure.
Here's a scripture
that really hit me this past week - Alma 29:9-10. Seeing people come unto
Christ really helps me remember and see the mercy of the Lord in my own life.
It's a blessing to be out sharing the gospel and having a constant reminder of
his mercy and love for us. I hope you have a good week and are doing missionary
work.
I love you all very
much!
Sister Bennett
Baptism of Matweyews
Haley with Sister Putnam and Matweyews
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