Dear Family,
My new companion is Sister Stoker from Burley, Idaho.
She's great! Transfer meeting was really exciting when we met. They always wait
until the end to introduce who's training who. I could barely sit still I was
so nervous. Seriously, my whole body was starting to twitch! Haha. But when we,
the trainers, walked in and sat down, I looked over and saw Sister Stoker and
thought to myself, "That's who I'm training." Pretty cool, huh? haha.
After transfer meeting we were walking past President and Sister Castro and they
stopped Sister Stoker and me. President Castro was so nice, he told me, "We
need you in Moorpark a bit longer", with a smile. He also told Sister
Stoker that she has the best trainer. Then Sister Castro came up from behind me
and grabbed me and said, "Oh, Sister Stoker, you're so lucky! I wish I
could be Sister Bennett's companion.” Then she looked at President with a smile
and said, “I'm sure we can work that out!" Haha. It was really sweet. All
of the missionaries were really sweet and kept telling Sister Stoker that she's
so lucky to have me as a trainer. I just kept thinking that I wish they would
stop because she'll have too high of expectations! Seriously though....
Guess who I saw at transfer meeting!?!? Jacob Cheadle!
He's doing great! I can tell he loves the work already. It was hard to not give
him a hug, and I accidentally called him Jacob. haha. He's gained a
little weight, so the people must be taking really good care of him. haha. That
was really fun to see him. Another connection that I have here in my district
is that Brother Rich's grandson is now in my district - Elder Rich. Mom and Dad
will have to tell Brother Rich that when they see him.
It's been a pretty good week when it comes to the work.
We had a lot of success, which I was grateful for because it helps Sister
Stoker get excited about the work. It's interesting being a trainer. I can't
say it hasn't been a challenge for me, because it has. I think the biggest
struggle is feeling pressure to help Sister Stoker start her mission out well.
This time is very important for a new missionary and I know that the reason I
am the missionary that I am now is because I had an amazing trainer in Sister
Tippetts. I think a lot about the things that Sister Tippetts taught me and
I've been trying to use things that she did to help me as a new missionary. The
hard part is that my memory isn't the best, and I can't remember a lot of the
things. I just try to be a good example to Sister Stoker. That's one thing that
I know I can do. I've been praying a lot for guidance and help in knowing how
to help her get acclimated and how to help her feel like she is improving. She
has expressed concern about not liking the idea of not being really good at
things and feeling inadequate. That is very interesting because I am the same
way. I don't like to be bad at stuff and I want to feel like I know what I'm
doing. I went through the same feelings as a new missionary and I am going through
them again now in learning how to be a trainer. I have received a lot of
comfort from my Heavenly Father throughout this week as I have prayed for His
help. I have also felt strongly, many times, that I am supposed to be Sister
Stoker's trainer, no matter what I think I'm ready for, because the Lord knows
me and what I am capable of. It's humbling to think that he has entrusted me
with the responsibility to be training. I have lost some sleep due to the new
circumstances, but I think that probably happens to everyone. I know that I
have help from the Lord and that I just need to rely on the Spirit to help
guide me in teaching Sister Stoker. I will say that I've been super tired since
I've been training because I talk so much. It's exhausting! I hope that I can
get used to that, or even better that Sister Stoker will start feeling more
comfortable so she can talk more!
Becoming a trainer has also required me to do a lot more
teaching. When we're tracting, I obviously talk a lot more than Sister Stoker
because she is still adjusting. That's been somewhat of a trial for me. I feel
like I'm not connecting with people and like I don't know what I'm doing when
I'm declaring sometimes, but finally the other night I kind of snapped myself
out of thinking that way. I know that the promises in the scriptures are real,
that if I have faith and just open my mouth that I will have the words to say.
I realized that that has been happening. I haven't run out of things to say
yet. Whether that means every person we talk to becomes a new investigator or
not doesn't matter, I just needed to take a step back and recognize that the
Lord does keep his promises. I do feel that I can still improve a lot in the
way that I declare so I'm working on it, but I will remember now to keep having
faith, and as I study how to be more powerful in declarations, I know that I
will recognize different things that I can do to be more effective in that
area.
Sister Stoker seems to be ok. I don't know if she's
holding things in or not, but she's a positive person. I can really tell that
she wants to do well. I think she worries about how she sounds or looks as
we're teaching or tracting, but I'm trying to help her learn to really rely on
the Spirit. I know that she already has done that. We've had a few lessons
where she just decided to share a scripture or an experience that really
brought the Spirit and helped the investigator understand things better. I told
her afterward, "That was great! You are already getting down the most
important aspect of the work - following the Spirit! It's all uphill from
here!" I think she feels a bit overwhelmed about everything that she needs
to learn, especially learning all of the lessons since they don't really
emphasize that in the MTC. I've been sharing little pieces of advice with her
that I received from my trainer as well as sharing things that I did. She
always expresses gratitude for the advice and I've seen her using those things.
I think the hardest thing for her, just like it was for me, is tracting. When
people say "no thanks," she's ready to leave. I think she at first
felt uncomfortable when I kept talking to them and wouldn't just leave when
they say "no" once or twice. She'll get used to that. I hated
tracting at first, but now I understand that it's an important part of the
work. Sister Stoker is a great missionary, and I can really see her potential.
She will be very powerful because she understands the importance of the Spirit
in the work.
This week we had a lot of good lessons! We taught Heena,
Michael, Gisele, Steven, Elias, Nancy, Heidi, Nanci and Kelsey, Brother Peters,
Patty, Aldo, Hani, another Nancy, Judy (less-active), Jon, Denise and Carston,
Sophia (investigator) and Jesse (less-active), the Matweyews,
Steven/Tonya/Caitlyn/Kayli/Anthony, and we had Anthony's baptismal
interview.
We met Elias this week while we were out walking. He was
just standing by his truck, so we went over and talked to him. He's a hispanic
guy in his 20s. He was really open as we talked to him and he said that he
wanted to learn more about God so he could get over things and forget about his
past. We set up an appointment to go back and teach him. When we went back, we
met with Elias at a park down the street from his home and taught him about the
restoration. At first he just kept talking about his ex-wife and how she hurt
him, so I was a little worried that he would just treat us like his therapists,
but as we started into the lesson, he listened intently and asked questions. I
felt the Spirit a lot as we taught, especially as we shared Joseph Smith's
first vision. I know how much the gospel can help Elias, and sometimes I just
want to jump out of my seat and yell it to the people we teach - "You have
no idea how much this can help you!!!" Something to that effect would be
efficient. Don't worry, I didn't do that. We related what we were teaching to
his situation and how through the gospel he can be healed. At the end of the
lesson we invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He's scheduled to be
baptized on January 12. At first he wouldn't set a date, but I felt like he had
faith that he would get an answer about the things we taught. It was cool to
feel the Spirit work with us as we helped resolve his concern, which was that
the 5th of January would be too soon. I'm excited to keep teaching him.
We had a very interesting lesson with a referral named
Carston and his wife Denise. They are in their late 20s or early 30s. They both
are really strong Christians and go to a church called Grace Bible Church. I think
it's just a Christian church. Carston is a really smart guy and we could tell
that he enjoys having a lot of knowledge. They fed us dinner, and over dinner
it seemed like he thought this was an opportunity to teach us about things from
the Bible. I wasn't sure how things were going to go with them, because it
seemed like he would want to Bible bash. As we continued to talk, he told us
that he was planning to read the Book of Mormon and told us that he would read
it before we came back. I think that's great. I know the power that the Book of
Mormon has, so we shared Moroni 10:3-5 with them and invited him to not only
read it, but also to pray about it. The entire time we were there, I just kept
thinking about how I wish I knew more; more about the Bible, or even about the
Book of Mormon and other scriptures that we have. I felt a little frustrated
after the lesson for that reason - lacking knowledge. As we drove home, I
thought about why missionaries are called to serve at such a young age. Why
don't older people who know more go? I knew the answer. We aren't supposed to
know a ton and "Bible bash" with people. We need to be humble and
rely on the Spirit to teach people. We're not going to people's homes to argue
with them about who's right and who's wrong. We are to go and share our message
and invite people to repent and come closer to our Savior. I think that was a
much needed lesson for me to remember and relearn. The Lord is definitely aware
of me and I am grateful for the different lessons that I've learned on my
mission.
Well, I hope everyone is doing great! Another week and so
many more miracles here!
Love,
Sister Bennett
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