How is everyone this week? I got some
good emails, I think. I haven't read them yet, but I did see some sweet
pictures! SNOW! I miss snow, honestly. It's so sunny and warm here. It just
seems wrong to be listening to Christmas music in the car and seeing everyone's
Christmas lights. By the way, you all have to come to California with me next
Christmas. The lights they do here are INSANE! Seriously. They have lights all
over the ground, in their trees, and on their houses. They don't have to worry
about snow! It's crazy! We actually got to help an investigator set up his
lights this past week. I think he was surprised by me because I kept saying
"no, do it like this." haha. He's really awesome. His name is Bill
and his wife is a member. Bill comes to church all the time but just won’t be
baptized. We're going to his house for Christmas dinner. We give each other a
hard time, so it's fun to go and see him. Plus, putting up lights was nice
because usually, I would help out with that at home. Remember last year when I
was trying to make our trees look like temple square trees? Yeah, harder than I
thought it would be. Haha. I almost fell out of that tree by the driveway like
10 times! Hahah. Good times. :)
President Castro talked about me at
zone leaders' council. Our zone leaders go and receive training from President
Castro and the assistants and then come and teach it to us. Elder Castanda told
me that President was talking about me and about how much I've changed. He said
that I'm very persistent now and exactly obedient. I guess he talked about how
proud he is of me. That was nice, but also made me feel weird or something.
It's nice to know that President is aware of me but now I just feel like all of
these people will be watching me. I just want to stay out here in Moorpark and
be left alone. hahaha.
Well, this week we didn't have as much
success as would seem usual. It was kind of frustrating to me. I just want to
be a good example to Sister Stoker of hard work and obedience so she can see
the success that comes from doing those things. It was kind of a weird week,
but at the same time, we had a lot of different things going on that took up
proselyting time, so I guess I need to remember that. I just want her to feel
good about the work that we're doing and gain a strong testimony that success
comes when we are obedient.
This week Sister Stoker has grown a
lot. She doesn't see it, but there are big differences that I can see. She is
more confident now and has shown more faith in declaring to people on their
doorsteps and in teaching. I know that it's really hard being a new missionary.
You just want to be good at everything right now and don't want to have to go
through the hard part of adjusting. I know that, because that's exactly how I
felt. I have been doing my best to counsel with her and give her advice based
on my experiences as a new missionary. She is very similar to me, so I've just
been talking to her a lot about patience and how the Lord's timing is always
what's best for us. I have shared with her how grateful I am for the things
that I learned in those first few, very hard, weeks of my mission and I know
that she'll feel the same way. She's struggling for sure. This morning she was
crying and talking about how she just keeps thinking "I don't even have to
be here." I have been trying to help her see the blessings that she's been
receiving. I've also been trying to help her remember why she came out here to
serve a mission. I remember when President Castro said to me that I made this
decision to come on a mission. No one forced me to be here, and I needed to
remember why I decided that. Sister Stoker needs to remember that as well. She
is going to be a really great missionary, but it is going to take time to learn
the little things. "You can't walk without first taking the baby steps and
falling a lot" is what Sister Tippetts always said to me. She was right.
Man, I sure did have a great trainer in Sister Tippetts. I've been really
trying to use the things that she taught me to teach Sister Stoker. I think maybe
the thing that I need to do the most, and be better at, is helping Sister
Stoker feel loved by me. I'm really striving to put her first and to remember
another thing that Sister Tippetts taught me - my companion is my #1
investigator. Sister Stoker will make it. She's tough and I know that she wants
to be a great missionary.
This week we were able to teach Heidi,
Bill, Nancy, Anthony, Brother Mason, Elias, Delfy, Hani, Sister Honor, Sister
Keith, Shelly, the Oatmans, Heena, the Bergs, and the Matweyews.
Heena is doing pretty well. Last week
we had discussed a lot with her about baptism and what is holding her back. She
told us that she reads in the Book of Mormon every day and prays, and she
actually admitted to us that she knows that she doesn't get answers from her
book of scripture in the Hindu faith, but that she does get answers when she
goes to the Book of Mormon. She is still held back by the idea that being
baptized means that she's Christian and that she is going away from her
heritage and who she is. Sister Tolliver was at the lesson and asked if Heena
believes that Jesus Christ is the Savior. Heena said yes, so we told her that
she is already Christian then. Heena has felt the Spirit so much and she is
very aware of it. She came to church last week and she told us that she almost
wanted to go up during fast and testimony meeting so she could say something.
I'm struggling to understand how to help her gain the desire to be baptized.
She doesn't exactly understand why she must be baptized, so what we've decided
to do is to go back to the scriptures with her and point out the doctrine of
Christ. We are commanded to be baptized, as Christ was, and hopefully we can
help her feel the Spirit as we share scriptures about why we need to be
baptized. I feel that Heena will just need time. Eventually something will
happen and she will want to be baptized, but I just want to know how we can
help her get there now! Ok, patience is something I'm still learning about. I
love Heena and I just want her to have all of the blessings that she deserves -
especially the gift of the Holy Ghost. She said that she would continue to pray
about baptism and try to change the wording of her prayers to be more specific
so we'll see what happens there.
Nancy is doing really great, well, when
it comes to attending church. She's come to church the past two weeks and she's
been meeting a lot of people there. She loves all of the little children and
the people in the ward are starting to reach out to her more and are getting to
know her. She keeps talking to me about how she knows why I still have to be in
Moorpark. She said I can't leave until she's baptized and that's what God told
her. She's so funny! She still struggles to read in the Book of Mormon and
we're trying to help her with that. Sister Tolliver is really great with her.
Boy do I wish that they were in the same ward. That really would make things
much simpler. Anyway, Sister Tolliver has thought of some good ideas of how to
help Nancy with her Book of Mormon reading, so hopefully the newest idea will
work. We are mostly focused on Nancy going to church every week, and so far
she's been doing it. She's planning on being baptized on the 29th of this
month, so I'm really looking forward to that day, finally! We just need to
continue preparing her and helping her understand that covenant that she's
making and what's expected of her after she is baptized. She came to the
bi-stake Christmas concert last night with Sister Tolliver and brought her son,
which was great. Now, we need to talk to her more about letting us teach her
two boys. I think that will help her a lot in having her family learning with
her. Nancy is just so great. She has a sweet testimony. This week, we taught
her the plan of salvation, again, and she told us that she KNOWS it's true. I
asked her how she knows and she said that when she's learning more and more
about it she feels really good and just knows that this is really the plan. I
loved that! I've never heard her really bear her testimony to us, so that was a
really precious moment for me.
The highlight of my week, other than
Anthony's baptism, was teaching the Oatmans. Keith and Deanna have two boys and
one of them, Paul, has gone to church a few times with a friend in the 2nd
ward. I first met Keith and Deanna in July with Sister Tippetts and they said
that they wanted to wait until Keith came back from some army stuff. Well, we
finally got to sit down with them and teach them the restoration on Saturday
morning. Deanna really wants to learn more. She told us that she has seen that
the only religion in which the people really live what they believe every
single day is the LDS faith, and that's why she wanted to meet with us. She
also loves the family values that we have because they are similar to her own.
Keith just seemed to be there for the ride with his wife, but as we taught I
realized that he really is interested and paying attention as well. When we
finished talking about Joseph Smith we asked them what they thought and how
they felt. Deanna said that she believes that could happen because if she's
able to believe that Moses parted the Red Sea, then why wouldn’t Joseph Smith
be able to have the experience that he said he had. She told us that coming in
she was skeptical and that when she feels like something is a "no"
then she doesn't budge, but she said that she was surprised by how she felt.
She said that at that point she felt like a "maybe" and that she
wanted to learn more and find out if what we shared was true. Keith talked
about how he's always been skeptical of the Bible because it's been picked over
and changed and isn't really sure even about prophets in there. He did say that
it's interesting that the Book of Mormon has only been translated once, so it
is a pure translation. He didn't seem like he was closed, but that he,
obviously, wasn't just going to take our word for it. That's the best! That
means that he will really be seeking an answer. The Oatmans all came with us to
the Christmas concert last night, which was really amazing. The Spirit was
really strong there and I know that they felt it. Deanna kept thanking us for
inviting them and was happy that she didn't miss out on such a wonderful
experience. I'm super excited to keep teaching them. When we invited them to be
baptized when they know that what we've shared is true, Deanna almost jumped
out of her seat and said "yes!" "Of course I would!" How
great is that?
Anthony's baptism was a really
wonderful experience for me. At first, I was a bit disappointed about the turn
out. Usually the members of the second ward are very supportive and we have had
a lot of people at the baptisms, but on Saturday night the numbers were scarce.
My disappointment was quickly dispelled, because the meeting was so spiritual.
My favorite part was after the actual ordinance of baptism was performed.
Anthony got up and bore his testimony and thanked everyone for their support.
His testimony was strong and simple. I felt that same love that I've felt for
him the entire time we've taught him. I also felt very proud. I know that he
has such a bright future with the gospel in his life and I can't wait for him
to go on a mission. There were a few other testimonies that were borne as well
that really touched me. Brother Lutz shared his testimony and in it he said
that I am one of the best missionaries that he has ever seen. I felt
overwhelmed because I know that I have not done this work alone and that these
successes should not be attributed to me. I have felt the guidance of the Spirit
so much here in Moorpark as we've taught different people. I understand that
the Lord is working here in His vineyard and that I am just an instrument that
he is using. I appreciated the kind words, but mostly I felt grateful to my
Heavenly Father for giving me the many different opportunities here to see
people change and become converted. We, as missionaries, are nothing without
the Spirit. We cannot teach without it and therefore cannot baptize without it.
I just want to remain worthy of that Spirit. Brother Lutz also talked about how
he is dreading the day that I will be transferred from Moorpark. That
definitely hit me hard. I love this area so much. A lot of people ask me if I
wish I had been transferred so I could experience something different-
Absolutely not. I have changed so much here and have had so many sacred
experiences that I, too, dread the day when I will have to leave. I love the
people here. Not just those who we teach on a regular basis, but also those
that we just meet tracting. That is an amazing feeling. There are a lot of
reasons, I'm sure, why I have needed to be in Moorpark for this amount of time
- the #1 reason being, in my opinion, that the Lord has been able to shape and
mold me so much here. I have felt the power of the Atonement in my life because
of the different situations I've been in that are specific to Moorpark, I have
come to depend more fully on the Atonement. That's something that I really
needed to happen to become the missionary that the Lord needs me to be. I have
so much more to learn and a ton more growing to do, so I guess I'll just have
to be in Moorpark my entire mission! :)
I'm grateful for the gospel. I'm
especially grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. Being a
missionary has opened my eyes to the blessing of the Atonement and the power in
it that changes people, including myself. Missions are hard, but what the
Savior did was so much harder. I am grateful to sacrifice this much to help
others partake of the grace of our Savior through His Atonement.
Love,
Sister Bennett 
Anthony’s Baptism
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