June 3, 2013
Hola mi familia,
We had a really busy week. We had three exchanges and on the days when we were in our area we were very busy with lessons. The exchanges that we had this week were really great. I felt very humbled by the end of the week that I've been given this assignment when there are so many sisters that could do just as well as I do, or most likely better than I do, with this assignment. The sisters in this mission are incredible. They have sacrificed a lot to come and serve the Lord. Some have sacrificed temporal things while others are sacrificing their fears, doubts, inhibitions, and shortcomings. It's always really neat to work with new missionaries because they're just beginning to learn to rely on the Spirit and on the atonement of Jesus Christ. I try to not tell them "I know how you feel" all day, but I can really relate to some of these sisters and how they are feeling. I feel like I was brand new to the mission just yesterday, and I just want to help them have more patience with themselves. It's crazy how great I think they are versus how they feel they're doing. So many of these new sisters just feel like they're not where they're supposed to be at this point, but they're doing wonderfully. I'm sure that's how our Father in Heaven feels when we feel inadequate or unqualified for something. He may want to just shake us and say "Do you know who you are and what you will become!?" That's especially something that I need to remember for myself. That's what I learned, personally, from exchanges this week. I need to remember my divine potential and be patient with myself.
I'll start by talking about the exchanges we had this past week. We started the week off by having an exchange with the Moorpark sisters. I spent the day in Moorpark, again, with Sister Hiatt. She's from Payson, Utah. I wanted to see if she could handle the area. She definitely can. I was super impressed with her. At the beginning of the day, I just felt that she doesn't quite understand the importance of obedience so I prayed a lot that somehow I could help her see why we're obedient and want to be obedient. At the end of the day, after we went over how the exchange went, when Sister Hiatt prayed, she said that she was thankful for what she learned about obedience from me and prayed that she could become more obedient. I was so grateful! There hadn't been anything during the exchange that I had done to correct any disobedience and we didn't even talk about obedience, but somehow she still recognized it and had a desire to become more obedient. That was a miracle! We were so busy the entire day. We went from appointment to appointment with no time in between. It was neat to see how Sister Hiatt teaches. She has a really strong testimony that always invites the Spirit so much, and people listen when she teaches. She's a little unsure about the doctrine of the lessons, but that will come. I'm really excited to go on exchanges with her again in a couple of transfers and see how powerful she is when she learns the lessons really well. She's really great! I'm so happy that she's a part of this mission because she is a special missionary.
For our next exchanges we headed to Bakersfield. Boy was it hot there! We started with the Rosedale sisters and I worked with Sister Allred, from New York, for the day. Those sisters have been spending a lot of time tracting, but I knew that we could have success on the exchange if we worked hard. We set some high goals, according to Sister Allred, but I was confident that the Lord would provide ways for us to reach those goals. Sister Allred really wanted to work on teaching in unity in declarations because she said that she never talks when first contacting people. She's really shy and isn't very sure of herself, which is crazy because she is an amazing teacher! I just tried to always leave room for her to teach. When I would pause and give her time to formulate her thoughts and start teaching, she did really well! We had a lot of success that day! We reached all of our goals and I think it helped Sister Allred see the importance of setting meaningful goals and then working to reach them. She seemed to really enjoy the day and I hope that I helped her recognize how great she is!
After working with Sister Allred in Rosedale, we headed to north Bakersfield and I worked with Sister Evensen from Orem. She is really stressed about the new mission being opened and being in the Bakersfield mission, and she is even more stressed with training in an area where there hasn't been a lot of success recently. I know that everyone can have success and that there isn't one area in this mission where it's impossible to have baptisms. I just want the sisters to see that. If they want to have baptisms, they will have baptisms. Sister Evensen was very discouraged by the lack of investigators in her area and the lack of support from the two wards that she's serving in, but I talked to her a lot about putting trust in the Lord to do HIS work. We found some great people that day and Sister Evensen did really well with teaching them. She's so great at connecting with people as she teaches and she really has fun with missionary work.
This week we taught Suzanne (three times), Ted, Lisa, Bob, the Heaths, Judith, Stephanie, and the Rabagos.
We had three investigators come to church yesterday! It was so great! Suzanne was there nice and early so she came and sat by us, but as the meeting began Lisa sneaked in and sat down. We needed to divide and conquer so Sister Burwell got up and went to sit by her. Then after the sacrament was finished being administered to the congregation, I was just sitting there listening to the member of the bishopric give his testimony and all of a sudden, there's Stephanie at the end of our row looking at me like "surprise! I really came!" I was super excited! As testimony meeting continued on, I was getting a bit anxious because the testimonies were going downhill. Everyone kept talking about such deep doctrine and I didn't want the investigators there to wonder what in the world they were doing there. At that point I started to pray...hard. When I finished praying, Sister Jones got up and bore the best testimony followed by a powerful testimony by Sister Burwell and then the Bishop got up and spoke about his conversion. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong there and those last three testimonies addressed things that all three of those investigators needed to hear. That was such a tender mercy from the Lord. I felt so great about the way things went and all of them said that they'd be back next week! How great is that!?
Oh, the best news of the week came from Kayli on Saturday night. I had written her last week and told her to go to the temple and pray about going on a mission, because she's really been struggling with making that decision. She really wants to but she was scared about how her parents would react. Well, she went to the temple to do baptisms and then took some time to pray and read her scriptures. She got the answer that she needs to go, so she's for sure going on a mission! She said she's willing to give up everything to serve - her car, her phone, living with her parents. She is so inspiring! I just love her so much. She's felt really alone lately because she doesn't have the support she needs from her family. When I prayed after reading that letter, I just started crying. I was so happy for her, but also so grateful for all of you - a supporting family. I don't recognize that often enough...the blessing of having such a wonderful family that supports this decision of serving a mission. It really means a lot to me because this mission has changed my life. Thanks so much and please keep Kayli in your prayers as she is preparing to tell her parents about going on a mission.
Anyway, life as a missionary is rolling along....a bit too fast if you ask me! Sorry, I'm SO TOTALLY OUT OF TIME! I'll write more next week! I love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Bennett
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