March 4, 2013
Hey Mom, Dad, and everyone
else.....
Ok, I'm sorry I didn't mention more about the Bakerfield mission opening up. I
didn't have time last week and I hadn't read all of your emails yet. Basically,
I feel torn about it. It would be cool to go and open a new mission, but it's
Bakersfield...I mean come on! Also, I don't really want to be moved over because
President Castro will be staying here. At first I thought that there would be
no way that I'd go, because the switch isn't happening until July and I will
only have like 3 months left at that point. However, we had dinner at the stake
president's home, President Jones, and he talks to President Castro a ton. He's
actually President's home teacher. haha. Anyway, President Jones told us that
President Castro talked about how he's going to put two assistants out there
and have the mission up and running, basically, in Bakersfield before the new
mission president even gets there. That worries me because I'm a traveling
sister. President Castro has two sets of traveling sisters, English and
Spanish, and I think that may have been inspired when he did that. He may want
to have a set of traveling sisters there for when the Bakersfield mission opens
as well. Who knows what's going to happen. I'm just trying to not think about
it at all. Whatever happens is what the Lord wants to happen and that's all
that matters to me. I will do what He asks of me, but that isn't happening for
another few months, so no worries anymore on my part. Those transfer calls in
June will be the most nerve-racking calls of my life though, that's for sure,
because whoever is in Bakersfield at the time of the switch will just be
staying there. Crazy, but great! The Lord is hastening His work!
I had a really wonderful letter waiting for me here in Ventura when I got home
from exchanges. It was from Brenna Lutz telling me about her mission call! She
has been called to serve in the Utah Provo Mission! Isn't that awesome! She's
going to be so great! She'll be speaking Spanish. The greatest thing about that
is that I can see her in Provo while I'm at school! I'm totally going on splits
with her! Hahah. I'm so proud of her. Obviously, I'm sure it was a bit of a
shock for her at first, but she was so positive and optimistic about serving in
Provo. It's the highest baptizing mission in the world....I would love to serve
there! I love baptisms! Hahah.
We had a really great week. It went by so fast, but it seems like so much happened
throughout the week. We have started again with exchanges, which is really
great. It's so fun to get to go and work with the other sisters and I love it
even more because we get to have really wonderful, spiritual experiences with
them. I definitely think Heavenly Father was blessing me a lot this week, to
lift my spirits because I felt the Spirit so much and just felt really good and
happy this entire week.
Before I start the rest of my letter, I just want to share a cool miracle that
happened just this morning. Sister Lillywhite and I were walking out to the car
to come and email and a man named Ted stopped us. He said "I could tell
you’re Mormons even if you didn't have your name tags on!" He said that he
had talked to missionaries a lot of times, but he never had time to really
engage in a conversation because he was always working. He wrote down his name
and number and asked us to call him and set up an appointment so we, or whoever
the missionaries in his area are, can meet with him. Well, sadly he isn't in
our area, but it was still really neat! We usually don't talk to people in our
apartment area because we get in trouble by the apartment manager, but this guy
stopped us. He seemed genuinely interested in talking to the missionaries. I
bet he'll get baptized. Miracle!
This week, in our area, we taught Tammy/Gabby/Skylar, Brother Dumond
(less-active), Missy, Jessica, Sister Rous (less-active), Rich, the Biglers
(less-active), Cryshauna, Richard, Bob, the Rabagos (returning to activity),
and we had our new Book of Mormon class that we're teaching.
We started the week out really great last Monday night. We had Hermana Anderson
with us for the night and we were just out trying to contact potential
investigators. One of those potentials was Tammy. We went to her apartment and
two girls opened the door - Gabby (17) and Skylar (14). They were so cute! They
were really open with us as we talked to them about the gospel. They said that
they used to go to church every Sunday and they really liked it a lot. Gabby
also talked about remembering a service activity that they had done at their
church and how fun it was to give service. They said that they wished they
could go to church again, but their lives have been so crazy. They are both
avid softball players and are super busy with that all week. On top of that,
their mom is a single mom and works long hours every day. As we were wrapping
up with them, their mom, Tammy, walked up. She was talking on the phone as we
were setting up a return appointment with the girls. Right before we were about
to leave them with a prayer, Tammy walked up and said "hello." We
shared our message with her, briefly, and asked if we could leave them with a
prayer and come back in a week. She then invited us in and we talked a little
bit more before saying a prayer with them. It was great! Tammy seemed more
skeptical; she said she had her own church, but she still said we can come
back. The girls seemed very excited. I'm really looking forward to going and
teaching them tonight. I just love teaching youth, so I hope their mom will
allow them to learn.
The next morning, Tuesday, we were again trying to contact some potential
investigators and we stopped by an apartment right around the area where Jimmy
lives. A girl named Missy answered the door. She is possibly in her 30s and she
is from American Samoa. How cool is that? She told us that she had a lot of
family and friends who are members of the church and that the missionaries had
visited their home before. Right now, Missy is living with her aunt and going
to school, but she is planning on going back home to American Samoa sometime
soon. As we talked more with her about the Book of Mormon, she opened up to us
and told us that she had always noticed a difference in her cousins and friends
who are members of the church. She saw a light in them and a joy that she
couldn't seem to attain. Then she said that she really wants what they have and
that she knows it is because they are members of the church. We invited her to
be baptized and she once again said "Yes, I would because I really do want
what they have." I just felt so grateful in that moment to know what the
difference is between Missy and her cousins who are members - the gift of the
Holy Ghost. We have the Spirit with us and I know that other people recognize
that. That's why people always like the missionaries. Not because we're great
ourselves, but because we have the Spirit with us and the mantle of our calling
as representatives of Christ! We invited Missy to join us for church but she
said even though she wanted to come, she didn't think her aunt would like it
(the aunt that she is living with). That may be a barrier for Missy, but hopefully
when we go back the aunt will be home and we can teach her as well. That would
definitely take care of the barrier. We're teaching her tomorrow morning, so
I'm excited to help her progress toward baptism.
On our way out of the lesson with Missy, we saw the assistants standing out by
the street. When we first got to the area that we were working in that day, we
saw the assistants in the park teaching a lesson to Jimmy! We were really
excited about that, so when we saw them standing outside we went over to talk
with them and ask them how Jimmy is doing. It was so great to hear all of the
updates on him. He is so prepared to receive the gospel. They told us that
Jimmy expressed a great desire to be baptized now, but he understands that he needs
to learn more from the missionaries first to prepare. He also went to family
home evening the night before and loved it! We were told that when he walked in
to FHE, he saw 5 of his friends from high school. That's a miracle because
Sister Lillywhite and I were praying so much that he would know someone who is
a member and can help him as he progresses. The greatest part was when Elder
Cary told us about Jimmy walking up to one of his close friends from high
school and saying to him, "You're a member? (This guy was a convert who
just got off of his mission) Why didn't you tell me about this? You knew this
whole time and didn't share it with me?" That made me almost sad, because
it caused me to reflect on my high school experience and the opportunities I
had to share the gospel with my friends. I hope there won’t come a day when
someone walks up to me and says "You knew this whole time and didn't share
it with me?" That would break my heart. The best part was that after Jimmy
said that, he then replied again and said, "That's ok. I'm here now."
That must have been a beautiful moment. I felt the Spirit a lot just as I heard
the story from Elder Cary. I just love Jimmy a lot, and I'm glad that the Lord
has placed these people in his life to help him as he comes unto Christ through
baptism into His church. This work sure is amazing.
Alright, so now on to reporting about the exchanges we went on this week. We
went to San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria on Thursday and Friday. The weather was
beautiful but the work was even better!
I worked with Sister Putnam in San Luis Obispo. It was so great to be reunited
with her for a day! I loved being her companion, and it was neat to see the
changes in her since the time that she was my companion. We had a day filled
with tracting. That was ok, though, because Sister Putnam's goal was to teach
the entire Restoration in declarations. It was an interesting day. I'll leave
it at that. We had some interesting run-ins with people and a lot of door
slams, which I haven't experienced for a while, I guess, because it was very
surprising. Sister Putnam is good at teaching to needs because she is such a
good listener. She's able to take in what the person is saying and then figure
out what their true need is. I could tell because I saw the light go on in
people's eyes when she started testifying to the need that Sister Putnam had
discovered. That's one thing that I learned from her, ask more questions in
declarations so you can meet needs. She struggled a bit with teaching the
entire Restoration. She was definitely trying to do it, but it seemed like she
wasn't really sure how to. We talked a lot about how to approach teaching in
declarations while still trying to meet their needs. I talked to her about just
starting to teach the Restoration right away and asking questions as you go,
because I know that the Spirit will testify to them according to their needs
and it will also testify to us so we can understand their needs. She'll do well
with that, she just needs to keep working on it. One thing that I also talked
to her about is being more persistent. The funny part is that she knows it.
There were a few times when we finished talking to someone and she would say, I
should've kept going and not taken no for an answer so quickly. I agreed and
was thinking about what Elder Holland said in Preach My Gospel - the
people we talk to may not understand the importance of what we share, but we
sure do. We need to act like we do and do our best to help them recognize the
importance of the message. Sister Putnam is doing really well. I can see that
she is a lot more obedient now and that she has seen blessings in the work as a
result of her obedience. That was nice to notice, because that was something
that she struggled with at first when she was my companion. Now it's obvious
that it's a part of who she is as a missionary.
On Friday I worked with Sister Wilkinson in Santa Maria. That's two of my old
companions in two days! That was really neat, and this week I get to work with
Sister Stoker. If only Sister Tippetts could come and be my companion for a
day, then I would have worked with all of my companions this transfer. Anyway,
it was really good for Sister Wilkinson and I to work together. We struggled a
bit at the end of our time together as companions, so it was nice to talk about
things and about ways that we've grown since we were companions. I was amazed
at how much Sister Wilkinson has changed as a missionary. She is more calm and
collected, but even more determined and diligent. She is so open about her love
for the gospel and she testifies with sincerity to everyone she meets. She
really does talk to everyone. We stopped for lunch at Taco Bell and she talked
to two people while I was ordering my food! That's great! We had some really
powerful declarations as we taught and testified of the Restoration of the
gospel. I seriously couldn't take the smile off of my face that whole day,
because it was just that great. Sister Wilkinson's goal was to find the needs
of people in declarations and teach to their needs by asking more questions.
When Sister Wilkinson puts her mind to something, she does it. That's one thing
that always has stuck out to me about her. She applies what she learns and when
she sets a goal she doesn't forget about it until she achieves it. She was
doing her best to ask a lot of questions, but one thing that I talked about
with her was finding a balance between asking questions and quickly referring
to the message of the Restoration. We still need to make sure to be teaching people
the doctrine, and if we don't get to it quickly enough we'll miss our chance to
teach them about it. She was able to find the balance while I was there,
because I quickly started teaching about the Restoration after she would ask
questions. She said that she'll work on just starting to teach more quickly and
asking questions throughout the declaration to understand their needs better. I
am so grateful for Sister Wilkinson. She is so loving and just made me feel so
good about myself. I know that she's that way with all of her companions and
all of the missionaries - especially the sisters. She is so obedient and
focused on the work, and I'm grateful to have spent the day learning from her
and hopefully giving her some help with things that she struggles with.
It was really such a great week. There are so many miracles in this work that
it's blowing my mind! I'm just so grateful for all of the amazing experiences
I'm having...whether they're hard or not.
I love you all sooooooooo much!
Love,
Sister Bennett
P.S. - Funny story time!!!! Ok, so while I was on exchanges with Sister
Wilkinson in Santa Maria, we were going to contact a referral we had received.
There was a gate outside of these people's home and I was too short to reach
over and unlatch it, so Sister Wilkinson worked on it. While she was trying to
open it, I noticed barking and turned around and saw these two little dumb
dogs, one was a chihuahua and the other one was some fluffy little white dog
(they were both ugly...because they're dogs). Well, they were annoying me, so I
did what I always do when I see these pestery little dogs....I juked at them
(aka - I did a quick little move like I was going to run after them...you know
like a cut in basketball to get open or something). Well that was funny, both
of them took off and Sister Wilkinson got the gate open then and we went to try
this referral. No one was home, so we were walking back to the car and these two
little dogs were in the driveway, at the house next-door, barking at us again.
I turned to Sister Wilkinson and said "Watch this" and did the juke
move toward them again. They ran away and Sister Wilkinson and I laughed and
continued walking back to the car. Then Sister Wilkinson, who was walking a
little in front of me, looked back and said "Look!" Now there were
three little dogs and they were coming at me! I stopped in the road and tried
to scare them away again with the "juke." It worked on the first two
dogs that we had seen, but the new dog just kept coming at me. It was seriously
going for my ankles! I tried to scare it away, but it was about to bite me so I
kicked it in the head and started running for the car! Hahahaha! As I was
running past Sister Wilkinson, I briefly saw her facing the dogs and saw her
bent over waving her arm or something. I had no idea what she was doing, but I
wasn't going to stop to check. When we both got back in the car, Sister
Wilkinson said that she had waved the Book of Mormon at them and they ran away!
Hahahah. Isn't that hilarious! It was also funny when Sister Wilkinson told me
that she had thought about how they might come after us with our backs turned,
because she remembered a story I had told her about Erin when she was in
Guatemala. You know, when Erin turned her back and some little dog got up the
courage to run up and bite her. Sister Wilkinson just thought that she needed
to beware of that ever since she had heard Erin's story. hahaha. Fun stuff! My
adrenaline was definitely pumping. Hahahaha.
P.P.S. - The picture attached to the other emails is of our exchange in Santa
Maria with Sister Wilkinson and Romero. We were all wearing red to bed that
night! Nice!
