Another Busy Week

Dear Family and Friends,

 What a week! This week has gone by fast, and yet seemed so long. I am so sad to see Sister Fullmer go. I am going to miss her terribly. Six weeks was not long enough. She is such a special Sister. I am excited to get to know Sister Knight though. She is very bubbly.

 We met with Sister Jackson this week. She was in the hospital again Monday. They figured out what has been going on and she is back to her normal self for the most part. She asked us to teach her son, Brendon, so we taught him a lesson. He is eight years old, and does not know anything about the church. Sister Jackson’s twenty-two year old daughter, Shirsten, also sits in on the lessons.

 Being a trainer is hard. With each new companion it takes time for adjustment to see how your strengths fit in with each other.  I thought at one point this week, “Just be yourself, everything else will come with time.” I have tried to remember that.

 This week I found one of the highlights of my mission. Before we went home, one evening, I felt like we needed to go say, “hello” to a man in our ward. He had a woman, Crystal, over at his house. She told us that she had questions for us. We came in. We talked and discussed for almost an hour. She has a hard life. She is beaten, bruised, and lost. She told us that she wanted to give up, that she was done; it hurt too much to even breathe. I testified that there is hope. I told her how beautiful she is. I saw her, I really saw her. Not as the crushed spirit before me, but as the beautiful daughter of Heavenly Father that she is. I testified of the love her Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ has for her. We both got emotional. She told us that she wanted to talk to us more. We exchanged numbers. I cannot wait for her to also see the potential I see in her. This reminds me of something I wrote down in study this week, “Look what Christ did for potential.” Christ atoned for my sins, because of the potential he saw in me. He saw me for who I am, and how I could be, once I recognized that potential. I have the opportunity to help Crystal also see that potential within herself. It is amazing to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands, and to feel the Holy Ghost work through me. I love this work.

 Love, Sister Bennett

22 April 2013

This was a long slow week. I didn’t feel my best, but we pushed through. The start of last week was rough. I have been having a bad allergic reaction to something and I hit the climax Monday. I almost blacked out. I am doing much better now. I had my doctor’s appointment today and he thinks it is a medication I was taking. I’ve been off of it for a week and it has helped. Hopefully I continue to get better.  

 

So we got the call last night. I am staying and will finish training a sister! We have a 12 week training program that we do as missionaries. The sister I will be training has finished weeks 1-6 and I will be training her on weeks 7-12. I am so excited! Sister Fullmer is leaving and will also finish training a sister. I am going to miss Sister Fullmer. I know she will do great things. We have had so much fun together. She is an amazing missionary. Our time together has flown by.  She is such a strong person and missionary. She has done great things, and will continue to do great things. She is so happy. She sings all of the time and has a spring in her step. She wants to be better. We did hit a few hard spots, and we are stronger now because of them. I will miss her so much.

 

We have a new investigator. We found her by knocking on the wrong door. We visited her another time and prayed with her. We finally had our first meeting with her this week. We taught Roshanna the restoration. She told us that ever since we prayed in her home, the whole spirit in her house has changed. Good things are starting to happen. She told us that when we talk, she gets goose bumps and chills. We explained that she was feeling the power of the Holy Ghost. She loves to read and is excited to read The Book of Mormon.

 

We were asked to teach seminary this week. It was a lot of fun. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really good. Our transitions to and from each other are a lot smoother.   I thought it turned out very well. One of my favorite lessons thus far.

 

I loved church yesterday. We had ward conference. We talked about how our efforts should be focused on finding our gift/talent and then living up to that privilege. We talked about being strong women and I think Sister Collins is right. It will be the men looking for a return missionary instead of the other way around. President Ellis then talked to us. He told us, “You are doing much better than you think you are doing. Don’t get discouraged.” He then gave us all a blessing. It was sweet.

 

I am looking forward to this new transfer. Great things are happening. I love this work.

 

Love, Sister Bennett

4/15/2013

Hello family and friends!

 We got a call Monday evening from Susie’s mom. She told us that she would never allow her daughter to be baptized into the “Mormon church”. We were devastated. We then got a call later this week saying that we had Susie’s mom’s blessing for her to be baptized. She’ll even come to the baptism. We are planning on having a meeting with Susie and her mother, so she can see that we aren’t crazy or brainwashing Susie. Hopefully that goes well.

 We found two very nice young men who we passed onto the Perdue Elders because they fall under the young single adult category. We met Tony on our lunch break. He grew up without religion. He was asking us all sorts of questions about what we believe. We gave him The Book of Mormon and how to contact us. He said that he’d start reading it. Nick was a headquarter referral. We had a lesson with him. His mom is a recent convert I think. He said that he wanted to look into her new religion so his mom sent us. We had a good lesson. He is willing and ready to learn.

 This week we went to visit Sister Arnold. She is at a nursing facility because she had knee and hip surgery. On the way in one of the ladies, Rosalie, asked us if we could help her roommate. We followed her back to her room. Darlene was told that her cancer is back and she was afraid of dying. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. It gave her comfort. She was worried because she’d never been baptized, so she thought she was going to Hell. Poor lady. I loved sitting there talking to her. It reminded me of all of the elderly people I helped as a CNA at Beehive Homes. I love visiting and helping the elderly. She asked us if we would come back, so we told her we would.

 I love being a missionary right now. I know that even though things get hard that I am never alone. I’ve been promised that. In conference they also talked about that. It’s true, no matter what, we are never alone. They will not leave us comfortless. I’m grateful for prayer, it gives me strength. I enjoy being a part of the best mission in the world.

 Love, Sister Bennett

Sorry, a week late!

Dear family and friends (sorry it's a week late),

This week we met with Susie and she is super excited to be baptized Saturday. We are getting all of the preparation done so the baptism will go smoothly. She has a testimony now that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. We’ve seen a change in just the few weeks that I’ve been here.

Satan is working hard on people. We went back to a lady who said she wanted to learn more. She started by telling us, “I’ve been thinking this last week, and I don’t want to lead you girls on. We are very comfortable in our faith right now…” It went downhill from there. No matter how hard Satan is working, God and his angels are working harder because they have a purpose.

We had a blitz on campus this week after zone meeting. I loved it. I love meeting people from all different walks of life. It was very lively, I loved it. We found a few potentials for the Elders and we taught and testified of simple truths. This work is truly amazing. I’m not the same person I was 5 months ago. I hope I continue to change and get stronger.

General conference was amazing! I loved every minute of it. I can’t wait until the Ensign comes out so I can read over them again. Amazing things are happening in this world and as long as our families are centered on Christ we will not need to fear. There are so many things that are trying to take our attention. Most are not worth our time. Stay focused on Christ and his priesthood. Build on the strong secure foundation.

Love, Sister Bennett

Oops!!!

Malinda forgot to send her letter this week, she's been dealing with a bad rash that we were trying to figure out, so she will have two letters next week. She did send some pics though!!

Another Week of Miracles

Dear Family and friends,

 One more week full of miracles!

 There is a less active lady in the ward who wants to come back. She has slowly been moving closer and closer to Christ. We went to go see her Wednesday and we shared a wonderful talk on Repentance. She loved it and said that’s exactly what she needed to hear. Come to find out the next day, she went into kidney and liver failure. She is now in a hospital in Indianapolis. She received a blessing yesterday. She is in the process of repenting. We hope and pray that she will be okay.

 We tracted into a former this week. Her name is Komiko. We had an hour long discussion with her about how one is saved. She was borderline bashing, however she told us to come back. We have been studying hard for her. We are excited to see what happens at our next visit.

 We had a former investigator contact us this week. We met with Brother Wu this week. He wants to be baptized. He’s read most of the Book of Mormon and part of Doctrine and Covenants. He told us his only concern is that he does not want this to tear his family apart. I felt prompted to tell him that we have members of our ward whose spouse are not members. I told him that we could get him in contact with one of them for support. He had this look of relief on his face. We also told him how much God wants this for him and his family. We told him to pray specifically for help with this matter. We promised him that God would answer his prayers if he prays specifically. I could tell this also gave him comfort. He kept telling us, “I’m going to pray.”

 Seeing as Sunday was Easter I was thinking a lot about the Atonement. I love studying the atonement. At the beginning of Preach My Gospel it says, “As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase.” In my previous studies I wondered about the difference in the phrases of thy will be done from the different testimonies of his disciples. What I ended up finding was interesting:

Matt. 26:39 “Oh my Father, if it be possible…”

Mark 14: 35 “Prayed that, if it were possible the hour might pass from him.” 36 “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me…”

Luke 22: 42 “Father, if thou be willing, remove…”

I cannot imagine the agony he must have been in. Heavenly Father did not leave him helpless.

Luke 22:43 “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” 44 “He prayed more earnestly…”

Christ then understood his purpose. He knew what was at stake. He knew what He and I gained from finishing what he started. He also knew what it meant if he did not go through with it. He chose us. He chose you and he chose me. The Father did not force him to go through with the atonement. He gave him the knowledge so he could choose us. Our Heavenly Father does the same for us; he will not force anyone back into Heaven. That is against the purpose of our life on Earth.

 As a missionary we all choose our Father and His will. That’s why we are here on missions. It’s not until we see that the Salvation of our brothers and sisters is at stake that we become Disciples of Christ. I hope you enjoyed your Easter as much as I did.

Love,
Sister Bennett