Interesting Week

Dear Family and friends,

We are meeting new people all of the time. This week we met a brother, Michael and his sister, Shareen at different times. Both of them said that we should talk to the other sibling because they needed God. We had a good discussion with both of them.

Roshanna is reading more. We went over the Word of Wisdom. She thought the coffee and tea was outrageous, but she was ready to stop all of it cold turkey. Her nephew, came up at the end of the lesson, and asked if he could have some tea. Roshanna said, “No we can’t have tea anymore, it is bad. In fact when these ladies leave we are going to sit down and read why tea is bad for us.” Roshanna is amazing in that way. She’s asked us questions about if things are bad or if they are a sin, and then immediately she says, “I’m not going to do that anymore.” She does not want to live in sin, she wants to do what is right.

Ben is doing a little better this week. He told us that he would come to church because it could not hurt. He did not show up however. We planned to talk to Ben about faith. He ended up asking us questions about faith and we answered his questions with the material we had studied. It worked out quite well. The only bad thing is that Ben is looking for a sign. He wants something to happen, so he knows this is what he is supposed to do. Sister Caldwell pointed out, “Don’t you think that the Sisters coming back and knocking on your door again, was a sign?” He thought about it and agreed. We told Ben that we could text him a verse reference on faith every night. He likes that idea. It has been going well.

We met with our ward mission leader and his wife this week to help them with some service. The whole time we were there we talked about how to get the ward more involved in missionary work. They explained how this ward works. Being so close to Purdue there is a lot members are trying to juggle. We talked about ways to help the members. Then last night we had dinner with our second councilor and his wife. We also got onto the topic of missionary work. They also gave us a lot of great information and ideas to help the members. We are excited to get our members more involved in missionary work. Great things are about to happen.

 

Sister Caldwell is wonderful. We have really hit it off. We are like two peas in a pod. She is excited and willing to do the work. She has been the most wonderful trainee. She does not seem like she has only been out for two weeks. She amazes me. I am excited to get to know her more.

Yesterday I had some time to think about my dear ol’ pappy. I thought about how it was unfair that I did not get to call you. I remember calling you every Sunday just to catch up on life. If I did not end up calling you, you would call me. I treasure those times I was able to spend that time talking to you. You are my favorite as I know I am yours. It still makes me laugh when Adrianne and I were at college and she asked, “Why is dad calling you?!” I responded, “I always talk to dad on Sunday.” Adrianne was flabbergasted. I think she started calling you on Sundays after that as well. I sure am one lucky girl to have a dad like you. I think about you a lot. I am glad that I get to call you mine and you get to call me your favorite red-headed step child. ;) I love you daddy.

Love, Sister Bennett

What a wonderful week!

Dear family and friends,

My exchange with Sister Donaldson has really hit me hard. I have decided to be even more diligent and exactly obedient. God is helping by strengthening me though this change. I am more excited to do missionary work than ever before.

We had another great lesson with Brother Phipps this week. He also came to church! We are so excited. We started talking about the Plan of Salvation. He always looks overwhelmed when we get into the discussions with him. We would ask if he understood which he does, he said that he was having a lot of “ah-ha” moments and that it all made sense. He is continuing to share what he learns with his family and friends. He is amazing at sharing the gospel and he is not even a member, yet.

Roshanna is also doing well. We are able to get into more doctrine with her. She did not read this last week, we read with her and she felt the spirit. When we were getting ready to leave, she told us that she really wants to read and planned on reading for the hour after we left. She is amazing.

We finished up the Plan of Salvation with Ben. Things are a lot clearer to him now. We also found a need. I forgot to follow up about church at the beginning of the lesson, so I brought it up at the end. He said that he talked himself out of it. He did not want to come to church again and get members hopes up to just leave again. We talked to him about it. He seemed committed to come, in the end he did not show up Sunday.

I absolutely love my time with Sister Caldwell. She is from Snowflake, Arizona. She is a gem. She is so excited to do missionary work. She reminds me a lot a lot of Kelsey Foster, which makes me happy because Kelsey is one of my favorite people ever. I love you Kelsey. It has been fun to get to work with Sister Caldwell. Miracles are bound to happen here. We have been non-stop since Wednesday. We have taught lessons, gone tracting, set up appointments with potential investigators, met with the ward mission leader, bishop, and stake president, finished weekly planning, had ward coordination meeting, zone meeting, and to top it all off we were able to witness our investigator enter into the covenant of baptism with God. What a wonderful week. We are working well together. We are already saying the same thing at the same time and one man we said hi to called us the Olsen twins.

I love my time here in Lafayette. I do love it here. I was afraid I was going to be the one transferred because I love it so much. I am glad that I was able to stay and go to Joey’s baptism. :)

Love, Sister Bennett

Hello, Hello!

Dear family and friends,

 Missionary work is stressful. It is also very rewarding. I love being a missionary so much. Yesterday we got the call… Drumroll please ;) I am staying in Lafayette and training a new sister missionary! Sister Knight is off. I am so excited and nervous to train. This is going to be wonderful. Every set of missionaries I am in contact with is changing! So crazy. We have 15 sisters coming out this transfer! Goodness sakes! :) The missionary word is changing so much!

 So I found a scripture that is perfect for the Band of Brothers and Sisters

Matthew 12:47-50
 47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
So who are my brothers and sisters? All of the other missionaries serving from the Mountainville 4^th ward, for they are about out Father’s will.
I had a wonderful exchange. Sister Donaldson is amazing. There is so much that I learned during our exchange. Having Sister Training Leaders is so important. I have been doing so many things wrong and my work has improved so much now that I am being diligent and exactly obedient. I have so much respect for Sister Donaldson. She is fantastic. We talked a lot during our exchange. Don’t stop; keep going (at doors, in lessons, when one is tired). I admire how Sister Donaldson talks with everyone. Diligence and obedience go hand in hand. Sister Donaldson takes the time to pause and listen to the spirit. She has blessed me so much. She radiates the spirit. I am so grateful for the example Sister Donaldson is and to be able to have Sister Training Leaders that we get to go on exchanges with.
Joey is being baptized this Saturday. I got the cutest call from him last Monday. It went like this, “Sister Bennett, this is Joey. I was wondering if you would come to my baptism and say the closing prayer?” So tender, “Joey I would love to say the closing prayer.” I am so excited to see Joey enter into the covenant of baptism. What a wonderful day that will be.
We had another lesson with Ben this week. Last week he told us that he remembers most everything and that we wouldn’t need to teach him, “for instance the Plan of Salvation again”. We felt prompted that we should go back over the Plan of Salvation because many of his question’s answers are rooted in the Plan of Salvation. He really enjoyed it. He said that a lot more made sense to him after the lesson. He still did not come to church, but he will come soon enough.
We also met with Brother Phipps this week. He read the material we left him. He told us that he is telling basically everyone that he knows that we are teaching him. He said most of their reactions were, “We didn’t know that Mormons allowed black people into their church…?” This allowed Brother Phipps the opportunity to answer some of their questions. What an amazing man. He has only had one lesson with us and he is already spreading the gospel to others. Our lesson was definitely guided by the spirit. He had a few more questions for us. One being, “So where does Joseph Smith fall into the rank of things?” I felt very strongly to say, “We do not worship Joseph Smith.” Brother Phipps exclaimed, “That was my question!” He was relieved to find out that we do not worship Joseph Smith. He also shared a miracle. His ex-wife that he hasn’t talked to in years, called him up and said that she wanted to talk and work things out. He is so excited. Hopefully it turns out well for him. He is progressing so much. I can’t wait to see where he goes.

 Love, Sister Bennett