Time to come home: goodbye Indiana I will miss you!

Well family and friends,

I suppose it is time I should tell you, I found out four days ago that I am being temporarily discharged from my mission due to medical issues. More specifically I have been sleepwalking an awful lot. I sleepwalk multiple times a week and I have attempted to go outside five or six times. I did not realize that it was such a problem until two weeks ago when my mission president pulled me aside after a mission conference. He told me that I would most likely be going home. After talking with him and the mission doctor we have concluded that the best course of action would be for me to go home, so I could be treated for sleepwalking. I will be home tomorrow (Tuesday) before 2 O’clock. These last four days have been a whirlwind.

Thursday: I got the call that I would for sure be going home. We ended up having our last lesson with Ben as a non-member. We talked a lot about faith and enduring to the end. It was a really great lesson. He was still excited to be baptized.

Friday: we had a zone meeting where I was asked by my zone leaders to share my testimony. I never knew how attached I would get. Afterwards we blitzed campus. Sister Hain, my favorite non-companion sister, and I tore campus up. We laughed and cried a lot these last few days. I have so many mixed emotions right now.

Saturday: Ben’s baptism. It was beautiful. It went so well. He had a lot more people show up than he thought would. He asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. He bore the sweetest testimony. It was on his road to developing faith. It will always be one of the highlights of my mission.

Sunday: Ben was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost. Elder Hicks, Elder Sorensen, Sister Caldwell, and I sang the EFY medley in sacrament meeting. I started crying half way through, looking at all of those familiar faces knowing I had to say goodbye. Our dinner appointment also invited Ben over; it was nice to be able to spend some more time with him before I left. It was funny because it slowly spread that I was going home for medical reasons. As we were saying goodbye Ben told me that he hopes everything goes well for me when I returned home. I told him that I am going home because I have been sleepwalking. He said, “That’s wonderful! Well that’s not wonderful; I just thought that it was a lot more serious than that.” Haha. Well I need to go. I guess I will be seeing all of you soon enough. Do not hesitate to stop by, seriously. I would love to see all of you again. Please pray that I return in safety.

Love, Sister Bennett

What A Week!

Dearest family and friends,

 

What a week! Even more plans fell through this week than last week. We still worked our hardest. We continued to see many miracles this week.

We taught the first lesson to Lisa this week, who we found on exchanges. It went very well. She is committed to read from the Book of Mormon and then pray.

We finished teaching Ben his lessons this week. He had his baptismal interview and he passed! We are so excited for him. He has grown so much. One of my favorite things about Ben is that he sees the big perspective of things. He told us that he knows that baptism is not the end, that the temple comes next and that he did not want to be baptized until he was ready for that bigger commitment. Ben is amazing; he is going to do fantastic things. I cannot wait to see him enter into this covenant with his Father in Heaven.

I know that Heavenly Father lives. He never gives us a challenge that it too hard or too much for us to overcome. Jesus Christ loves us so much that he gave his life for us. He knows perfectly what we are going through. He is here every step of the way strengthening and supporting us.

Love, 

Sister Malinda Bennett

Hello, Hello!

Dear family and friends,

This has been a very busy week. We have done lots of walking. Our lessons keep falling through. It is all a part of missionary work though. We have seen miracles none the less.

We were able to meet with Ben twice this week. He is doing so well. He is so excited to be baptized in two weeks. He is getting a little anxious as well. He has grown so much. It is amazing to me, that someone who received so much anti-Mormon literature could progress as much as he has. He was telling us this week some of the things he’s had to work through. He told us about the false things he was told about Joseph Smith. It’s awesome that he did not listen and believe it. He told us that he can tell how it could be misconstrued. He is amazing and I cannot wait for him to be baptized.

I had such a fantastic exchange with Sister Pitcher. She is such a loving and kind sister. She was in the BYU single’s ward that my dad was bishop of. She has such a positive outlook. All of our plans and lessons fell through. It gave us the chance to talk to lots of different people. I really enjoyed our time together. I learned to appreciate the little things. There are some things that we cannot change.

When one of our lessons fell through as well as our back-up we asked our member if we could go over to the church and give her a lesson. She agreed we ended up giving her a mock church tour. At the end she thanked us. She told us that she did not realize that we did that as missionaries. She said, “I would totally feel comfortable inviting my friends to come do a church tour, it is less invasive.” She also appreciated the peace and accessibility that our church houses provide.

Love,

Sister Malinda Bennett

A New Week

So sorry I am a week late getting this posted for Mlinda
Dear Family and Friends,

This week was tough. God helped me through. Thank you to those of you that sent me letter, I really need and enjoyed them.

Sister Broderick is a less-active in our ward. She had a stroke this week and her birthday was on Friday. We were able to go and visit her at the hospital. She loved our meetings. She told us, “The first thing I am going to do when I get home is pay my tithing.” We talked about how because she is in the hospital, she can’t smoke. So now she has funds to pay her tithing with. Those are the only two things keeping her from the temple! She is going to make it back there. I am so excited!

Last week at church an Elderly Sister came up to us and said, “Sisters I need your help. I have a friend I want to invite to listen to the discussions, but I don’t know how to invite her.” We set up a time to meet with her so we could help her overcome this fear. As we got to her home, later that week, she informed us, “I did it, I asked her! She accepted and she will be meeting with us today!” So we were able to meet her friend Teri and teach her about the restoration. It went very well.

We had a lesson with Ben yesterday. We planned on finishing the restoration and going into the Word of Wisdom. Brother Miskin came with us. It went very well. Ben admitted that last week he went and had two beers after work. He told us usually he wouldn’t have thought anything of it. However, the next day he felt awful and he knew he shouldn’t have done it. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he committed to live the word of wisdom. I was able to promise him that God would help him when he struggled and is tempted to drink. I could tell that he believed my words.

This week I hit some of my lows on my mission. I am grateful Heavenly Father has put me around the same areas as other great missionaries. It is hard to ask for help, so I am learning to become more graceful when it comes to asking. We had interviews this week. President Cleveland gave me the advice that I needed. He is definitely an inspired man. Things are looking up. I had to remember this week: yes Heavenly Father will always give us the strength that we need, and a lot of times that strength will come in the form of others.

Love, Sister Bennett