First, here's a message that our mission president has asked us all to forward to our families:
Dear Parents of the Remarkable Missionaries of the Virginia Chesapeake Mission:
Sister Baker and I have now been serving as mission president and wife of the Virginia Chesapeake Mission for six weeks. We had thought that contact information had been sent to families before our arrival, but have learned that many of you do not yet have that information. We have asked that each missionary send this message to you in their email home.
For your awareness, the mission office address is:
Virginia Chesapeake Mission
1115 Cherokee Road
Portsmouth, VA 23701
The mission office phone number is:
757-465-1051
Our preference is that letters be sent directly to the address of residence for each of the missionaries, and that they inform you the first Monday after transfers of their new address (if they were moved during transfers).
Packages that are sent first-class to the mission office or to the missionary address of residence can be forwarded without charge to the missionaries, but the forwarding of all other packages will result in a charge to the missionary's mission purchasing card.
Letters and packages should not be sent to the mission home.
We love the missionaries of the Virginia Chesapeake Mission, and are grateful that you have sent them to us.
With love and gratitude,
President and Sister Baker
Get it? Got it? Good. There is a 95% guarantee that I will be in this area for at least three more months, so no address changes for a while.
We had a great week this week. Hermana Flores, my trainer, is going home today, so I've been taking advantage of the last week to talk to her a lot and try to learn as much from her as I can. Unfortunately this means that I did not write in my journal once, nor did I take a single picture. Woops. You can only ask so much from me. I'll do better next week!
A miracle from this week: We have been teaching one man basically since I got here, and a couple of weeks ago one of his friends started sitting in on the lessons as well. Then a few days ago we stopped by and another of their roommates was there, and he also accepted the invitation to talk with us. What's amazing about it is that all three of this men are people that don't "look" ready to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ or talk to the missionaries. Their lives have been hard and some of them have had serious problems, and their outward appearances make them seem tough and hard-hearted. In reaily, these experiences have humbled them and they are now looking to take the next step and find more peace in their lives. I am learning to never make assumptions about who is and is not ready to change their lives. You never know.
In more exciting news, I am having twins! ;)
Transfer calls came last night, and I'm going to be training two new hermanas out of the MTC! That's right, nine weeks into the mission and I'll be training. Aaaaah! I'm nervous, to be sure. I have learned a lot in these nine weeks and am feeling much more confident, but having my trainer leave me and then getting completely new missionaries puts a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. Unless one of them already speaks Spanish, I'll be the one that has to make all the phone calls, communicate with the members, understand everything in the lessons, etc. I also have to remember all of the little policies we have like which meetings we have when, what paperwork we have to bring, etc. It is a lot!
Despite all of that, however, I'm actually not that overwhelmed (at least not yet). If the Lord trusts me to do this, I know that I can, so I'll just move forward day by day and do my best. I know that I'll make mistakes and will be far from a perfect trainer, but everything will be ok in the end. I like the saying that says: "The Lord doesn't call those that are qualified. He qualifies those that He calls." I trust that He knows what He is doing and will magnify my labors so that we can keep the work progressing in this area.
Also, thanks for the mail, everyone! This week I got letters from Megan, Sister Day, and Mona. My sincerist thanks to each of you. Letters are the best!
Have a great week!
I LOVE YOU!!!
Hermana Bennett
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