COMPANIONSHIP!!!

Hello!

 

First off, big news... I'M GOING TO BE IN A COMPANIONSHIP!!! For the whole four months that I've been a missionary, I've always been in trios (minus a few days when my trainer had gone home). Trios are great for a few reasons: We can take male members in the car with us, the person in the back can talk on the phone, there's more than just one person to talk to, etc. They're also hard for a few reasons: Instead of worrying about just the one relationship between you and your companion, you're worrying about SEVEN relationships: between each of you individually and the companionship as a whole. It's hard, and my patience has been starting to wear just a little bit thin. I look at people in companionships and think, "How easy would that be?" But, God answers prayers and one of my trainees is being transferred and I'm staying here with the other. :D :D :D Don't get me wrong, I love them both and I'm sad to see her go, but I'm also really excited to just have one companion for the next six weeks. My heart began dancing in glee when we got the news. ONLY ONE COMPANION!!! Yesssssssssssss.

 

That was last night. The whole week before was great, too!

 

On Tuesday we went to a trainers/trainees meeting in Chesapeake. At the beginning President Baker talked to all of us for a bit and had the trainees share their experiences with placing Books of Mormon and inviting people to be baptized. When my trainees were sharing their experiences my eyes started getting super watery all of the sudden (I had a pretty bad cold this week). President Baker looks at me, sees me apparently crying and says, "Do you have anything to share, Hermana Bennett?" thinking that I'm having some spiritual moment or something. I just said, "No... I'm only tearing up because I'm sick. I'm not actually crying." Ha. Great timing, eyes!

 

On Wednesday we got amazing news. We were in the church on our way to English class and accidentally walked into a Book of Mormon study class that the English missionaries give. There we found a man, Matt, that we had knocked into a month or so earlier and referred to the sisters. He's getting baptized in three weeks! AND the elders are going to start teaching his mom and his sister. It was so exciting and rewarding to see someone that we had found making that step and accepting the Gospel. We were on cloud nine all night.

 

We also got two new investigators this week. One we found tracting. Her trailer has a ton of "No trespassing" signs with things like: "Trespassors will be shot. Survivors will be shot twice." Very inviting :) Despite all of those, we knocked her door, and she turned out to be super nice! We set an appointment and later went back and taught the restoration of the Gospel and it went really well. She understood everything, had insightful questions, and was excited about reading the Book of Mormon. So amazing! The other new investigator was a referral from the zone leaders. We went to teach her and before we could even finish the lesson she said, "So when can you come back?" Whaaaat? Nobody says that! So much potential.

 

We also got chewed out by a crazy lady in a different trailer park this week. And I mean certifiably crazy. She was telling us about how she has visions and "discernments" and how she studies the Bible every day and our religion is mistaken, etc. It doesn't bother me... in fact it's kind of entertaining. I do get annoyed, though, when they're rude. Here's one of the notable exchanges that she and I had:

 

Me: "Are any of your neighbors Hispanic?"

 

Her: "Yes, but I'm not going to tell you which ones."

 

Me: "Oh, that's all right. We'll find them."

 

Her: "I'm sure you will."

 

Me: "You betcha."

 

Ha. I will find and baptize every last one of them! Just kidding. But really. People are crazy. The best part was when, in the middle of talking to us, she looks out the window and cackles like a witch, and then looks right back at us with a straight face and keeps talking. Ahhhhhh! It was at that point that I decided that we really needed to go. Run for your lives!!!

 

Newport News. Always an adventure.

 

Overall I'm doing really well. I love it here and I love being a missionary. One of the elders in our zone is going home tomorrow and so I've been thinking some about what it will be like to go home someday. I'm going to bawl my eyes out. I'm so attached to this place, these people, this life. They ARE my life. I can't imagine how I'll feel over a year from now.

 

Well, have a great week! Love ya lots.

 

Hermana Bennett

 

PS. No pictures this week, sorry!