The long week of exchanges are over!

Good news from this week:

Our exchanges are over for this transfer! Eight twenty-four hour exchanges in three weeks was a lot! Now we can breathe on focus on our area a little more.

We had a fun sisters' preparation day! We did a 'Christmas in August' theme, with a Christmas tree, gingerbread houses, white elephant, and a movie.

We hit most of our goals! Finally. Most of my mission has been spent really struggling to reach our goals, but last week we almost did it! The Lord is blessing us.

Here are some pictures, because I have been really bad about sending pictures lately.

This is a giant snake skin that a lady in Jamestown found in her yard. It's six feet long. Welcome to the jungle!

Somehow this pass-along card of Jesus was just chilling out on our backseat one day... We enjoyed that quite a bit. He's always with us!

Me, Sister Romney, and Sister Burr, inside a fake boat at the Yorktown museum.

Me and Sister Burr. Love this girl.

The Yorktown battle memorial.

A baby goat!

A giant leaf at Colonial Williamsburg.

Cuddling up with good old Ronald during a potty break at McDonald's.

One thing that I love about Virginia are the clouds. We just don't get clouds out west like they do here. So beautiful.

That's it! Now it's time to go. Love you lots!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

The week of exchanges.

This week we were on exchange ALL WEEK!

Tuesday to Wednesday

Wednesday to Thursday

Thursday evening our mission president's wife came out with us

Friday to Saturday

By Saturday night we were exhausted. Exchanges are SO fun, but they're also physically and emotionally draining. You're trying to be a good example of obedience and diligence, as well as minister to the sisters' needs, which could be anything!

But it was good. I am learning a lot about how to be a leader and how to help others. I love it.

Anyway, back to the fun stuff! On Monday we went to Yorktown with the Poquoson sisters. It was amazing to see where the last major battle of the Revolutionary War took place.

Also, I highly recommend going out proselyting with the mission president's wife. So many miracles happened! For weeks we have been knocking doors, knocking doors, and knocking more doors, with very little success, and then with her we taught three lessons in the space of a few hours! Crazy.

That's about it. Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Week three in the News.

This week can be described in one word: DOORS. The university in our area, William and Mary, is on summer break right now, and therefore all of our young single adults are MIA. So we're struggling a little to find investigators and teach, but it should pick up when September comes and school starts up again.

In the meantime we'll keep on rockin' on, knockin' on a billion doors :)

The Lord is giving my little miracles to keep me going, though...

On Monday I found out something amazing. Almost a year ago I knocked on a door with my two trainees and met a man named Matt. After some pushing we convinced him to let missionaries come over, and he ended up getting baptized. Well, on Monday I found out that Matt's best friend, Milo, just got baptized a few weeks ago. Tracting really works! Because of one door knocked, two people have been brought to the Gospel fold. What a blessing. And a tender mercy from the Lord to allow me to come back to Newport News and see the results of my labors here.

On Tuesday we went tracting at 8 PM in a place we call Ritztown. They're these super nice apartments that are really well lit, so we feel safe knocking doors there at night. At the second door we knocked, a man opened the door, looked at us, and said, "Who sent you?" We said, "Oh, so you know who we are?" He said, "Yes, I have a son on a mission, but I'm less active. Did the bishop send you?" We're like, "...No... we're just knocking doors." Then, with tears in his eyes, he told us that he had strayed from the truth, but that he was ready to come back. He told us that we were a light to him and thanked us for coming. We sent the elders to him and later found out that just before we knocked on his door, Jon had been talking to a friend about religion, wondering where God was, and then we showed up. Wow. Perfect timing. What a blessing to be used by the Lord as an answer to their prayers. Also, his son is on a Spanish speaking mission in Provo, so I'm totally going to go find him when I'm back there and ask how his dad is doing.

On Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with my granddaughter :) (one of my trainees trained her). She is so cute and it was fun to spend the day with her. She is in the Spanish branch, so I got to see some of the members from there. So fun.

The rest of the week was good, but nothing super incredible to report.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Week number infinity

Was I never not a missionary? Will I ever be not a missionary? It doesn't feel like it. This is just ME.

Yesterday two sisters that served here were back for a visit after their missions. It was so weird to see them again and have them introduce themselves as their first names. And I could see their knees! And they didn't have nametags on! It was a strange experience. They are living regular life... what is that? Ahhhhhh.

Anyway, we had a good week. I went on my first exchange as a sister training leader, and it went really well. It's crazy how when you are called to serve someone, your love for them automatically multiplies. I love these sisters so much.

We are struggling to find new investigators, so we have been knocking doors a lot. So fun. The other day we met a nice black lady from the Holiness Bible Church who believed just about everything that is opposite of what we believe. It was crazy. A whole other set of doctrine. She was really funny.

We are also working on talking with everyone, even when it's awkward. As a result of that, we met a crazy drunk Jamaican man who spent twenty minutes telling us about a dream that he had in which lots of people were walking and there was a big ravine that he fell into and then some people castrated a dog. Awkward. I tried to relate it to Lehi's dream in 1 Nephi 8, but it was a no-go.

That's all I have for today. Keep on keepin' on.

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Back in the News!

I am so happy.

Newport News has had my heart since I left, and now I'm back! Hurrah. Simply driving down the streets brings back fun memories from being trained and training here. And yesterday I got to see Rosalio and Melina (the couple that got married and baptized last year) for the first time in eight months, which was the best. Melina and I both cried so much. They are doing GREAT. Melina is in the relief society presidency and Rosalio is in the elders quorum presidency and they are going to the temple to get sealed soon! <3 <3 <3

Other highlights from the week:

On Monday in New Kent we visited a media referral. A 23-year-old guy that ordered a Book of Mormon off of mormon.org. We brought a couple members and taught him the whole restoration. He seems golden. It's sad to leave that area right when things are picking up, but it's ok. The Lord wants me here.

I also had a really good experience with one of the youth in the New Kent branch before leaving. One of my goals up there was to help the youth, and especially the young women, see that being a missionary is really fun and that you don't have to be boring to be a missionary. I tried hard to interact with them a lot and share stories about our work, hoping to touch their hearts at least a little. Well, on Tuesday one of the 17-year-old young women came with us to a lesson and afterward told us that she has decided to go on a mission. Then she said, "All of the sisters, but especially you, Sister Bennett, made me actually consider it."

MUSIC TO MY EARS. That made me so happy. Even if all I did my whole mission was help one girl decide to go on a mission, that means that I will vicariously influence all of the people that she influences, which makes it so worth it.

On Thursday we had transfer meeting, and then I came to Zion! Life here as a YSA missionary is a lot like being a Spanish missionary. We have to tract a lot and seek out our investigators like needles in a haystack, but it's fun. All of the members are super nice and seem pretty missionary minded.

Anyway, that's about it! Lovin' life in the News.

Hermana Bennett

Transfer!

Well, the expectedly unexpected happened, and I'm getting transferred!

To.............

...............

...................

............................

......................

.......................................

..............................

..................

Guess. Think about my favorite place in the whole wide world....

Newport News!!!!

Saturday:

We are sitting in the apartment finishing our weekly planning, calm as could be. Just a few minutes earlier we had talked about how peaceful we both felt because we were ninety nine percent sure that we were not getting a call. That would be crazy.

Then the phone rings. I grab it: Main Office.

Me: "Hermana, it's the main office!"

She looks at me with a blank stare.

Me: "It's the main office, hermana!"

Still nothing.

Me: "Do you know what this means?"

Her: "Well, answer it!"

Me: "Oh, yeah. Hello, this is the New Kent sisters."

President Baker: "Hello, New Kent sisters, this is President Baker. How are you?"

Me: "Good, but I was not expecting this call at all!"

President: "Well, it's a bit of a surprise for me as well. Are you ready to hear the news?"

Me: "Yes."

President: "Sister Bennett, you are being transferred to the Virginia Peninsula Young Single Adult branch to be a sister training leader. Your companion will be Sister Bassett."

Me: "Woah. I was not expecting that AT ALL."

President: "Yes, well, it's a bit of an experiment. I've never done this before. You will be a zebra companionship. Will you accept this assignment?"

Me: "Of course!"

President: "Now, Sister Bennett, as a sister training leader you will be expected to be a strict Preach My Gospel missionary. Will you commit to do this?"

Me: "Yes, President."

Crazy. Crazy crazy crazy. My feelings are:

Happiness. I get to go back to Newport News! My home. I get to see Rosalio and Melina and all of the members from the Spanish branch that I love so dearly.

Nervousness. I will be a YSA missionary. That's so AWKWARD!

Inadequacy. Even after a year I'm still just barely figuring out this whole missionary thing. How in the world can I help anyone else?

Excitement. Sister Bassett is the bomb.com. I get to shop at Walmart again!

Sadness. I have really come to love this area and these people. I don't want to leave them.

Trust. The Lord will help me. If He thinks I can do it, I can do it.

So that's my big news! Who woulda thunk? Not I.

Here's my new address:

759 Bellows Way #303

Newport News, VA 23602

We also had interviews with President Baker earlier this week, set Raechel for baptism on August 23, and had exchanges with the sister training leaders. It was wonderful!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,
Hermana Bennett

This week.

This week is going to be a random jumble of a bunch of things. Sorry.

On Monday we had a sisters' preparation day at a member's house in Williamsburg. Here's the view from their backyard.

Yes, that is real life. Nice backyard, private beach and dock, and a beautiful view of the James River. Livin' the high life out here in Virginia :)

We started teaching our branch president's son's girlfriend, and she is AMAZING. Tons of potential. I am so excited. We are going to invite her to be baptized tomorrow.

It's HOT.

Yes, that is also real life. Ahhhhhh. I am blessed to be in a country with air conditioning everywhere, though, so it's not really that bad.

Things that people say in Virginia that I love:

"In Jesus' name we pray. Amen."

"Y'all be careful out there."

"Have a blessed day."

"Right much" and "right many." As in: "We had an activity and right many people came!"

"How y'all doin?"

"Honey" "Sweetie" "My love"

People here are so nice. I love it.

I saw an "I'm a Mormon" video the other day about an artist, and one of her paintings was called, "Be Where Your Feet Are." I loved it, and I've made that my motto. My feet are in Virginia on a mission, and that's where I want my head and heart to be too. There are lots of distractions out there, but I don't want any part of it.

Hermana Bennett is my name, and Hermana Bennett is my game :)

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Hermana Bennett