YES!

Raechel is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lord has been teaching me over the course of my mission to not base my success off of numerical results. It's been a difficult lesson to learn, but I'm grateful for it. I've learned to not compare myself to others and instead to judge myself off of the Lord's standards, which are often much kinder than ours.

That said, it's really nice to finally have a baptism.

It's been over fourteen months!

That's a lot of days of hard, seemingly fruitless labor.

Last Sunday Raechel went to church with the goal to receive an answer about whether or not she should be baptized on November 22. I fasted and prayed that day that something would be said or done that would stick out to her, and that she would have the courage to recognize it and act upon it.

Well, the Lord delivered.

The children did their little program that day, and as they sang the song, "I Am a Child of God," Raechel get her answer. The phrase "rich blessings are in store" stuck out to her, and the Spirit confirmed to her that she doesn't have to fear this step. It is the right thing to do, and the Lord will bless her immensely for it.

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I am so excited to see someone that I love so much take this step in life. It will bring her so much peace and happiness... ETERNAL peace and happiness.

Rich blessings ARE in store!

That's pretty much it. The rest of the week involved a lot of talking to people on the streets. It was great!

Have a wonderful, miracle-filled week!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Icebergs.

My friend Jacob said in his email this week that he had an "iceberg moment" with his companion, and I really liked it, so I'm adopting it for the topic of this email. We, too, had some good iceberg moments here.

The biggest was with Raechel, a girl that I've been working with since New Kent. She missed her first baptismal date a month ago and has been super reluctant to set a new one since then. We have been really struggling to understand why, because she is completely ready. One hundred percent. Inside she has lots of different concerns and questions, but she only lets about an eight of them show, and the rest she keeps hidden (just like an iceberg). Finally, though, we got to see most of it. A big part came during an impromptu lesson about the Atonement. Then we met again, with just us and her, and talked more. We were able to resolve a lot of her concerns, and she seems to feel more comfortable now. So exciting.

Another was with was with our investigator, James. We have been meeting with him for the past month or so, and he has been really struggling to understand our doctrine on the Atonement. Works vs. grace, justice vs. mercy, etc. Finally this week we had a lesson with him in the Williamsburg chapel, and it went so well. The Spirit was strong and a lot of it seemed to click with him. At one point he stopped and said, "Wow. I guess you believe a lot closer to what I believe than I had been thinking." In his case it was really our doctrine that was the iceberg, and he that had to uncover it all. But it finally worked, and he should be coming to church this week.

We also had a powerful exchange with two of our sisters. All of them have issues. We all do. It's just asking the right questions to figure out what they are. It takes relying on the Spirit, which is really exhausting, but so worth it.

So, I guess the point is, patience yields results, and the Spirit is wonderful.

Love,

Technology.

This week my eyes were opened to how much missionaries live in the stone ages.

A few days ago we were supposed to meet someone on campus, and she had told us where to meet her in a text. Unfortunately, we forgot the phone at home, so we had no way to find her. But I thought to myself, "It's ok! We'll just go to her dorm room and find a neighbor that has her phone number and they can call her for us!" A very resourceful idea, if I do say so myself.

First we had to convince a random student to illegally let us into the dorm building though. Sorry William and Mary campus police. Thank you random guy that trusted three girls in skirts.

So we got up there and started knocking on doors, but it turns out that none of them had her number. "What in the world?" I thought to myself. "How do these people communicate?"

After talking to a few of her neighbors with no luck, one of them said, "Have you tried facebooking her or anything?"

I looked at her, dumbstruck. Facebook. Facebooking. The magical place where you can be friends with strangers and strangers with friends. Huh. "No. No, we have not. Could you do that for us?"

And she did! She facebooked her right there, and we arranged the whole thing! No phone involved whatsoever. Just mysterious, incredibly useful instant internet communication. Wow.

And right then and there I gained a testimony that Facebook can be used for good. So much good. An apostle said so:

"I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth—messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy—and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood." 

- Elder David A. Bednar

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/to-sweep-the-earth-as-with-a-flood?lang=eng

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

General conference.

Um, so, was anyone else blown away by Jorg Klebingat, whoever he is? HIS TALK WAS SO AMAZING!!! Also Elder Christofferson, Elder Ballard, Elder Scott, Elder Bednar, the native speakers. Conference = two days of heaven.

A cool experience that I had with General Conference this time around:

Our mission president encourages us to come to conferences and meetings with specific questions in mind in order to open our hearts up to revelation. I did that last October and in April and it was good, but this time it was even better. Let me tell you why.

First, I prayed about it and came up with three specific questions:

1. How do I find people to teach?

2. How do I make the transition from being a missionary to being a normal person again (a trunky questions, I know. Don't judge.)

3. Teach me more about justice and mercy.

Then, as Conference went, I wrote down almost exclusively things that the speakers said or that the Spirit taught me that corresponded to those questions. If it answered number one, I put a one in front of it, number two with a two, etc. This helped me to worry less about writing down notes (because what's the point, really, when you can read the talks again as many times as you want), and more about making Conference a meaningful revelatory experience. Doing this, I got so many good insights and ideas.

But that's not it! Today during my personal study I started compiling all of the revelation that I received by number. All the ones together, all the twos together, all the threes together. Soon I will have a complete, comprehensive answer to each question that I can refer back to whenever. After I'm done with that I'm going to set specific goals for myself so that I can transform my revelation into action.

It's been great. Much more meaningful for me.

Transfer calls happened. Sister Bassett is going to Nags Head and I am staying here. Two other sisters are coming to be my companions and we will make a sister training leader trio! It will be interesting, for sure, but it's what the Lord wants, so it's the best option.

Have a great week! Go watch Conference if you didn't get the chance!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

Excited for general conference!

There is a poster next to me right now that says, "Missing Downton Abbey?" YES! Yes, yes, yes, I am missing Downton Abbey! You have no idea how much I miss Downton Abbey! Ha. Some things never change, even after sixteen months.

Anyway, we had a good week here.

Things that I learned:

Hermana Belnap taught me something really profound on exchanges. We were teaching someone the Plan of Salvation and she said, "The purpose of this life is to prepare, and just like any kind of preparation, it has to come in steps. Just think of getting ready in the morning. Even though you do the same thing every day, you can't get ready all at once. You have to do things one step at a time. It's the same with this life. We can't prepare all at once. God has given us certain steps to follow to prepare to meet Him." Wow! I always teach people about preparing to meet God, but I had never thought of using the analogy of preparing for something else. In steps. Maybe it's a duh moment for everyone else, but I loved it.

We had another great exchange with the Newport News 1st sisters, who live in my first apartment on the mission. It was so fun to go back there and remember what it felt like to be a new little baby missionary and have no idea what I was doing.

Other than that, things are basically the same. Going well.

SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

Esta semana

Twas a good week.

We went on three exchanges, all of which were wonderful. I learn so much from the sisters that I serve.

We also had zone conference in Virginia Beach this week. The theme was Doctrine and Covenants 6:36: "Look unto me in every though; doubt not, fear not." For the first half of the day we received trainings on how to care for our physical, mental, and emotional health. It was really great. They taught us about simple meditation techniques and about the importance of a balanced diet and exercise. Because missionary life is STRESSFUL!

After lunch President and Sister Baker gave trainings on replacing fear with faith and talking with everyone. It was so powerful.

We are teaching some great people right now, all from very different religious backgrounds...

One was raised Muslim, but is now agnostic.

A non-denominational Christian.

A Presbyterian.

A Christian girl raised by atheistic parents. Her teenage "rebellion" was going to church.

And a few others.

So much good life experience! I am learning a lot.

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Bennett

This week.

I have tons to say and very little time, so I'm going to use my Mavis Beacon skills and type this super fast. Sorry if there are lots of typos.

This week was really good, with some amazing miracles, and also a bit sad, with some disappointments.

I'll start with the good.

This week I FINALLY started to feel like I have a purpose here in the YSA. It takes me a good eight weeks to get used to a new area, which is how long I have been here. I'm finally starting to feel at home, though.

On Wednesday we had one of the best lessons EVER. We have a super great investigator, Laura, and this week our branch president had us, her, and another one of our members over for dinner. She seemed to feel really at home there, and it went well. After the dinner we read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with her, and then talked about fasting. She has done it before! Wow! We committed her to pick a baptismal date, and then fast and pray on Sunday at stake conference to know for sure if this is right for her. She accepted! The member that we brought to fellowship her did great, and offered to drive Laura to church. It was all so wonderful. Like picture perfect missionary work. So rewarding.

A sister missionary from the Poquoson ward got home this week and called us within hours of getting off the plane to see when she could come out with us. She is so cute. She served her mission in Argentina, so the whole speaking English thing is tough for her. At someone's door she was like, "We're here comparting a testimonio about... Never mind. You just talk." Haha. Spanglish. I want to be like that. Out with the missionaries every day!

We met with a great guy that we found at the activities festival at William and Mary a few weeks back. He is super cool and seems genuinely interested.

Later that night we had dinner with two RMs in our branch. They invited a nonmember to be the third female, and it turns out that she is golden! We taught her the restoration, she liked it, and accepted the invitation to meet with us again. MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK. So much better than missionary missionary work.

We went on exchanges with the Poquoson sisters, and I got to ride bikes for the first time in my mission! IT WAS SO FUN. I loved it. Plus it wasn't that hot - in fact we got drenched in the rain - so it was nice. I wish that I could be on bikes more. Sitting in the car all the time is the worst.

Stake conference happened. Crazy because for stake conference a year ago, I was in this very same place, going to the chapel on Denbigh. Newport News feels like my home stake by now! The stake president here, President Hamilton, is the best. I think that I was sent to Virginia in part just to meet him. In the Saturday evening session he talked about the appropriate use of technology, and encouraged us to join in Elder Bednar's invitation to flood the Earth with uplifting messages.

Another theme that the Spirit brought to my attention during stake conference was the glorious hope of the Gospel. It struck me again and again how much hope I have gained through the course of my mission. Seeing families that work, Priesthood holders that love and serve their families, and people that have turned their lives around has helped me to trust in the Lord's promises like never before. I feel that the future is bright, that I CAN have a happy, successful family, that pure, Christlike love, really does exist. I didn't feel those things as much 15 months ago.

I could say more, but my time is up.

Love,

Hermana Bennett