WEEK 39

WEEK 38

This week was good as always! I'm still getting used to being on a bike but I'm getting there haha. Elder Hutchinson is a beast so I’m always struggling to keep up with him! Doesn't help that my bike won’t shift to the highest gear haha. Our area is doing well and we set a baptismal date with a guy named Edwin! He is super cool and even came to church on Sunday! He speaks better Spanish than English but wants to learn English. So I translate here and there (my Spanish is coming along). We are teaching a couple other people as well who are coming along well! There is this one guy Marquel who is our “tough" investigator. He is African American and seems to be mainly interested in Polygamy/blacks and the priesthood. We showed him the declarations in D&C and he says he has more questions now. Overall though he is receiving but he hasn't started reading the Book of Mormon yet. It’s so hard to help people realize that all their questions stem down to if the Book of Mormon is true or not.

 We did finally find a lady who we have been trying to catch at home forever! Her name is Gena and she is super cool! Half Japanese, half Filipino. We stopped by her house Thursday night at 8:50 (last stop of the night) and she was home! She is super interested and invited us over for dinner the next day but she is single and has 2 daughters and we explained how there needs to  be a male and she said "well bring a member of your church then!" Haha so we did! After dinner we shared the restoration and she loved it. She had no idea that Mormons read the bible. She said it all makes sense and that she is “beyond excited" to read the Book of Mormon! So she seems super promising!

  Maimai got baptized on saturday! It went great and the spirit was super strong! They had a lunch afterwards with a bunch of Samoan food which was soooo good! We were both stuffed. Seems like as soon as we are close to finishing our plate, they put another in front of us haha. I love Polynesian people!

  This week went great other than that Elder Hutchinson got 2 flat tires so that took some time to fix, we also did service for a lady who needed her fridge taken up a flight of stairs so that was fun! We are getting hair cuts today, and playing basketball with the ASL elders. I can't remember if I mentioned it last time but there are 2 ASL companionships, 2 of the elders are completely deaf so it's really cool to see sign language all the time! Both companionships are in my district. I never realized there was an ASL ward! All done in sign language, even blessings, confirmations, everything.

Well I'm having a great time on the mission! Loving every day. It’s crazy that my birthday is only 2 weeks away! My last year as a teenager will be spent on the mission haha. Also we will be getting a new mission president on the 30th! Interested to see how he is! Well love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Bennett

WEEK 37

So I got transferred to the Gardena 1st ward and am in Torrance! I'm on bike and am now a district leader. My first few days on bike I’ll be honest.. It was rough haha. Just no endurance! And it feels like the wind is blowing the opposite direction no matter which way we go haha. But this area has been great! It's been getting up in the 80s and being on bike it feels like 90s. The rough part is that I’ll probably be on bike for at least another transfer in this area so bike during the summer here I come! My companion is Elder Hutchinson from New Hampshire and he is super cool! He is 26 and has been out 4 months. We get along great! We have a baptism coming up this Saturday for a girl named Maimai who is 10! She is Samoan so there is gonna be a feast afterwards! Also I met a member named Brother Matalei who served his mission in Samoa. He said he had a companion from Alberta Canada named Doug Broadhead who wrote a song called mesisamoa! Small world! Told him I grew up with his son who is on a mission in Australia. Also in my last area I forgot to mention that Brother Lambson served his mission in the gulf states and knew an elder Bly from Alberta Canada!

  

As far as the work goes we are just busy biking everywhere trying to find all the potential investigators we can and set up appointments! It's been pretty successful so far. We have found a bunch of people and set a baptismal date yesterday with one! The ward is awesome and they are mostly 40+. Lots of old people which works because they are all retired and can come out to lesson with us! Haha we get fed every night too so it's sweet! I'm alive and well and only my nose has been burnt so far!

  

Some cool things that happened were we saw a car hit a fire hydrant. The person was fine but the car was totaled. Plus the fire hydrant started spraying water about 30ft in the air so I'll send some pics!

  

I'm doing great and having fun! Love you all!

Love, Elder Bennett