WEEK 57

Monday
For pday last week we hangout with sisters for the first time haha. The rule with our mission now is that we can but there has to be and odd number of companionships. So there were 4 sisters then me/elder Taylor. We went to a place called fishermans village which was pretty cool but a bunch of the shops were closed that had the cool souveneirs so that was a bummer. There was one place that was selling hand made stuffed animals and the cheapest was a tiny sea horse for 60$... So we just looked haha. Then we went to a Japanese food court which was super good! Got a giant beef/rice curry bowl for 6$. Then went to get milkshakes at honey boba which was super good. For dinner the Tapps took us to a suuuuuper nice restaurant called the warehouse. Seriously the cheapest thing there was 20$. I ended up getting a Mahi mahi which was super good. Flash back to deep sea fishing in Hawaii! The restaurant was right on the edge of the Harbour and apparently is quite famous because there was a bunch of pics on the wall of celebrities that go there regularly. John Wayne had been there! So it was pretty sweet. Got some complimentary developed pics taken of our table so I'll have those when I come home haha.


Tuesday
Was a pretty slow day. We had to drive the other elders around a lot. When we finally got to our area the zone leaders called for a surprise ZLC (zone leadership council) so we had to take the other elders up to the VC for that. Then we had dinner at the Larsons and sister Larson is from Iran and cooks suuuuuper good Persian food. But just before dinner our bishop texted us and told us that one of the eternigators in our ward was moving named Nataliya. So after dinner we went to her place with some members and moved her out. She is from Ukraine and is moving to San Diego. Has been coming to church for 2 years and has tried to get missionaries to see her parents but it's a war zone right now so the missionaries got taken out. She's going there to visit her parents before she moves and plans to give them a Book of Mormon.


Wednesday
Weekly planning then did service for brother Larson who then took us for dinner! Went to California chicken cafe which was soooo good. Had ward correlation then went on splits to find less actives. I went with brother Gardner and we found a couple of members.. Both weren't very nice haha but we did find our investigator Casandra and got an appointment for Saturday which is super good! She has been to church 2x and loves gospel principles. The class is taught by the ward mission leader/missionaries who are all guys in their 30s so it gets pretty fun sometimes haha.


Thursday
We knocked doors the whole day... Had dinner then went on member splits! We went with brother Mcmurtrey and found quite a few less actives! One of which was a lady who opened up the door and said "How did you guys find me.. Again?" Haha she wasn't interested but was very kind and her mom called our bishop the next day and thanked us for reaching out to her daughter. Amazing how many people move here to "hide" from the church. We have found a few that are open to coming back though.


Friday
Had ZTM, then worked the area. Just another day of finding. Haven't had a lot of success with the potentials in our area book as they have no info or just say "they were nice." Have yet to find someone actually interested. It's a pretty tough area as there are hardly any people in the streets unless you go closer to the beach where most are tourists or aren't religious at all so it's a good time haha.


Saturday
Was a great day! We finally had a lesson with our investigator Casandra. She is super cool and has a little boy named Anthony. Her Dad is awesome as well and loves missionaries but works Sundays so considers himself exempt from having to go to church but pushes Casandra to go haha. Casandra has a ton of potential and we have a return appointment for Tuesday!


Sunday
Casandra came to church! She loved it and Anthony even went to primary during gospel principles. Bob was at church as well. Some big news is that brother Mcmurtrey got released as 2nd counsellor and is now our ward mission leader! So that's pretty sweet. Had dinner at his place to top the day off and he and his wife are super cool! His wife does car movie stunting and has coordinated the car scenes for fast and furious and is currently doing all the car scenes in the TV series "modern family". Then we hit potentials from 6-8:30 and we found 4 people that accepted return appointments! So that's super cool. Probably felt bad for us because elder Taylor was shivering so bad in the 55 degree weather haha. I still haven't climatized. It was a great week and I'm loving it! I'll send all the pictures from last week.

WEEK 55

So this week was transfers and went down to the Torrance stake center to get Elder Taylor! He's awesome as ever and we get along great! Nice that he's not on crutches anymore like in the MTC haha. So we opened up a new apartment and it had 0 furniture except for beds. No utensils or anything so we had to go to another elders apartment to cook our food. Finally got everything on Thursday and spent the day unwrapping everything and putting it all together. It's a pretty small apartment but has everything we need. Just wish it was carpet instead of hardwood haha and the shower head is 5"6 which is rough haha. I'm 6"2 and elder Taylor is 6"6 so it's a party! We are a little intimidating in the streets haha.

We have been having some good success though! Since we whitewashed the area we didn't know any of our investigators or what they looked like so we had to be introduced to them at church by members haha but we texted them before hand so they knew we were elders now. The area is great and very rich! Went and picked up dinner from a member who lives by the beach in a giant apartment building with a water fall wall and valet parking. Elder Taylor and I both agreed we suddenly feel very unsuccessful haha. Our ward is part of a new initiative where the ward gives us a list of all the less actives that they know nothing about and we go try to find them by knocking their door, their neighbors and the apartment manager. The ward goes on member splits with us each wednesday and Thursday night which is awesome. I forgot my adapter for my camera so I'll send pics next week! Love you all!

Love, Elder Bennett

WEEK 54

Well this week wasn't the most productive. One of my companions has a cough that won't go away. Has a coughing fit every 20mins that's has been going on for a couple weeks now so we have been stuck in the apartment a lot. But we have gotten some work done! Our investigator Raanjit is progressing great! We took him to a baptism on Saturday night which he loved and he said he was imagining himself being the one being baptized during the baptism haha. He's so golden and will be
baptized in a couple weeks! The sisters in our ward also had a baptism on Saturday which we got to go to. I'll be taking their area starting this week so they had me witness at the baptism so I could have an in with Dan (the investigator that got baptized) to make the transition better. 

We got our transfer calls last night and I'll be with Elder Taylor! My MTC companion so that's sweet! One of my two companions that's been taller than me haha so we are gonna be a little intimidating in the streets. 

Had a New Years revolution resolution set up by our zone and had a good turn out! My New Years resolution is to be more kind/positive when giving advice/counseling people. I have a tendency to be impatient with people's blatant bad choices so I'm gonna work on that haha. Fast and testimony meeting was pretty nuts haha there seems to always be one crazy lady in each ward in LA haha. Loving being back and hope y'all have a good week!

Love, Elder Bennett

Weel 9: Finally Arriving in LA!

      Ok so I didn't get to write last week because I flew to LA and today was crazy busy because I had to go take a drivers test and also had to get a hair cut! I'm in Hollywood of all places and I'm in a trio again haha. My companion is Elder Nimori and we have Elder Adcox with us too who is a visa waiter. He leaves next transfer because his visa came already. I don't have much time to write because LA traffic is terrible but I'll try to sum up the past two weeks the best I can. 

      So going back to my last week in the MTC. Elder Taylor my companion he rolled his ankle on Tuesday so he was on crutches all week. A seventy came and talked to us Tuesday night and Elder Griffin knew him so I got to go with him and get a picture with all three of us so that was cool! Had a lot of fun teaching investigators in the MTC and one of them was an actual investigator and she really liked us and said she learned a lot from us and said that she would email us if she got baptized so that was cool! I met a sister Hinckley from Calgary who went to Aberhart. Also met an Elder Nelson who was a grade older than me and he went to LCI. I played bball against him in grade 10. He knew John Brewerton. 

      Said good bye to my district on Sunday night and woke up at 2:30 am Monday morning, took a train to the airport and flew to LA! Went through all the orientation and went and street contacted for 3 hours with Elder Coleman. That was super fun and we had a ton of success! Went to a member's house that night and slept there, then Tuesday got my companions and went to Hollywood! This mission is quite a high-baptizing mission. Our mission has an average of 40 baptisms a month. We will probably be having 3 baptisms this month in my ward - all converts. We are always either teaching lessons, contacting refferals or less actives. Crazy busy! Loving it though. Our ward mission leader is an actor and he plays basketball every night with famous viners so that's pretty crazy. It's amazing how wicked Hollywood is, yet every day we find someone that's been prepared to hear our message. It's awesome! 

      Had a crazy experience where I felt like we needed to go into an apartment complex and talk to someone, so we did and there was only one lady there. We introduced ourselves and she was super interested! Taught her the first two lessons right there. Following promptings always brings blessings! The members here are awesome and our bishop is so cool! One of our investigators attended church on Sunday and we just met her on Friday. She said she loved it! Our bishop asked me and Elder Adcox to speak next week so kinda nervous for that. Weather is awesome and I'm having so much fun! 

      ST (Spiritual thought)- Gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Our entire religion depends on it. If it is true then we have a prophet on the earth today and all the standards, commandments and rules we follow in the church are directly from God. Never forget that when you question a standard that the church has set. Love and miss you all! My letter next week will hopefully not be so rushed. 

   Love Elder Bennett

Week 7

      Well it was a sad day saying goodbye to my companions. Especially Elder Elliott. Gonna miss that guy. I was picked up from district meeting by Elder and Sister Pepinger. Flew out by myself which wasn't stressful at all surprisingly! Took a cab to the MTC with a Mexican elder who didn't speak english very well so that was funny. My companion is Elder Taylor form Las Vegas and he is 6'4 so that's humbling haha. He was super sick on Friday and Saturday so I didn't do much those two days. The sisters and elders in my district here are amazing! Elder Griffin has also served in the field already, he's my district leader. Our zone leaders are Elder Toki and Elder Pearson. Elder Toki and I are pretty much best friends. He is Tongan and is from Hawaii and we just get along so well! He has made it his goal to spread the word that i'm Canadian and am the coolest elder here so now whenever people see me they say "Elder Benneeeeeett" so I'm feeling the love haha. 

      The MTC has been great so far! I've learned so much in 6 days it's mind boggling. Main thing I learned this week was the importance of the Book of Mormon. If we gain a testimony of it then the rest of the gospel falls into place. I'd like to challenge anyone that reads this letter to find a time this week to pray about the Book of Mormon and promise that if you do so with a sincere heart your testimony will be strengthened. Even if you have already done so, do it again! It's helped me grow so much. Love you all so much and I'm excited to be in LA next week! Don't know if I'll be able to write because I fly out on Monday. 

  Love Elder Bennett