WEEK 25

  Monday

Well for pday we went to a park and played soccer/bball which was super fun! We had a talk black guy ask me if I would play him in 1 vs 1 but our mission has a rule that we can only play with other missionaries.. So that stunk. Wish we could! Then we went back to the branch building and said our goodbyes, then went to Justin's and Desirays, and Elder Stevens said his goodbyes. We found out Desirays main concern and it's leaving her church. She has mixed feelings about abandoning it. So that's going to be tough to resolve. If anyone has a scripture, talk, video, anything that could address that let me know! 

   Tuesday

Today Elder Clarke got here early in the morning then we said goodbye to Elder Stevens. Elder Clarke and I went and got a bunch of cleaning supplies and deep cleaned the apartment this morning and it feels so much better! Celestial. The kitchen was nasty before. Then we went to a few appointments that fell through but we met some super awesome people! Went to a referral and he wasn't home but his brother was and we got a return appointment with him and taught a short lesson! Also while we were walking a lady pulled up beside us and asked if we would pray with her and then asked if we would please come teach her and her son! So cool! Saw Justin and taught him the restoration again and he is super excited to go do baptisms! Elder Clarke is awesome by the way. Super funny and our personalities are almost identical! Gonna be an awesome transfer. 

    Wednesday

 So today we went and met with the lady who stopped us yesterday to say a prayer, we taught the restoration and she accepted a baptismal date for March 27th! So cool. We also found a referral who is super prepared and another potential who is golden! Gonna be setting a lot more baptismal dates throughout this week. Elder Clarke is awesome at talking to people! I've learned a lot from him already. Super awesome missionary. We then had Correlation meeting which went really good! Brother Beltran gave his usual "Beginning of transfer" rant/motivational speech haha. He is so awesome! This transfer is gonna be 7 weeks long and our branch (3 companionships) has a goal of 7 baptisms! So gonna we are pumped to go and do! It's amazing the miracles we have seen in just these past two days. Main thing we need to do now is get members out with us. 

   Thursday

Well today was crazy. I had a senior companion training at 12-2, the Elder Clarke had a MLC training from 2-4, then we had to drive a few missionaries home who were on bikes, then had weekly planning, dinner, and by then it was 8:00... So we called referrals/potentials and got a few appointments set! Hopefully tomorrow we can be out working all day. Felt super tired after all the meetings and being in the car. Bonus is I started my jump program again! Hopefully that will help me stay in shape haha

   Friday

Well my legs were dead today from my jump program haha. Felt like an old grandpa walking around. We had district meeting this morning and afterwards we made Desiray a birthday cake! Then we went and street contacted/found referrals and had a good time! Elder Clarke is hilarious. It's a party! We had to go to get a mini missionary down near Hollywood but he cancelled on us! So that wasted a lot of our day, then we went to see Donna and that went pretty good actually! Then saw Desiray, gave her her cake and sang happy birthday. We got to talk with her mom and sister and they really opened up! Gonna take all 3 of them to the visitors center next week. Gonna have to move Desirays baptism back a bit. She's so close! 

    Saturday 

Annnnd my legs were dead again today. We had a lesson with Justin again today and had him teach us the plan of salvation! Went super good and he is pumped to do baptisms for the dead! Then we had an awesome lesson with a couple name Desere and Kenneth. Taught the 3rd lesson and they both accepted to be baptized on the 27th! It was super cool. Then we went and had a quick lunch at a restaurant called "Church's Chicken" and had 3 people start talking to us! One said she was a descendant of Joseph Smith and had been meeting with missionaries before, the other grew up Mormon and the last one was a guy who was super interested! Got all their info and told them where the church was. We will see what happens! Then we went around finding potentials and referrals. Super tired. Stake conference tomorrow so been trying to get rides for our investigators! Guess we will see how it goes. 

    Sunday

Stake conference was really good today! Only Desiray was able to come to church though. She really liked it! All went well. We are going to move her baptismal date back 2 weeks. She says she wants to shoot for then. She says she wants to know more first. Afterwards we went out with Brother Beltran and tried to see a few less actives and potentials but didn't have too much luck. But we went and saw a new investigator and set a baptismal date with her! She is an awesome old lady. Completely understood the need for the correct authority. We set a total of 4 baptismal dates this week. Gonna be teaching lots of people all week so gonna see more and more miracles! Man we are just super tired. It was a great week though! Excited for this upcoming one. 

  

Well we just got rained on this morning. Actually had thunder and lightning! Stopped raining now but lots of clouds. About to go play basketball/soccer at the church! Hope you all have a great week! 

   Love Elder Bennett

WEEK 24 • 6-month mark!

 Monday

  This morning we went to the Soriano's and picked oranges from their tree. We do our laundry at their house and email while waiting for it. They are a super cool family who are all converts to the church. For P-day we went to a park that has a indoor soccer sized court but outside, bball hoops and a tennis court. Super fun! Did that all day. Afterwards we went and got ice cream, then had dinner, then visited some potentials and called others and set appointments! Crazy how fast this transfer has flown by. Plus next week is my 6 month mark! Still feel like I just got out of the MTC haha

   Tuesday

Had my first quarter training this morning.. Feels so weird to be 1/4 done! The training was really good though. Talked a lot about how we need to keep our greenie fire haha. President told us that the diligence we have in obeying the white handbook with determine our diligence in keeping our covenants after the mission. Thought that was interesting. We met with a few of our investigators today and the lessons all went super well! On the street we met a guy and I introduced the Book of Mormon to him and I had one in my hand, he asked if he could look at it so I handed it to him, he asked how much it costs and I said it's free and we kept talking as he thumbed through it, got his info and he walked off with the Book of Mormon. It was our last one.. Whoops! Hopefully he reads it haha. Spent the rest of our day visiting potentials and referrals. Elder Stevens and I are getting quite the collar neck tans haha

   Wednesday

This morning started off pretty fun! We were early for an appointment, so we started street contacting and came across a drunk lady and her brother who liked to talk a lot haha. The lady just went on and on about how it wasn't a sin to kill and all this crazy stuff. Wouldn't let us walk away they just kept following us! Eventually we asked if we could say a prayer then leave and we told her we fold our arms and she wanted to hold hands for the prayer and because we said we fold our arms then she went off about how we must be racist haha. 'Twas a good time! Not haha. Then we had a really good lesson with a new investigator and set a baptismal date! Saw Justin who wants to go to YSA so we are figuring that out, then we street contacted, visited some potentials,  then had correlation and that was it! Felt like the day was a blur. Oh and we met another drunk guy before going in for the night. Such a sad thing to see people turn to an addiction to make themselves feel free. Satan is so cunning! 

   Thursday

Had a few appointments fall through this morning, then we had weekly planning, went and visited our investigator, Desiray, and we asked her if she was praying with curiosity, or with real intent. She said she felt it was with more curiosity. It's easy to explain what real intent is and why it's so important, but as far as them gaining real intent, we can't do much other than bear testimony. So that's what we did. Amazing how the spirit is truly the teacher. By the end of the lesson she admitted she hadn't really been trying hard in her prayers but committed to be sincere from now on in them and test out Moroni's promise. We are taking her to the visitors center tomorrow so we will see how it goes! For dinner we went to Jack in The Box and a homeless guy started talking to us and he was a little crazy. Didn't make much sense. He followed us to our car when we got our food and then when we got on the road and were turning right, he came running at our car and tried to punch the side. So that was kinda crazy. Always making memories haha.

   Friday

From 7-1 o'clock we did temple service. Just trimmed bushes, raked leaves, used a leaf blower and cleaned up the place! Was a fun time! Then we went to a lesson with a potential investigator. We had just met her on the street the day before. The lesson went really well for the most part! She accepted a baptismal date for March 20th! Then we went and saw Desiray and that went really good too. We didn't get to go to the visitors center though because no members could drive us. Talked about the gifts of the Holy Ghost and she said she really wanted to have it! She tried praying last night after writing her essay but fell asleep during the prayer haha. Oh and I found out that Zaya, my investigator back in Hollywood, did get baptized! The Sunday after I got transferred. 

   Saturday

This morning we went to the baptism of the other English missionaries. We gave the missionary moment while she was getting changed. It's super cool because she is the daughter in law of Sister Lindo who is a convert of 3 years and the rest of the family are converts as well except the one son who got married to Zuly (one that got baptized) and so now he is going to get baptized. After that we went and saw Justin who is super excited to receive the Holy Ghost and get his priesthood interview tomorrow! The branch president said he is going to call Justin to be an usher. Then we had district meeting, then went and visited with some investigators at the park and answered their questions. Hard because one guy he believes all Christian churches are fine. That it doesn't matter which one you go to. We explained it really well but he wouldn't accept the one true church idea. Then we saw our new investigator and set a baptismal date with him! He said "Why couldn't the Book of Mormon be true?" And "Who wouldn't want to be baptized by the correct authority?" So he is golden. Then saw Desiray who can't come to church tomorrow.. :(. Other than that it was a good day! Hoping to have a bunch of new investigators at church tomorrow. 

   Sunday

Justin got confirmed this morning! He also passed his interview for the priesthood! Church was awesome. We also had an investigator come to church who we hadn't even met in person yet so that was super cool! Had lunch and then had no appointments so we went and talked to tons of people all day. Walked for 3 hours straight.. But it was worth because we found a few solid people! Had dinner then went and contacted a few referrals and then tonight transfer calls came... I am staying here and my new companion is Elder Clark! Elder Stevens is going to Palos Verdes which is basically his old area. Same building and everything. Crazy! I'm also senior companion now and driving again.  But yeah that's it! Crazy that the transfer is over already. Feel like we just got to this area haha. Gotta still work hard!

   ST-2nd Nephi 32:8-9. I think we can apply it to more than just prayer. We can apply it to all teachings. We know what's right. So Do It! Don't idle your time away. 

 Love you all!

Elder Bennett

Justin's Baptism!

WEEK 23

      Well I was sick for most of this week so didn't write my book of a letter haha. This week was kinda rough. Our investigator, Keith, told us he didn't want to meet with us anymore but our other investigators are coming along well! Justin is getting baptized this Sunday and asked me to baptize him. He was having some second thoughts about being baptized and called us last night and told us. We told him to pray again about the things we had taught him. He called us this morning and said he prayed and dreamed that he got baptized and then went to heaven. So that was super awesome! 

      The area is doing well and I am feeling better too so all is good! Crazy how my 6-month mark is next week. Hope you all have a great week and stay strong!

  Love Elder Bennett