WEEK 47

Monday- We went and played basketball at the Inglewood stake centre with the lawndale and Inglewood zone leaders. Was really fun! Played a lot of 21 haha. Afterwards we went to dinner at our recent converts house and had steak and mashed potatoes . She's an amazing cook and professionally bakes so she had cookies for us afterwards! Then we went to brother Terrells house. His wife and 2 boys aren't members and his wife just recently gave the OK for us to teach them and baptize them. So they are getting baptized on sept 17th! Ages 9 and 12. The 17th is also the youngest ones 10th bday so it's gonna be super special! They are both crazy smart in the gospel and have been coming to church almost their whole life. We asked them why they wanted to be baptized and they said "so we can get the Holy Ghost and have a friend throughout our lives!"

Tuesday- I had my 2nd quarter training (still hasn't hit me yet that half my mission is gone...) which was really good! Got to look at the goals we had set 6 months ago and reset new ones for the next 6 months! President and Sister Haynie are awesome. In the role play we did I didn't have a partner so I got to role play with president which was intimidating but super cool! He's amazing. Then we had a very long day of finding in Compton.. Knocking on doors, street contacting, meeting crazy people. Then we saw a less active and a recent convert named Romeo! Sadly we found out he started smoking again so we are working with that. Stopped by an investigator who we haven't seen in a while because his family is super anti other religion (Catholics) but he said he's coming to church this Sunday! So that was a nice way to end the night.

Wednesday- We woke up at 5:45 to go do service at the temple for the morning! It's always fun doing service with a bunch of other elders. Me, elder Maberry, Knudsen, Kang, Dapp and Shultz all worked together digging up plants, transplanting them, and digging new holes for new plants. My days in the garden came in handy! Haha you can definitely tell what elders didn't do yard work haha. Afterwards we got to eat at the temple cafeteria! We then went to Carson and tried to find a bunch of potentials there. Found a few and got return appointments! Had a cool experience where I felt like we should go check on a Japanese member who has cancer. We went over and she said she had been feeling great after her chemo, and had hoped we would come by. Said she was preparing to get her patriarchal blessing and prayed the missionaries would come explain it. Her husband isn't a member so we are slowly working with him.

Thursday- Both our morning appointments cancelled so we did our weekly planning, then did service for an investigator who is moving to Wisconsin! Helped her get everything of her attic. Afterwards she fed us dinner and we taught her the plan of salvation! Went really good. Her husband who was kinda sitting in the backround (Inactive Lutheran) commented that he was very impressed with how Christlike Mormons are. How they are 24-hour Christians and not just the missionaries. Said if he decides to come back to organized religion, ours is the one he will look into.

Friday- We went to the USC institute building for district meeting and then exchanged with the Chinese elders there. Elder Hou came with me to our area. We had a super awesome day! Very busy with appointments. Taught 2 lessons, 1 member present lesson and a new member lesson. All after 3! Set a baptismal date with our investigator named Rocky. He’s a 6"7 dude who's super shy but awesome! Has 6 kids. Then we went and saw a former investigator who has been studying to be a Methodist preacher so that was fun. He seemed quite sincere actually and we just bore testimony of the BOM to him and he committed to read it again and pray about it. Then we saw Misha and taught her the plan of salvation with a member. Went super good! She had some good questions about the fall. Thank goodness for the BOM which explains it perfectly. Then we saw Romeo and taught him the POS too! Very busy day.

Saturday- Exchanged back in the morning and had a pretty rough day as far as appointments. All our morning appointments fell through. Finally had our first one at 4 with Napoleon our eternigator. Then had dinner at Denny's! I love Denny's haha. Rest of the night we went and visited less actives and non progressing investigators. Not too much

has changed!

Sunday- Best Sunday ever. We had 9 non members at church! New record haha for me at least. We had 6 of our current investigators come, and then 3 members brought their friends! Super cool. Met all of them and will be meeting with them in the future. Then we met with Maimai our RC and taught her the commandments, had lunch and left for LA stake reports at the Westwood building. Soon as that was done we drove back for dinner with our ward mission leader, saw a less active and an investigator, then went to the church to get transfer calls! Elder Maberry and I are staying together, but we are moving apartments. So we basically both have to move all our stuff across Gardena. They are bringing in 2 new elders to cover the west so now I cover the east. Which is Compton, and Carson. Woo! Haha don't worry Mom it's not as bad as all the stories (at least as a missionary) haha. So yeah that's about it!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Bennett

WEEK 45: ZL!

So this was a little crazy, busy and had a lot of change! Monday was normal with Pday playing basketball and dinner ending with calling some referrals and street contacting.

Tuesday night we got a call from president stating that Elder Hutchinson would be a mission office elder, and that I would go into a trio with the other Gardena elders. Crazy!

Wednesday Elder Hutchinson said goodbye to some members, then Elder Roe came and picked him up and I went with the east Gardena elders, Elder Wassum and Mayberry, now double covering the east and west in a car. We did weekly planning, and then we went on splits with 3 different members which went super good!

Thursday was the international zone interviews so we had to run that all the way till 4pm. Then had dinner and went straight to a lesson with Charlotte. We went through the 3rd lesson which went super good! At the end we talked about how to recognize the spirit and then reset her baptismal date for the 28th!

Friday was ZTM which went really good! President and Sister Haynie came to it and afterwards president called me out into the hallway which he then called me to be a zone leader! So now i am the international zone leader with Elder Mayberry. We cover the whole mission and go to a stake report each Sunday in different stakes. I’m over all the Chinese, Korean, and Farsi elders and sisters. It’s pretty crazy!

Saturday Elder Wassum went to be a zone leader in Lawndale. We had a lesson with Napoleon and read 1st Nephi 6 and really broke it down. Then brother Vanisi came and installed an AC unit into our apartment. Hallelujah! Then had dinner at the Nakilas and taught Maimai the 3rd lesson of her new member lessons. Then went into the east side and saw a guy named Edgar and set a baptismal date with him for September 18th.

Sunday we went to the Gardena and the Nuumau ward. Then went to Palos Verdes for a stake report there and I saw Elder Griffin! He's the PV zone leader. Then went to a lesson with Walter and brother Woolwine came with us. Walter is now in Alma! He's progressing really well. Then had dinner with the Florciks. Was a busy day!

Overall it was a busy week! Now a zone leader and covering the whole Gardena ward boundaries. A little stressful but it's good! Busy. I’m loving the mission and having a great time!

Love Elder Bennett

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