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 40

Monday

For Pday we had to run around a lot and pick up things. Elder Hutchinson had to do a few errands and we didn't get to the church till around 1. Played basketball with Elder Lupeni and the ASL elders. Also played a game called chair soccer which was really fun! Btw if all those who email me could email me Sunday morning, that would be awesome because I can read your emails Sunday night and pre write.

After Pday we had dinner at a Hawaiian families house, then went and saw our investigator Edwin who is preparing to be baptized on the 10th. It was super cool as he talked about how he felt at church. Says he just feels a peace as soon as he walks in the building, and the rest of his day always goes better. When he prays about baptism all he feels is a good feeling! We are going to take him to the visitors center on Friday. We then biked home and got home at exactly 9:30 and our apartment was about 95 degrees! I'm gonna have to get used to the heat before I'll be able to sleep good at night haha

Tuesday

Well it was my birthday! Don't feel any different. Still a teenager so I guess nothing has changed! Does feel weird to think that without the age change, I would be just going out now. Don't know what I'd have done this past year if I'd been home haha. This morning we went to find a referral that we had gotten, got to the apartment building and none of the doors were marked. And there were about 60 apartments...

So we were in the courtyard debating if we wanted to tract the whole building when a guy walks out of his door, and says "Are you looking for Tony? Because that's me." Haha so he invited us in! He has talked with a number of missionaries on the street before but finally decided he'd give them his address and listen. The lesson was powerful and he had tears in his eyes as we shared the first vision. In his prayer at the end he asked God to help him find all the truth that he knew was in the Book of Mormon. He super sincere! Then we met with our investigator Napoleon who is cohabitating and trying to move out. He has come to church for the past 2 years every week. Just doesn't have the money to move out! Then we saw a less active named Andy who just recently sold an app to a company for 18 million dollars... He always tries to tempt us into driving his thunder bird, charger, corvette and porche haha. But we haven't given in! Then for dinner we ate at the Vanisi's who are always helping us with the flat tires we get. Brother Vanisi is awesome! They bought me a cheesecake from kings Hawaiian, and gave me a card. Awesome family! It was his birthday on Monday and we got him a card. It was a great day! Other than the 3 gun shots we heard as we were getting into our apartment. Good old LA!

Wednesday

In the morning we went to our wards bible study at the church. We had a few recent converts and investigators there and it went really good! Afterwards we had lunch, then I went on exchanges with Elder Monger who is in the ASL program. He is 90% deaf so it was tough to communicate but he is awesome! We spent the day visiting less actives in their branch and we even went to long each because their boundaries go part way into that mission haha so I left my mission! Then we went with the branch president to see an investigator who's nephew is deaf. He has a ton of questions like our investigator Marquel. Things like "Why did Moroni take the gold plates back?" And "What archeological evidence is there of the Book of Mormon people?" And "How does he differentiate between us and the JWs when they claim they know their book to be true through the power of the Holy Ghost?" So it was a fun lesson! Haha but we tied it back to read, ponder, pray and president Sutton bore a powerful testimony. It seemed to catch Michael (the investigator) of guard as president Sutton bore testimony and the spirit just flooded the room. He accepted the invitation to read, ponder and pray after that! Then we went and got subway to end the night. Crazy that we now have a new mission president!!

Thursday

This morning we went to the "Meet the President" meeting and met President and Sister Haynie! They are from Washington and turns out that sister Haynie is a Peterson, who was born in Magrath, grew up in welling and taught school in Magrath? So that's crazy awesome! They said they both have visited Magrath many times. They are both awesome and they have an amazing spirit about them. They both bore their testimonies to us and it was just so motivational! President Haynie has met a ton of general authorities, from Spencer W Kimball, to Henry B Eyring. They are gonna be great. We then had lunch, did weekly planning, had dinner at our ward mission leaders house, then visited a few less actives! One quote from sister Haynie that stood out to me was "We need to have a current testimony. Not one that happened with a spiritual experience long ago, but one that has been reaffirmed regularly." Amen! Haha

Friday

Had no district meeting today because of the meeting yesterday. We were supposed to go to the temple with our investigator today but he didn't get back to us! Wasn't picking up his phone, or texting us back. So that stunk. We ended up making a route of potentials and less actives to walk to so we could get some street contacting in. Didn’t have too much success finding, but then a car pulled up with an African American couple in it and they asked us if we were LDS missionaries. They then asked "Could you please come and teach us? Our address is ...." Then drove off so that was awesome!! Definitely a tender mercy. We then had dinner at the Parkes, then street contacted some more. We found a guy from Mexico who hasn't seen his family for 20 years. He has been living in LA and has been just sending the money he makes here to them. He was super excited at the idea of eternal families. It was a good day! Got 2 new investigators, and a few new potentials.

Saturday

Our first 3 appointments fell through today... So that was frustrating! But then the ZLs texted us to meet us at the church and get our mail and I finally got my birthday package! Woo! Which definitely made the day awesome haha. I'll admit it was pretty rough getting it back to the apartment on bike.. But worth it! We had an awesome experience though as we went to see a less active who we hadn't met yet. I called her on the phone to see if we could come by and she said "Well sure but I'm going to another church." So I said "Sweet we will see you tomorrow at 3!" So we went over, and she had invited a friend over to listen as well who isn't a member. It was a little awkward at first, but they warmed up to us quick and we started talking about the Book of Mormon. She got baptized 20 years ago, and said she knew it was true then, and so we asked her how she knew, and she said she felt the spirit when she prayed about it. So we then asked her what it felt like. And she couldn't remember. We then talked about how Satan is always trying to make us forget spiritual experiences, or brush them off. It was like a lightbulb turned on in her head and she said, "So I need to read and pray about it again to feel the spirit again." Plus Rudy (the friend) had some good questions. He is Catholic and has met with missionaries before but said he felt enlightened this time. Said he learned a lot and felt something different. Told us as we left "Don't think you wasted your time. You helped both of us. And now we can spread the word as well.” Miracle!

Sunday

Fast Sunday was great! Testimony meeting was awesome. Had a lot of "different" testimonies but they were sincere and the spirit was there! We then went and visited a guy who is a literature teacher, and Methodist preacher.... Quite daunting as we listened to him explain his accomplishments, but it was amazing as we bore testimony his attention became focused and you could tell he felt the spirit. Amazing how the gospel can excite the minds of the most intellect, and the most unlearned. After that we had dinner at the Lee's and she made apple crisp and had vanilla icecream!! My favorite (well peach is but close enough). Then we went and saw a less active who bore his testimony today. We had a lot of people today tell us his testimony touched them. He fell away from the church after highschool, but came back when his wife joined the church. It was a great day and a great week! Hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Love, Elder Bennett