WEEK 43: DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE...

Monday: We had Ryan and Phelina (investigators) come to the church in the morning to play bball. Ryan had challenged me to a 1 vs 1 haha. Before they had to leave we had a church tour and showed them all the different rooms and where they go for the 2nd/3rd hours. Was really good! Then we had the branch elders and the Palos Verdes elders come play basketball. Was super fun! By 6 my legs were dead haha. We had dinner, then we're about to go to an appointment and she cancelled.. So we street contacted/called potentials for the rest of the night.

Tuesday: Had a lesson with our investigator Napoleon. He is an older African American guy who basically acts like a member, comes to church each Sunday, has a super strong testimony, everything but can't get baptized because his girlfriend whom he has grandchildren with refuses to get married because it's "for the church". So he's in the process of moving to Idaho to live with his daughter so he can get baptized. He super cool though and everyone in the ward knows him. He's been coming to church every week for the past 2 years. At this point we just read a chapter from the BOM with him then break it down afterwards and he ends up teaching us haha. He's read all the standard works. In the evening we had a lesson with 2 less actives and their unbaptized 8 year old. They just came back and want their son to get baptized! So we are teaching him the lessons.

Wednesday: Had our ward scripture study in the morning and had a new investigator show up with Napoleon! So that was awesome. The scripture study is perfect because it's run by a ward missionary, he has a projector with a bunch of slides going through the BOM, anyone can show up and follow along, make comments and such, and it's also a potluck so most everyone brings food! Trying to get more investigators to come. In the afternoon we stopped by Rebecca (Phelina's Mom) and read 3rd Nephi 11 with her.

Then on our way to our dinner we were going through an intersection on our bikes, and this lady who was going straight as well suddenly decided to turn and smoked Elder Hutchinson! Knocked him off his bike, he skidded to the other side of the cross walk on his side bag and everything. I thought he was gonna be dead haha. But he's fine! Only thing is a good scrape on his elbow and a hole in his pants. Bike was perfectly fine as well! Miracle! We got the ladies info/insurance and then suddenly we heard sirens and 2 police cars showed up, 22 fire trucks, a patrol officer, and an ambulance haha. Someone must have called 911 when they saw the accident cuz we didn't call. So it was pretty intense! I called our dinner and said we were gonna be late because my companion got hit by a car... Lol best excuse for a missionary I'd say!

Then in the evening we had a member come to see our BD Edwin. He's so close to being baptized just is still unsure. Pretty sure it's the Catholic in him. Family opposition. Read through the baptismal interview questions with him and he's fine with all! Just a matter of time.

Thursday: Weekly planning for most of the day, had a lesson with a LA, and a RC. Then had our ward mission leader and a ward missionary come to see our investigator Charlotte. Taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went great! Spirit was there and the members bore awesome testimonies!

Friday: Had district meeting then I went on exchanges with the ASL north elders. Was really fun! Quiet but fun.. Haha. There is just a special spirit there as we teach those with disabilities the plan of salvation. We had to exchange back in the evening because our apartment has bed bugs!!! So we then took brother Vanisi to see a less-active with went really well.

Saturday: Pioneer Day! Our stake had a BBQ, live music, and pioneer activities going on at the church. Super fun! Edwin came and it was fun watching the stick pull. Afterwards we went and saw a member who just found out she has cancer. Her husband isn't a member. Shared the plan of salvation with them and gave her a blessing afterwards. They are an old Japanese couple and are so sweet! Sad to see her energy go away. Then we went and saw Napoleon again with our RC Anneliese. Read
Alma 46! Then spent the rest of the night attempting to kill all bed bugs. Bought 91% alcohol and sprayed every bit of the room down, vacuumed everywhere. None were in my bed, they were all in my companions box spring. It was nasty!

Sunday: Edwin came to church! Was super good and the talks were awesome. Brother Villalon (Filipino) talked about the Filipino pioneers. Cool to hear the history of the church there. His wife was the first convert in her village. Got baptized in the ocean. After church we had lunch then went and tried to street contact/visit potentials and less actives.. It was sooooooo hot!!! Idk what the
temperature was but Gardena was a ghost town. No one on the streets, no one opened their doors, and the only cars were on the main streets! Not many people here have AC (doesn't make sense) so they were all hibernating. We literally walked around/knocked on doors for 2 hours and saw 2 people. Had dinner at a members house (no AC) and he served his mission here 15 years ago! Cool to see his mission photo album. After dinner he came out with us and saw our investigator Theresa. Shared a message with her and it went great!

Overall it was a great week! Always eventful when someone gets hit by a car haha. Love y'all!

Love Elder Bennett

WEEK 42

Well this week went super fast and it just seems to be getting hotter and hotter.. Thank goodness it's not humid but being on bike compensates for that haha. I've definitely gotten used to being sweaty in a Sunday shirt haha. This week went really good though! Transfers came and went, elder Hutchinson and I are staying together another transfer so same old! First time I've stayed with a companion. 

We had a really good week with some awesome lessons! Can’t remember if I mentioned them already but one of our families has a dad that’s Muslim, brother who is Christian, and a mom, daughter and brother in law who are Catholic. Our lessons get intense sometimes but are always super good! It's been a cool experience as they debate against each other over religion and we pipe in and solve it haha. They are just an awesome family though and they love us so much that they had us over for dinner Friday night! Had lasagna, breadsticks, salad and strawberries/cheesecake cream for dessert. Then had a lesson afterwards. Shared the plan of salvation and the Christian brother said "I'm mind blown right now." The Muslim Dad said "I'm reading the Book of Mormon tonight" and the other three all said they feel that it's all true haha. Spirit was super strong and they all felt it. Amazing as we bear testimony of eternal families and the POS that the Holy Ghost touches everyone who hears. It was the first thing I gained a testimony of. The Muslim dad and Christian brother enjoy listening but as far as baptism they won't hear it haha surprise surprise. But Rebecca, Phelina, and Ryan (Catholic) are all open to baptism and said they will pray about it and are open to it once they feel ready!

We also have another investigator who is a Methodist and very smart. Old guy but is a retired English professor. We brought one of our members who is his same age and also very smart and man did they got along well. Taught the restoration and it went great! Last time it was just us and we offered him a BOM at the end and he just said “no thanks." This time he asked us for one. The restoration really grabs people's attention if they listen with an open heart.

As for other events this week, when we were riding home late one night i went over a curb that I didn't see, I stayed on my bike but my toe smoked the curb so hard that it almost put a hole in my shoe haha. I was sure my toe would be broken but it's doing ok now haha. We also did a transition lesson with the YSA sisters. We had an awesome investigator named Tony who was 23. We set a baptismal date with him for the 14th of August just before we handed him over so it will be cool to see what happens! And I got a flat yesterday, and elder Hutchinson's front tire got slashed so it was a rough sabbath haha had to walk a lot!

Overall I'm doing great! Loving the mission and my testimony gets stronger each day! Love studying the scriptures now. FYI there are 516 verses in the New Testament supporting the godhead, 141 being in John. Sad that people still get it mixed up! Makes the apostasy just that much more evident. Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Bennett

Scripture- Alma 40:11-12