Week 8

No letter this week.

Heading to LA!

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

Week 6

Crazy to think this past week was my last in Canada! It was sad saying goodbye to everyone. Again, it's just crazy how I've come to love it here in such a short amount of time! Gonna miss the people.

This week went really well! We got to visit with our new investigators out at Siksika and it all went good! Got a new investigator here in Strathmore even! The girl out in Siksika that we have been teaching is going to be getting baptized on her 10th birthday so that's exciting! On Sunday my companions spoke in church out at the Gleichon branch. I spoke on prayer and the holy ghost and I felt like it went well haha. We were all supposed to give 10 min talks and not going to say who but one of my companions gave a 5 minute talk so we ended kinda early haha. But it was all good! We had an oreo test this week with the missionaries in the zone. And of course they are all Americans and voted that American oreos are better... I disagree!! I can't stand American oreos haha. 

I'm excited and sad at the same time to be leaving tomorrow! My back has been hurting me quite a bit though this week and they haven't been able to find me a chiropractor so hopefully there is one at the MTC! Didn't really have a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving haha. The house we were at decided to just have turkey wraps which was good but just wasn't the same. Kinda short on time with it being a holiday and can't really think right now! With it being my last pday here, the zone leaders and a couple other elders are coming to Strathmore and will be here soon! Just been thinking a lot this week about Larry R. Lawrence's talk on how we need to pray about how we can improve. I've tried it out and it's helped me a ton! Stay strong and keep doing the little things! 

   Love Elder Bennett

Week 5

Man the weeks fly by.. Mixed feelings about my visa coming because I've already grown to love the people here! Gonna miss them. Excited to see Jocelyn in the MTC though! Gonna be weird going to the MTC after 6 weeks of being in the field but that's ok! This week was hit and miss. Had some good days, boring days, half good and half bad days. We just had so many appointments drop it was frustrating! But each time we were spent and didn't know what to do we said a prayer, and within a half hour in were at someones home sharing a message. Thank goodness for prayer!! It's become so real to me how prayer is literally speaking with Heavenly Father and how asking sincerely always brings blessings and answers. We seriously would have had 0 success this week without prayer.

  I got a hair cut on Monday for a lady in our ward and I made no bake cookies to pay her haha. Pday we played bball as usual with the rest of the zone which is always fun! I'm staying in great shape contrary to what everyone says about missions haha. Doing my 30-minute workout every morning makes a huge difference but morning workouts are hard haha. 

  Had a ton of strong spiritual experiences and dinner messages, especially at FHE with a family. When anyone bears their testimony the spirit instantly enters the room. We did get a potential new investigator here in Strathmore from tracting which is sweet! On the doorstep I testified that our message would bless his life in numerous ways, etc., and he agreed to meet with us Monday night! So we will see how that goes. Out on the reserve our appointments got dropped and moved to this week, but we reactivated a less active which was awesome! Elder Elliott was prompted to call her and she invited us over. It went super well and she bore her testimony. She watched all the sessions of conference! She hasn't been to church in over 6 months and she said she never wants to miss another week. We also saw a less active man and he asked us to give his son a blessing. His son has been sick for the past week. Elder Elliott gave it and I did the annointing. The spirit was super strong. We got a call for a sister in our ward that night, who is also native, and she wanted a blessing too. I gave that one. I was nervous but I remembered how blessings are from God so I just said what came to my mind in the moment. I thought it went well and she thanked me afterwards. Just a great blessing and experience to be a missionary!

   We dealt with some anti people this week and with some less actives who have been looking in to anti mormon books. Arguing gets you nowhere haha. With people who are unwilling to doubt their doubts, you just have to bear you testimony. A testimony speaks to the heart, and is the only way to help those people change. I saw that happen this week twice. 

  Conference was so good! Loved Elder Lawrence, Nelson, and Bednard's talks! And President Monson's talk was sooo powerful. Amazing to see him so weak, yet still testifying with all his strength of the truthfulness of the gospel. He is a great example. We got one of our investigators to watch the Saturday sessions with us! She said she loved it. Went to Chili's with the elders in the zone before the priesthood session which was super fun! Elder Hopoi is excited for me to meet his family. He says "We Tongans eat like no other, so if you're hungry just go to my house and say I sent you." haha I love Elder Hopoi! I hope he comes to Magrath. 

   Remember the things that stood out to you this conference. Pray on how you can improve and work on building your testimony each day! If you feel you don't have a knowledge of something, pray about it. "Not with curiosity, but with a sincere desire" - James B Martino. 

Stay strong! This is the only church on the earth with the fullness of the gospel. So live the commandments and standards we have! True happiness will always be the result. Love you all!

   Love Elder Bennett