WEEK 13

      Well, this letter gets to summarize what happened in the past two weeks! I wasn't able to write last week because my companion had a doctors appointment for his knee. A lot has happened in the past two weeks but the main things are that we got 2 new investigators, put 2 on date, and many of them came to church! It's been awesome! But our one investigator that was supposed to get baptized didn't come to church. He has sorta fallen off the map. We weren't able to see him all this week. So that is a work hopefully soon to be in progress. I am having so much fun! It's so easy to love the people here. I am teaching such a wide variety of people. Tongan, Jamaican, Philipino, Mexican, Samoan, and East Indian!! It's so much fun and such a great experience.

      We had a cool tender mercy a few days ago where we had an appointment at 7 PM but got there 20 mins early because traffic wasn't bad! We decided to walk around the block. We came across a lady who had just stepped out of her house with her dog and talked to her and she told us she felt that we were representatives of Jesus. We got her number and address! She also said she had a husband and son she wants to be taught. So cool! We also got a call and it was a less active who wanted to come back to back to church and take the lessons again. We went to see her and she brought 2 friends to join in on the lesson who both came to church on Sunday! Amazing! And our other investigator and her member boyfriend are going to get married in the next 2 weeks so that she can be baptized! So many tender mercies. We see miracles happen every week. It's such a great experience to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. I'm loving it! Thank you all for the letters and emails! Love and miss you all!

      ST - Think of someone who could benefit from the knowledge of the plan of salvation. It brings peace to everyone.

      Love, Elder Bennett

Pictures from Thanksgiving. It was chicken... haha

Week 11

      So this week was full of ups and downs. On Monday night one of our investigators cancelled on us and said she wanted a break from missionaries for atleast two weeks. She was doing so good! So that was frustrating. Tuesday night we left our car out in front of our apartment accidentally and it got towed.. Was a long frustrating day trying to get it back but we finished off the day by taking one of our investigators to the visitors center which went really good! So that was a blessing. Wednesday we went to contact a former investigator and an old guy in a wheel chair stopped us and asked us "Do you believe that Satan is the one true and living God?" We said no and he said "Well you don't believe in me then because I believe that I am Satan." Then he wheeled off yelling "Praise Satan!!" Man there are crazy people here in LA haha. We spent wednesday teaching some of our other investigators which went really good! Thursday we street contacted most of the day and had a lot of success! That night we had a lesson with one of our investigators and got him on date! He is getting baptized this sundayon the 22nd. Woo! Friday all of our appointments fell through which was quite frustrating. So we contacted more people and got a lot of new potential investigators! So even with the bad beginning of the week it ended good. Sunday was great as always! It's so nice to go to church. 

  

      ST-Keep the sabbath day holy. We all need to look at the things we do on sunday and think of what we can improve on. We had a really good talk about it in sacrament meeting. 

      
Love you all and have a great week!

     Love Elder Bennett

Week 10

      So this week went by super fast. I'll just go through each day and talk about the cool little tender mercies we had. On Monday night our dinner appointment got cancelled so we went to burger king because we had some coupons. While we were eating, the guy that took our order came and talked to us and said he was a member but has been inactive for years. He asked us where the church was and what time it started and said he would be there on Sunday. He came! So cool how the Lord makes things happen so that we go where we are supposed to go.

      On Tuesday we had new missionary training with our mission president all day which was super good. On our way back we got stuck in LA traffic for 1 1/2 hours and were late for dinner but it worked out and we taught our investigator and the lesson went super good! She said that she felt everything we said is true but she wants to get an answer from her prayers. We tried to explain that maybe that good feeling of what we said was true may be her answer but she said she still wants to get a good feeling after a prayer. I think she is ready and if it's her time she will get and recognize the answer.

      Wednesday we spent all day updating our area book and planning routes for our ward to go on this Saturday for our find-and-invite activity. We make a route of less active families of about 4-6 and our members go knock on their doors, talk to them, and invite them to our Thanksgiving dinner on the 21st! It was super successful. Did street contacting also. Again we found people that were interested so it's so cool!

      Thursday we got to go to the temple which was amazing. It's so peaceful there and all the stress and thoughts in my mind were calmed down. I love going to the temple. Elder Nimori felt super sick after the temple from driving so much so I got a lot of time to do personal study which is thee best! We went to a less active's for dinner and he is awesome. He has a drinking problem but he came to church on Sunday and we have seen a huge change in him! I spoke in church on Sunday on the missionary purpose. He came up to me afterwards and said he was touched by my talk and thanked me for it. It made me realize just how important church is. We receive answers we didn't know we had or needed.

     I went on exchanges with our zone leader on Friday after zone training meeting. His name is Elder Guerrero. Super cool guy! He was a Spanish elder though so all of our appointments were in spanish so I just smiled the whole day haha. Cool experience though! In one of our lessons with an investigator, Elder Guerrero felt prompted to move his baptismal date to this Sunday instead of next month and the investigator accepted! Follow those promptings.

     Saturday we had our find-and-invite activity, which I already mentioned. Our ward contacted over 100 less actives in 1 hour. We had hamburgers afterwards so that's always good. Spent the rest of the day street contacting, knocking on less actives doors, and inviting them to the Thanksgiving dinner and contacting referrals!

     Sunday I gave my talk, we had a bunch of less actives come to church, our district leaders had 2 baptisms, and we had a new investigator come to all 3 hours! This week was great.

     Spiritual Thought - Practice making your prayers more sincere. Pray about all aspects of the church so that your foundational testimony will hold against the fiery darts of the adversary. Satan is throwing everything he has at each of us because he knows these are the last days. We need to all hold strong to what we know is true and stay or get back on the path. Love you all! 

   Elder Bennett

Weel 9: Finally Arriving in LA!

      Ok so I didn't get to write last week because I flew to LA and today was crazy busy because I had to go take a drivers test and also had to get a hair cut! I'm in Hollywood of all places and I'm in a trio again haha. My companion is Elder Nimori and we have Elder Adcox with us too who is a visa waiter. He leaves next transfer because his visa came already. I don't have much time to write because LA traffic is terrible but I'll try to sum up the past two weeks the best I can. 

      So going back to my last week in the MTC. Elder Taylor my companion he rolled his ankle on Tuesday so he was on crutches all week. A seventy came and talked to us Tuesday night and Elder Griffin knew him so I got to go with him and get a picture with all three of us so that was cool! Had a lot of fun teaching investigators in the MTC and one of them was an actual investigator and she really liked us and said she learned a lot from us and said that she would email us if she got baptized so that was cool! I met a sister Hinckley from Calgary who went to Aberhart. Also met an Elder Nelson who was a grade older than me and he went to LCI. I played bball against him in grade 10. He knew John Brewerton. 

      Said good bye to my district on Sunday night and woke up at 2:30 am Monday morning, took a train to the airport and flew to LA! Went through all the orientation and went and street contacted for 3 hours with Elder Coleman. That was super fun and we had a ton of success! Went to a member's house that night and slept there, then Tuesday got my companions and went to Hollywood! This mission is quite a high-baptizing mission. Our mission has an average of 40 baptisms a month. We will probably be having 3 baptisms this month in my ward - all converts. We are always either teaching lessons, contacting refferals or less actives. Crazy busy! Loving it though. Our ward mission leader is an actor and he plays basketball every night with famous viners so that's pretty crazy. It's amazing how wicked Hollywood is, yet every day we find someone that's been prepared to hear our message. It's awesome! 

      Had a crazy experience where I felt like we needed to go into an apartment complex and talk to someone, so we did and there was only one lady there. We introduced ourselves and she was super interested! Taught her the first two lessons right there. Following promptings always brings blessings! The members here are awesome and our bishop is so cool! One of our investigators attended church on Sunday and we just met her on Friday. She said she loved it! Our bishop asked me and Elder Adcox to speak next week so kinda nervous for that. Weather is awesome and I'm having so much fun! 

      ST (Spiritual thought)- Gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Our entire religion depends on it. If it is true then we have a prophet on the earth today and all the standards, commandments and rules we follow in the church are directly from God. Never forget that when you question a standard that the church has set. Love and miss you all! My letter next week will hopefully not be so rushed. 

   Love Elder Bennett