WEEK 24 • 6-month mark!

 Monday

  This morning we went to the Soriano's and picked oranges from their tree. We do our laundry at their house and email while waiting for it. They are a super cool family who are all converts to the church. For P-day we went to a park that has a indoor soccer sized court but outside, bball hoops and a tennis court. Super fun! Did that all day. Afterwards we went and got ice cream, then had dinner, then visited some potentials and called others and set appointments! Crazy how fast this transfer has flown by. Plus next week is my 6 month mark! Still feel like I just got out of the MTC haha

   Tuesday

Had my first quarter training this morning.. Feels so weird to be 1/4 done! The training was really good though. Talked a lot about how we need to keep our greenie fire haha. President told us that the diligence we have in obeying the white handbook with determine our diligence in keeping our covenants after the mission. Thought that was interesting. We met with a few of our investigators today and the lessons all went super well! On the street we met a guy and I introduced the Book of Mormon to him and I had one in my hand, he asked if he could look at it so I handed it to him, he asked how much it costs and I said it's free and we kept talking as he thumbed through it, got his info and he walked off with the Book of Mormon. It was our last one.. Whoops! Hopefully he reads it haha. Spent the rest of our day visiting potentials and referrals. Elder Stevens and I are getting quite the collar neck tans haha

   Wednesday

This morning started off pretty fun! We were early for an appointment, so we started street contacting and came across a drunk lady and her brother who liked to talk a lot haha. The lady just went on and on about how it wasn't a sin to kill and all this crazy stuff. Wouldn't let us walk away they just kept following us! Eventually we asked if we could say a prayer then leave and we told her we fold our arms and she wanted to hold hands for the prayer and because we said we fold our arms then she went off about how we must be racist haha. 'Twas a good time! Not haha. Then we had a really good lesson with a new investigator and set a baptismal date! Saw Justin who wants to go to YSA so we are figuring that out, then we street contacted, visited some potentials,  then had correlation and that was it! Felt like the day was a blur. Oh and we met another drunk guy before going in for the night. Such a sad thing to see people turn to an addiction to make themselves feel free. Satan is so cunning! 

   Thursday

Had a few appointments fall through this morning, then we had weekly planning, went and visited our investigator, Desiray, and we asked her if she was praying with curiosity, or with real intent. She said she felt it was with more curiosity. It's easy to explain what real intent is and why it's so important, but as far as them gaining real intent, we can't do much other than bear testimony. So that's what we did. Amazing how the spirit is truly the teacher. By the end of the lesson she admitted she hadn't really been trying hard in her prayers but committed to be sincere from now on in them and test out Moroni's promise. We are taking her to the visitors center tomorrow so we will see how it goes! For dinner we went to Jack in The Box and a homeless guy started talking to us and he was a little crazy. Didn't make much sense. He followed us to our car when we got our food and then when we got on the road and were turning right, he came running at our car and tried to punch the side. So that was kinda crazy. Always making memories haha.

   Friday

From 7-1 o'clock we did temple service. Just trimmed bushes, raked leaves, used a leaf blower and cleaned up the place! Was a fun time! Then we went to a lesson with a potential investigator. We had just met her on the street the day before. The lesson went really well for the most part! She accepted a baptismal date for March 20th! Then we went and saw Desiray and that went really good too. We didn't get to go to the visitors center though because no members could drive us. Talked about the gifts of the Holy Ghost and she said she really wanted to have it! She tried praying last night after writing her essay but fell asleep during the prayer haha. Oh and I found out that Zaya, my investigator back in Hollywood, did get baptized! The Sunday after I got transferred. 

   Saturday

This morning we went to the baptism of the other English missionaries. We gave the missionary moment while she was getting changed. It's super cool because she is the daughter in law of Sister Lindo who is a convert of 3 years and the rest of the family are converts as well except the one son who got married to Zuly (one that got baptized) and so now he is going to get baptized. After that we went and saw Justin who is super excited to receive the Holy Ghost and get his priesthood interview tomorrow! The branch president said he is going to call Justin to be an usher. Then we had district meeting, then went and visited with some investigators at the park and answered their questions. Hard because one guy he believes all Christian churches are fine. That it doesn't matter which one you go to. We explained it really well but he wouldn't accept the one true church idea. Then we saw our new investigator and set a baptismal date with him! He said "Why couldn't the Book of Mormon be true?" And "Who wouldn't want to be baptized by the correct authority?" So he is golden. Then saw Desiray who can't come to church tomorrow.. :(. Other than that it was a good day! Hoping to have a bunch of new investigators at church tomorrow. 

   Sunday

Justin got confirmed this morning! He also passed his interview for the priesthood! Church was awesome. We also had an investigator come to church who we hadn't even met in person yet so that was super cool! Had lunch and then had no appointments so we went and talked to tons of people all day. Walked for 3 hours straight.. But it was worth because we found a few solid people! Had dinner then went and contacted a few referrals and then tonight transfer calls came... I am staying here and my new companion is Elder Clark! Elder Stevens is going to Palos Verdes which is basically his old area. Same building and everything. Crazy! I'm also senior companion now and driving again.  But yeah that's it! Crazy that the transfer is over already. Feel like we just got to this area haha. Gotta still work hard!

   ST-2nd Nephi 32:8-9. I think we can apply it to more than just prayer. We can apply it to all teachings. We know what's right. So Do It! Don't idle your time away. 

 Love you all!

Elder Bennett

Justin's Baptism!

WEEK 23

      Well I was sick for most of this week so didn't write my book of a letter haha. This week was kinda rough. Our investigator, Keith, told us he didn't want to meet with us anymore but our other investigators are coming along well! Justin is getting baptized this Sunday and asked me to baptize him. He was having some second thoughts about being baptized and called us last night and told us. We told him to pray again about the things we had taught him. He called us this morning and said he prayed and dreamed that he got baptized and then went to heaven. So that was super awesome! 

      The area is doing well and I am feeling better too so all is good! Crazy how my 6-month mark is next week. Hope you all have a great week and stay strong!

  Love Elder Bennett

WEEK 22

    Monday

Pday was awesome as always. We went with our district leaders to their church and played bball and soccer there! The gym has a carpet floor but it wasn't too bad. Just like the white church back home but bigger and only one hoop. But man my cardio is gone! I can still jump, shoot, all that but not by the end haha. Get tired so fast! Can't do my jump program in the mornings now either because our roof isn't high enough. We also went to yogurt land so that probably doesn't help haha. My knee hasn't bothered me too much so that's a blessing. It does seem to ache here and there though. The emails are all delayed though so that was annoying. Only had 3 emails this morning then around 5 they all started popping up. I forgot to send my weekly letter! Whoops. So you get 2 this week. We went to a part member families house tonight for dinner. The dad isn't a member and usually avoids the missionaries when they come over. Just goes into his room or watches tv. But this time he sat down and ate with us! Got to know him and he really opened up. He even joined us for the message and prayer! Work to do there. Super excited for what this week will bring! 

   Tuesday

This morning was pretty crazy. We spent it running from referral to referral appointments giving bibles and book of Mormons, setting return appointments. I hate staying in the car it just makes me tired. Finally we got to a set appointment with our investigator Justin. He's the golden one who asked to be baptized. We taught him the 3rd lesson because his uncle apparently told him that any Christian can baptize him so we had to reexplain the priesthood and how it's mandatory in order to baptize someone. He understood it and said "yeah that's what I thought I just didn't know how to explain it to him." So it was all good! He is super excited to get baptized and he even gave us a referral of his friend! Awesome guy. Afterwards we had a lesson with Gregory and one of our members came with us. The members is Russian and just moved to the states 3 weeks ago. He is a convert of 5 years and served a mission! Super awesome guy. Really thick Russian accent but speaks good English! Sadly Gregory wasn't there but we went and tried our backup and she was! Huge blessing that brother Artukov was with us because she is an older single lady. She was the one who came to church but didn't feel welcomed and brother Artukov related to her super well and shared his experience when he investigated the church. We basically just answered a question here and there and let him teach haha. Was awesome! She really opened up and committed to read, pray and come to church again! Then we had dinner at a Tongan families house so that was awesome. They usually make us sing for our dinner but they forgot so yay! Haha. Was a great day. 

   Wednesday

Today we had a lesson with a new referral and it was actually two referrals that lived in the same house. It was a husband and wife so we taught them both. Everything was going awesome until we quoted the first vision... Soon as we said "2 personages" the husband said "Wait wait wait, you're saying they are separate?" And it just went off from there. He had been raised up believing they were all one being so it took forever trying to explain. He just wasn't willing to accept it even after we showed him multiple scriptures. To me it's so simple but he could not get his head around it. 'Twas a rough time. Afterwards we had a lesson with our progressing investigator who is awesome as always! Taught him the word of wisdom and he said "Yep I can do that. And if I find a hidden treasure that makes me rich I'll get baptized that very day." Haha his baptismal date is the 21st. He's only 19 and will be the first to join of his family who are all baptist. We had a lesson fall through with Gregory again today, but street contacted around his house and found 2 people who gave us their info and asked us to stop by! So that was awesome. Had correlation with our branch mission leader who is awesome! He is so hard core it's crazy. Helps a ton. I remember the missionaries back home talking about how Mark Harker was the best ward mission leader they had had their whole mission. Now I understand what it means to have an awesome ward mission leader haha. Then we took a bible to a referral and he let us in! Taught him the restoration, invited him to be baptized, read the Book of Mormon, pray and he accepted! It was so cool. He is such a sincere guy and the lesson was super powerful. We didn't set a date though but we do have a return appointment. Awesome day as always! 

   Thursday

Contacted potentials this morning and found 2 who were interested! We also went to a house that was a former investigator but they had moved, so we explained who we were and she was super interested and invited us over tomorrow! Super cool. Then we had a lesson with our investigator Gregory finally and in the past it said that the missionaries had taught him the word of wisdom so we followed up with that and he didn't know anything about it... So we taught that and he wasn't super willing to give certain things up. Sad because he was one of our baptismal dates for the 21st. Gonna continue to work with him though. He's coming to church this Sunday. We then had a meeting about the need to contact referrals and apparently Gladys Knight is coming to the mission in April and we are going to have to prepare to contact a ton of referrals after she performs for investigators. We then did weekly planning, and then went to contact potentials, referrals and an investigator we hadn't met yet. We found him, he's 17 and apparently his family didn't want him to take the lessons because they wanted to learn as well so now we are teaching the whole family! Super awesome. Oh and a funny dog story. So we had to go up and down this one street twice and there was this pit bull that would go crazy each time we went by sticking it's nose through the fence and everything. So the second time we went by it came rushing to the fence at full speed from the house, went to stick it's nose through the fence and misjudged the pole and ran straight into the pole.. Haha. Probably one of thee funniest things I've seen an animal do. It stopped barking, just stood there. Saw a few people dancing down the street so that's always fun to watch! What's funny is that they all dance very similar haha. 

   Friday

This morning we went to a referrals house and he was interesting. Had a lot of visible illegal drugs in his house all beside his bibles haha. He wanted a Book of Mormon but the print was too small so we scheduled a different time to come back. Had zone training meeting after that and it was super good! We have a really big zone. 15 sets of elders, no sisters. I played the piano and yes mom you would be proud because I can now play several songs from the actual hymn book haha. President Weidman came to our meeting which was super cool and talked about the need to speak with everyone. We definitely saw the blessings that came from that today as we talked with everyone we could see! Helped a guy move a fridge into an apartment and the lady in the apartment was super interested, gave us her info and asked when we could come by! So new investigator! I was on exchanges with Elder Bair who is a super cool guy. He is very smart. Dinner tonight was super awesome! Had roast pork, potatoes, carrots and jello! Nice to have a dinner that was similar to moms cooking. Then tonight we had a lesson with our 16 year old investigator and our branch mission leader came with us. Her mom had met with missionaries many years ago and so we taught them both! Well the mom kinda just listened in here and there. But she accepted to be baptized on the 6th of March! And both her, her mom, and her little sister are going to come to church on Sunday. So cool! 

   Saturday

We ran around a little this morning from appointment to appointment mainly setting return appointments haha. But we had a set lesson with our investigator Keith who is super solid. But we didn't have a baptismal date with him! So we set one today for the 21st! Haha. He is so cool. Reminds me a lot of Campbell. Super chill, smart and always crackin jokes haha. He is definitely going to get baptized. Very golden. Oh one funny thing that happened this morning was we got a referral for a lady who wanted a bible so when we got there we introduced ourselves, gave her a bible, and as soon as we said we were Mormons she gasped and said "What?! I don't want this bible then." And gave it back to me.. So we asked her what she had against Mormons and she didn't have any real reason so explained that we believe in God, Jesus and the spirit and she was super surprised, we explained what the Book of Mormon was, and she took the bible in the end haha. So interesting how Mormons have been labeled as "non believers of Christ" when the whole entire Book of Mormon is about him. Crazy that everyone who is "anti Mormon" that we talk to doesn't know that. Shows how much work there is for us as members to do. We also had a lesson with our other investigator Justin who is also golden. He is all about baptism haha. Taught him the plan of salvation and afterwards he told us that he had invited all of his family and friends to his baptism on the 21st! Then we had a cool experience just before dinner. We were early so we decided to walk around the streets for a while and as we walked by a house a guy called us over from his porch. He explained that he was a shuttle driver and that a guy who he dropped off at Disney land told him to talk to the next 2 guys he saw in white shirts and ties with name tags on. He promised he would so that why he called us over. We taught him a short restoration lesson, got his info, and a return appointment! So cool. We are hoping to have 5 investigators at church tomorrow! This area is on fire. 

   Sunday

Had 3 investigators at church today! Justin, Desiray and Keith. It was Keith and Justin's 2nd time and they both stayed for all 3 hours! 19 and 18 years old. Desiray is 16 and had to leave in the 3rd hour but it was all good. Just so awesome because we found Justin 3 weeks ago, and he's getting baptized in 13 days! After church we were planning to go to appointments but some crazy stuff happened and we ended up going on exchanges. I went with Elder Pearson and we took 1 of his investigators and Keith to the visitors center. It was Keith's first time seeing the temple and he loved it! When we got there and just walked around it for a bit he said he felt just a peace, as if he weren't in LA anymore. Then we went on a visitors center tour and it was super good. Afterwards we went and saw a former invstigaotor who is 17. His Aunt is super anti Mormon and came to the door and told us she never wants to see us on her property again so now we have to meet with him somewhere else. It's a pretty tough situation. Again she said "We are Christians, and don't want part in your program!" I think that's probably the main thing that's been getting on my nerves is how many people think we are "Mormons" and not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Whenever we tell people we believe in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit they are always shocked. Some people do know us as the Latter Day Saints though. But it was a good week! Keith and Justin are looking solid for the 21st. Our other investigators need some work but that's all good. 

Hope you all have a great week! I do miss home at times but the mission is a once in a lifetime chance and has been an amazing experience and helped me grow a ton already. Time flies when you're having fun and time has definitely flown by. Shows how being in the Lord's service is the best thing we can do. Be a part of the work of salvation. I liked this quote below. Helped me remember the eternal perspective. 

Our divine nature has nothing to do with our personal accomplishments, the status we achieve, the number of marathons we run, or our popularity and self-esteem. Our divine nature comes from God. It was established in an existence that preceded our birth and will continue on into eternity.-Rosemary M Wixom

Love Elder Bennett

WEEK 21

      Monday

 P-day we went to the Stake center and I got to play bball with Elder Taylor, and Elder Rawlings both who I was in the MTC with! They are companions now and Elder Rawlings is a district leader. Super fun getting to see them both in the field! So 4 of us 6 elders who were in the same district in the MTC are all in the same zone in the field. Gonna be a party! Our lesson fell through with one of our investigators and so our branch mission leader took us to see a recent convert family and their oldest son has a non member girlfriend who he is bring to church on Sunday! So new investigator! Woo! 

  Tuesday

So with our cars we are given a certain amount of miles for the month and in our area we are given 800. When Elder Stevens and I got here which was half way through the month, the other elders had already used 600.. So we hardly have any mlles left. So we are walking everywhere! Kinda sketchy since we don't know the area perfectly and where the red zones are. We have a pretty big area so it takes a while to get places but we did it! Had dinner at a Tongan families house who have 8 kids so that was a party! Felt like home again with the nieces and nephews over. They made Elder Stevens sing for our dinner so that was funny. He did good! They play a lot of games so I taught them how to play 3 stage charades. They gave us a ride home so our prayer was answered haha. 

  Wednesday 

So we did a lot of walking today as well. Seems like every single house has a pit bull so it's a rough time contacting referrals who don't have phone #s. We went to this house and we could hear the dog but we could see it was in the backyard behind the fence so I went in and knocked on the door, talked to the guy and it wasn't who we were looking for so we were walking back to the gate and elder Stevens went out and I felt like I needed to turn around and sure enough the pit bull was rushing me and Elder Stevens being the kind companion he is held the gate open for me as I used my bag as a shield and dodged my way out haha. So that was fun.. Reaffirmed my opinion that big dogs aren't for me! Oh and we saw a dog that looked exactly like the ware wolf from Harry Potter. I'll send a picture of it but it doesn't quite do it justice. The thing was huge and even howled haha. Beginning to think Dogs were made to annoy missionaries. Especially chihuahuas. Had a lesson with one of our investigators who was giving his pit bull a bath when we showed up. On our way home there were 8 cop cars blocking the street and a helicopter hovering above and one cop came and asked us "Now what in the world are you two white guys doing in these parts??" So that was fun to explain. He just thought we were crazy. Seems like there are always sirens going or a helicopter passing by. Bonus is that everyone doesn't mind talking to us because they are all curious about us! Talked to a ton of people today. 

   Thursday

Today we walked on the streets all morning and found a few really cool people! Met a guy who has been to the Missouri temple, Vegas temple and wants to go to the LA temple! He was super enthusiastic about us coming over and gave us his info. Then we met a guy who had talked to missionaries the week before down in long beach and we encouraged him to meet with them and he said he had been debating on it but decided he would call them back because we had talked to him. Met a few people who wouldn't talk to us because they were "Christian" and we weren't. As if the name Jesus Christ on our name tags doesn't speak for itself haha. Had a girl stop us on the street and said she wasn't interested but praised us for spreading the word. Seem to be lot of people like that around. Just wish they would also listen to what we have to say rather than just observe. We did our weekly planning today and prepared for next week then had dinner at a part members home. The dad isn't a member and won't let the 12 year old and 14 year old get baptized so we have work to do there. We didn't bring it up but the mom told us about it before hand. She wants us to come over every week and "change his mind" haha. Super awesome family. The mom and the 16 year old daughter are converts. 

   Friday

Well today was full of a lot of showing up for lessons and no one answering the door.. Haha. BUT! We had a lesson with our investigator Keith which was awesome! Taught him about Prophets and the need to follow their modern day council. The past missionaries had given him a gospel principles book with Howard W Hunter on the front and he told us that he just felt a connection to him. Like he had seen him before in a dream or something. Told us that that must be revelation of some kind and committed to come to church again this Sunday! He is so golden. We had district meeting this morning as well which is always good. Just wish our branch building was closer and in our area. We did meet a guy on the street who said he had read the Book of Mormon and knew it was not true and I asked him what it was about and he said "It's about a family who swims across the ocean to America and started the United States" Sooo that was fun. He was just a little crazy haha. The joy of being a missionary.

   Saturday

A few of our appointments fell through today as well. One of our investigators said she was going to her church tomorrow and might come to ours next week so that was a little frustrating. She came last Sunday. Said she didn't feel very welcomed which was fair enough. Why can't members just see that there is someone sitting with the missionaries and come say HELLO? Anyways I'll stop myself there so I don't go on a rant haha. Then we went to see our new investigator Justin and taught him the restoration. He was the one who came up to us last week and said he wanted to get baptized. Lesson went super good and we set a date for him on the 21st! He even volunteered to say the prayer at the end of the lesson. Then had a lesson with another new investigator named George. He's a super cool guy who reminds me a ton of David. He grew up Catholic but felt it wasn't quite right and had kinda just gone with his own beliefs. Met some missionaries a while back and felt he should look into it. Lesson went awesome and he said he would definitely read and pray. Shaky about church though. He did say the closing prayer though and it was probably thee most sincere pray I had heard an investigator give. He told us he hadn't prayed in a looooong time. Finally we had our second lesson with Jose and Wendy. They had a crazy week with stuff going on but we got to know them better and we shared the Mormon message "Mountains to climb". Man Elder Eyerings voice invites the spirit. They were both teary eyed afterwards. Had a very powerful discussion afterwards and Jose gave the closing prayer. He also hadn't prayed in a long time. Super powerful. After he asked if we could please come again and this time for dinner and a lesson! So cool! I have no doubt they will get baptized one day. 

   Sunday

So this morning before church we took a bible to one of our referrals and she was super nice. Introduced us to her two daughters and basically praised us as role models of how it's possible for young people to believe in God so that was funny. We tried to introduce the Book of Mormon but she wasn't interested but asked if we would leave a prayer and blessing on the home before we left. So we all got in a circle as she directed us to, held hands and prayed! Felt very weird haha. I think our family tried to do that once? Just ended in some nearly broken hands haha. Then we went to pick up our new investigator Justin who we saw yesterday and he wasn't there! His roommate said that he had left to the park 10 mins before. So we took our ward mission leader and went and found him, pulled over and I jumped out, asked him why he wasn't coming to church, he said "Idk I forgot?" And so I told him to get in the car, he did and we took him to church! And he loved it! After church we went on splits with the branch presidency and I went with brother Soriano again to see our investigator Gregory. He is African American and has been taught by missionaries before but never would really commit to church or baptism. Brother Soriano shared his conversion story, and his testimony and the spirit was instantly there, Gregory started tearing up and after I invited him to be baptized on Feb 21st. He accepted!! And even asked for a ride this Sunday! Soooo cool. Huge miracle. Then tonight we had a meeting with all the ward councils and missionaries in the stake about how to work better together and that was awesome. Makes me wonder how it all works back home? I don't remember the missionaries going out with the bishopric and stuff. Anyways it was an awesome week and full of tender mercies! Met a Buddhist and an Atheist today on the street so that was a party as well haha. 

Hope you all had a great week! ST- Remember every member a missionary. Think about how you can do better, no better yet! Study how you could be a better missionary. 

2nd ST/Quote-"Be obedient, remember the times when you have felt the Spirit in the past, and ask in faith. Your answer will come."-James B Martino

Love that quote because it always makes me think of the times in my past where I have felt the spirit. Sometimes we need to do that so we don't forget. Seems like that's Satan's main focus. Make us forget the times we felt the spirit so we lose our testimony. That's why members go less and inactive. Love you all!

Love Elder Bennett