"The unfailing source of HOPE is that we are sons and daughters of God"... Happy EASTER!

Hey y'all!!!!

This week has been awesome and crazy and awesome!!

Brief run down of the week!

Monday and Tuesday were basically full of Sister Yancey running around saying goodbye to everyone and packing. We saw S. (9 year old girl we are teaching), Some members, R. (returning less active), B. (recent convert), and K. (another recent convert). So that was awesome but busy!! We did still sing at the retirement home Golden Age on Tuesday so that was good!!

Wednesday was the dreaded transfer meeting. A member drove us down to Irmo to say goodbye to Sister Yancey. That was really sad. The one bonus to that was I got to see my past companion Sister Harvey, who was going home! I was SO happy to see her!!!!! :):) Then Sister Staheli and I had to brave the world of Inman by ourselves. The adventure was while we were out my GPS came up saying it only had a few minutes left of life. No worries, because I had my charger! But then it decided to freak out and not work while being plugged in. So we had to use the last few minutes to go back to our house so we weren't lost eternally and then do things really close to our house ha, ha! Sister Staheli and I laugh because we basically feel like we are whitewashing. The other adventure is we used a lot of miles earlier in the month (especially with Sister Yancey saying goodbye to people, so we are super short on miles). So we've been trying to walk as much as possible!!!

Thursday we had Yoga Day which was awesome!!! Then we tried some people and then sang at Golden Age! I'm playing the piano, so that's always an adventure. Especially when the old people listening request we sing songs I've never heard before that are in the hymnbook we use there. ha, ha! Luckily they are very nice even if we don't sound super great :)  Now, since it stays light until about 8, we walked around for the evening. We ended up walking about 7 miles that evening!!! We got to meet a lot of people on the street so it was awesome!!!

Friday we had weekly planning!! And then we walked that afternoon. We walked about 6 miles and got to meet a lot of people that way too so that was great again! We are becoming big believers in walking ha, ha ;) We had our lesson with J. (yoga teacher) that evening which was awesome! And he didn't even make us do pushups during the lesson, which has been known to happen on several occasions ha, ha ;)

Saturday we went and did a craft with an older lady in the ward who has been feeling very lonely and sad. We built little popsicle stick frames for printed out quotes. It was a lot of fun! And "surprisingly" we walked around all Saturday afternoon!!! We got to meet a really cool man named J. He is very anti-Mormon, but he has been having a really rough few weeks. Because of that he let us talk to him and share a few of our beliefs with him. He wasn't interested in learning more or reading from the Book of Mormon, but it was probably my favorite contact on my  mission. It was such a testimony builder that if we are listening to the Spirit, God will place us exactly where we need to be. J. even told us that if we had walking by his house any other day, we would have kept on walking because he wouldn't have talked to us. So it was a really awesome experience to testify that we really do believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior. Saturday night we watched the General Women's broadcast which was awesome!!! I LOVED the theme on service :)

Sunday  was Easter!!! We had 6 people at church which was super exciting!! The part member family, the M.s, were there this week again! They have been going to a different ward, but recently moved into our ward boundary so they are transition here and we will get to teach them soon which will be great! B. was there again and he brought his girlfriend's 14 year old son, J. That was really exciting because a couple weeks ago we asked B. if his girlfriend or J. would be at all interested and he said no. J. and his wife K. were there too so that was the best! Also I gave a talk about Easter and how because Christ rose again we have HOPE. The rest of Sunday we went around teaching people and had dinner with a family in the ward so that was great!!!!

 

So all in all it was a super awesome week!!!

 

My Spiritual thought I want to share is a quote I used in  my talk yesterday, the quote is by President Faust, "The unfailing source of hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death." I am grateful for Christ and all He has done for me and you and everyone!!

 

I hope y'all had a happy Easter and have a blessed week!!! I love and miss y'all!!!

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

Inman!!! :)

 

Sister Staheli and Sister Bennett serve  in Inman

 

 

We don't want to say good bye to Sister Yancey! ;(

B is for Bennett!

"That He may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities"... Happy Easter Week!

Hey y'all!!!

How are y'all doing!! It's officiallySpring which is awesome :)  We have had another good, but very busy week!

 

Here's the quick run down:

Last Monday - we had dinner with the ward mission leader (the guy in the ward who helps us a lot with missionary work) and his family!

Tuesday - we had a district meeting! We learned about teaching with the scriptures! Then we went out with a lady in our ward to try to meet some less active members! Then we sang at Golden Age!! Then we had a lesson with K. (the 12 year old recent convert).

Wednesday- we volunteered at the Soup Kitchen!!! Then we had a few lessons! We had a ward missionary coordination meeting (with different ward members asking for help or people to go with us to lessons, etc.).

Thursday- we had the awesome yoga day! Luckily my new exercise pants survived ;) We also sang at Golden Age and had a Relief Society dinner!

Friday  - we planned for the week and then had some lessons! One of the people we taught was named Lazarus. I thought that was pretty fitting to meet a guy named Lazarus around Easter time FANTASTIC ;) We also had a lesson with J. (yoga instructor).

Saturday - we got to do a fun zone service project!!! In a town called Woodruff there was a small hospital that is now being used as a school for kids with autism. They are trying to make it look less like a hospital and also get rid of some mold, and so we got to help pull down wall paper, spackle holes, and take off those weird plastic baseboards that hospitals use! It was awesome to have basically our whole zone helping out with that :) Then we had a few lessons in the evening!

Sunday - we had church! We had three people come again! B. (the 20 year old who was there last time) and J. and K.!!! Then We had some lessons including one with J. and K.!! So that was awesome!!

This morning the transfer calls came out and.... Sister Yancey is leaving :( I'm super bummed about that. Luckily Sister Staheli and I will be staying together here! So that'll be exciting!! But we will miss Sister Yancey :(

So that was our week!! It was awesome!!

 

The spiritual thought this week will be about... take a guess! Easter!! I'm super pumped for that this Sunday!! I really love Easter as a time to remember Christ! The fact that He suffered for our sins and died, but most importantly rose again so we will all live again!! That is just so awesome in every sense of the word. I can't even begin to imagine what that would have been like, but He did all that for us because He loves us. I want to share my favorite scripture about the Atonement in honor of this week. It is Alma 7:11-13. It says (talking about Christ), "And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me." I just love these verse so much. They are so powerful!!

I hope y'all have a blessed week! Know I love and pray for and miss y'all!!! Have a Happy Easter!!!!! Find the Easter Bunny and celebrate Jesus :)

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

 

The State Line!

Yoga Class!!

Our Zone doing our Service Project! :)

 

We can be changed by grace...

Hey y'all!!!!!

How are y'all doing this fine morning? We are doing great and winter has pretty much officially passed here! We went from a few really cold weeks and now it's jumped right back up to the 70s! It even hit 80 a few days! So that was awesome and it makes me very grateful to whoever invented deodorant haha!

 

Well here is a brief overview of my week!

Monday evening we were able to go and try to see a lot of people. A lot of them weren't home, but we were able to teach one person, so that was nice!

Tuesday we didn't have district meeting this week so it gave us extra time to try people! We also sang at Golden Age! Which is like my favorite thing ever :) In the evening we had a lesson with a 12 year old named K. who was baptized in September! She went through a little bit of a rocky phase, but now she's taking off and doing fantastically!

Wednesday we were able to do service at the soup kitchen in the morning! Then we taught some lessons in the afternoon and had our ward missionary meeting in the evening!

Thursday we had our yoga class! So a bit more about the yoga class! We take it at this martial arts training center. It's a pretty big one that has a lot of big names come to it. (For example Sarah McMan, if any of you know who she is. I actually got to meet her which was awesome). J. (our teacher) works there, but it's super cool because the class we take is one he just does extra for my companionship and then one of the sets of Spanish Elders. So it's the five of us that are in the class! Which I am very grateful that it is a small class because this week during one of the stretches my exercise pants ripped. And it was a very big hole. Luckily Josh is short and had an extra pair of pants haha! So the curse of the ripping pants has struck once again. Then we planned for this next week and then sang at Golden Age! In the evening we had a lesson with a really funny family! They are a family where the dad was a member so some of his kids got baptized, but then they got a divorce. So the youngest girl wasn't baptized and the other kids are less active. We have a lesson once or twice a week with the three girls. They are so funny and I love the lessons we have with them. Usually to keep the 9 year (S.) focused we involve some sort of game in our lesson, so I really like that!!

Friday we had a Zone Conference!!! It was really good! President Turner clarified a few of the policies that were announced at our zone meeting last week, so that was really helpful! The fun part was that the Greenville East Zone (my zone) and the Greenville Zone (the neighboring zone) share a stake center. So their zone conference was in the morning and ours was in the afternoon at the same building. That meant we overlapped with that zone being at the building for about 10 minutes. I got to see one of the Sisters that was in my MTC zone and one of the Elders I served with my first two transfers in Camden! So I really enjoyed that!! We had our scary car inspections after that. Basically you have to vacuum your car and take it through the car wash on the way to the meeting otherwise you won't pass. Luckily that is what we did, so we passed! Yay!!! All the Sisters in the Zone did the musical number. We sang "How Deep the Fathers Love For Us." Accompanied by Sister Stoker (our STL) on the piano and Sister Bennett on the guitar. This poor zone is probably so sick of seeing me in musical numbers hahaha :)

Saturday was great! We were able to help an older man in the ward clean his house and then we were able to teach some people! So that was a good day!

Sunday was great! We had a part member family come to church as well as a man named B.  we knocked into last week!! So that was sooo exciting!!! Also during the Spanish Branch the Relief Society sang a musical number and they had Sister Yancey play the piano and Sister Staheli and I sang with them in Spanish. Hopefully we didn't offend them by our Spanish sight reading skills haha :) But it's fun how the Spanish branch considers us part of them! so that's awesome :) Then we were able to teach some people, including J. and K.!

So it was a really great week!!!

 

 For my spiritual thought this week I want to share a scripture we have been sharing with a lot of people this week! The scripture is Moroni 10:32 and it says, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." The concept of grace has really taken a special place in my heart from serving in the South. I love that it is most definitely true that we are saved by grace. But more importantly we can be changed by grace. Which I think is beautiful. God and Christ love us so much that they help us to became better people! We just have to turn to them first. So it's pretty great!

 

Well I love y'all so much and I hope you have a blessed week!!

 

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett!!

PS wear green on St. Patty's day! If not pinch yourself for me ;)

 

Holding a cute baby goat!

 

Seeing friends at Zone Meeting

Sisters of the Spanish Branch

The triple staircase sisters!

 

 

 

Obedience is the BEST...and Marching as to War!

Hey y'all!!!
I am doing great!!! I absolutely love being a missionary!!

This week was great!! We were busy again which was great!!!

 

Brief run down of the week:

Monday: We taught a few lessons!

Tuesday: We saw some people, taught some lessons, and sang at Golden Age Retirement Center!

Wednesday: We had the soup kitchen! It's fun because the soup kitchen is at the church across the street from us. There are a lot of people that come every week, so when we come in they all great us with a "Hello Sisters!" and we are starting to make friends with some of them! So that's pretty cool!! Then we went knocking that afternoon and were able to teach some people from that!

Thursday: We had yoga day! It's pretty fun because a lot of the time J. has us share a scripture that we read during our studies that morning! So we really enjoy that! Then we had our weekly planning! Then we sang at Golden Age! We taught a lesson that evening and then cleaned our car for scary car inspections the next day!

Friday: We had a Zone meeting so that was awesome! There are 4 districts in our zone, which totals about 30 missionaries! So it's like a mini missionary party! Ha ha :) It was quite the eventful zone meeting. They announced a few new policies for our mission that are going to change a few things. The first is that members can only feed us if they have a nonmember or less active member with them. Another is they implemented a new program type thing that seriously limits our knocking. Which I am honestly okay with ha ha, but some missionaries are a little confused about that. But they are having us focus more on the people we've already found and less active or part member families. So it should be good! I'm really excited about that! So those were pretty  big ha ha! I also sang a musical number at the zone meeting!! I sang a duet with and Elder from my district (Elder Stapley). We sang the song "Because He Lives" by Sally DeFord. It's a really beautiful song so I quite enjoyed it. Sister Yancey played the piano for it! It honestly felt a little weird doing a duet with an Elder,  but it sounded really good so I guess it works ha ha! Then we taught some lessons! We met a really cool person who I want to talk about later!

Saturday: We pretty much spent all day teaching, which makes for a very happy missionary ha ha :) An 18 year old girl in the ward came out with us so that was a blast!!

Sunday: We had church and the Spanish Branch! So that was awesome! Then we taught some people the rest of the day!

So it was a really great week again!!

So on Friday we were too far away from our house to go back there for dinner. And there's a policy where we can't eat in our cars, so we decided to go out to eat. We went to a restaurant that was close by and we ended up being the only people there. Our waitress was a really nice lady named T. It ended up being perfect timing because she's going through some really rough things so we were able to start teaching her the gospel while we were there. She was really excited to get a Book of Mormon and hopefully we will start getting to work with her soon! But it was just really cool how because of the policies (aka rules) (for example: we have limited miles and not eating in our car) and being obedient to those rules that the Lord was able to place us exactly where we needed to be in order to help T. So that was awesome! Obedience is the best ha ha :)

 

A spiritual thought for today! Yesterday in Relief Society we had a really great lesson based of an Ensign article from the March 2007 Ensign titled "Forgiving Oneself." Y'all really should go read it because it was just AWESOME! But I want to share a quote from it with y'all!

"Love is a necessary precursor to being able to forgive oneself. As we develop an overpowering love of and gratitude for Jesus for His willingness to forgive us, we earnestly desire to come unto Him- to study His life and teachings and act upon them so that we become more like Him. As we do that, our own capacity to love grows to the point that we can indeed love and forgive ourselves and others... Fortunately, we are not alone. The Savior, through His Atonement, can help us not only to remove the sins but also to forgive ourselves."

I just really liked the lesson because we talked about how the Savior's sacrifice for us was not only to help us be forgiven of our sins, but also to see ourselves as new people that the sins no longer effect. So y'all should go read the talk :)

I love y'all so much! I hope y'all have a blessed week! I think and pray for y'all daily!!

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :) 

 

P.S. I forgot to explain the subject line.  :)    It's in honor of it
being March and a line from the hymn "Onward Christian Soldier." Also
I'm reading the war chapters from the Book of Mormon ha ha :) love
y'all!

With South Carolina mountains in the background!

 

:) The three pack: a blonde, a red head and a brunette! :)