Monday, July 25, 2016

God will always be there to help us keep the commandments!


Hey y'all!!!! 

How are y'all doing this week? We are continuing to be good here in Inman!!!! 

Quick rundown of the week:
Monday we got a phone call from President Turner. (Honestly looking at the phone and seeing that it's your mission president calling always strikes a certain amount of fear in your heart). But he was calling to tell us that we had to be out of our current housing by August 9th and they didn't have anywhere for us to go so we became in charge of finding a new apartment for us. We didn't know we were going to have to be moving at all until that moment, haha! So that was an adventure. In the evening we saw S. and had a good lesson with her on the restoration! Then we saw Sister K. and shared 1 Nephi 3:7.

Tuesday: We had a fantastic district meeting! Then we had to go house hunting for a little while. We later went and saw R.! We talked about Word of Wisdom and how God will always be there to help us keep the commandments! Then we sang at Golden Age! In the evening we were walking around to our appointments (which all fell through) but it was okay because as we were walking V. (a less active) drove by and pulled over and talked with us and we were able to have a quick lesson with her right there on the side of the road! It was awesome! God really helps to inspire us in our timing!!

Wednesday we worked at the Soup Kitchen! Wahoo!!! Then we went and saw K.! She's really exciting because she's getting a new job that will most likely give her Sundays off and then she'll be able to come to church! Yay!!! In the evening we went and saw H. and finished teaching her the Restoration!

Thursday we had yoga Day!!! Then we had a good lesson with B.! Brother R. came along with us. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). Then more house hunting. We actually found a place that day that was nice and had an opening!! Then we went to dinner with the M. family at a fish camp! It was exciting because I actually thought the fish tasted good! phew! Then we went and helped them start setting up for their wedding on Saturday!!!

Friday we had our weekly planning!! Then we spent all afternoon with the M. Family helping them set up their wedding!! Then we had to go back to the apartment complex from Thursday to start the application process! In the evening we had a final Boiling Springs ward activity where we ate banana splits to honor the ward split haha! Then we had a good lesson with K. where we talked about peer pressure.

Saturday was awesome!!! We were able to see T. and her son E. (a part member family). Then see a less active sister, Sister N.. Then we had K. and D's wedding! That was awesome! I got to play the piano for them which was really cool, haha! It was the cutest, most Southern wedding ever! Then we helped them clean up! And in the evening we saw a man named B.!!!

Sunday we had church, but only sacrament meeting (since there is still minimal organization for the new ward). B., the M. Family, and J. and K. came!! yay!! We then were tracting and we met a man named J. who is a less active and moved here a little bit ago. Immediately upon meeting us invited us to come back today and said he'd be coming to church on Sunday! So that was awesome!!! In the evening we saw a less active family, the A.s. We read Alma 32 and talked about faith. We had a super good lesson with them! It was awesome!!!! Then we saw V. (same one from earlier in the week) and taught her the plan of Salvation!  

So it was another crazy and busy and productive week! Weeks like that are the best!!! Well maybe minus the house hunting, but it keeps things interesting hahah ;) The next job will be packing and moving! Wahoo!! Also transfer calls went out today and Sister Coleman and I will be staying together! Not surprising since I am halfway through training her. But still just as exciting!! I love her! She's so awesome so I'm exciting to have these next 6 weeks with her :)  

Spiritual thought for this week is actually the first verse of the hymn "Come, Come, Ye Saints":

"Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear; But with joy wend your way. Though hard to you this journey may appear, grace shall be as your day. 'Tis better far for us to strive our useless cares from us to drive; do this, and joy your hearts will swell- All is well! All is well!"

I love that because of Jesus Christ that no matter what hardship we go through, whether it's having to uproot and walk across the plains, or a financial struggle, the death of a loved one, or whatever, Christ has already walked that path. Because of Christ we can find joy in trying times and like this hymn we can say "All is well."

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

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)
 
Sister Bennett at the wedding

 The beautiful family
 The wonderful bride and groom with the missionaries
 The sloth card handmade for the wedding
The lovely wedding decorations
 

Monday, July 18, 2016

The brighter our hope, the greater our faith!

Hey y'all!!!
This week was good, but another busy and crazy week in the missionary world!!!!
 
Monday: we had a lesson with S and S! We made gingerbread with them, which was a huge success! And then we read the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego out of the children's bible and talked about how sometimes in life we are put in a fire/oven (hard experiences) but these hard experiences allow us to change and become better people. Just like the heat of the oven caused the dough to become delicious gingerbread cookies! haha :) It was a really good lesson!
Tuesday: we had our district meeting and I gave a training on the importance of having members with us at lessons! After that we saw R. We had a good lesson with him on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There was one excitement with that lesson... we were teaching him on his porch and a stray cat decided to join us. During the lesson I accidentally backed into the stray cat and scared him and then got bit pretty hard on my leg! Then we sang at Golden Age and in the evening we had a lesson with the M. family! We taught about the importance of studying the scriptures every day!
Wednesday: Because my cat bite was still stinging and because it had drawn blood, the mission nurse had me go to the urgent care to get it checked out. No worries... I don't have rabies and I get to keep my leg haha! But they did put my on an antibiotic so that was Wednesday's adventure! We went early though so we could be back in time to still help out at the soup kitchen! After that we had a really great lesson with M. on the Plan of Salvation! In the evening we had a lesson with a lady named R. and then had our visit with Sister K.!!!
Thursday: In the morning we had a visit with a part member family (K. and R.) and talked about prayer! Then we had yoga day! yay!!!! Then we had a lesson with B. on faith! He had a friend over who joined in the lesson and said he might come back for another one! So that was cool :) Then we sang at Golden Age! In the evening we met a lady named B. who let us right into her house and we got to teach her the Restoration and she talked about how she's really interested in learning more! Wahoo! Then we had a lesson with K. and read Alma 5 with her!
Friday: we had our weekly planning! In the evening we had a good lesson with L. where we read 3 Nephi 17 with her.
Saturday: In the afternoon we had a good lesson with B. where we read Enos and talked about the importance of prayer! In the evening we had a ward activity where we watched The Legend of Johnny Lingo! It was pretty exciting hahaha :)
Sunday:... the day we had been waiting for all week! We carpooled with the Gaffney sisters to Spartanburg (so we meet at the Boiling Springs building and then the Gaffney sisters rode with us) to the big meeting that had been announced last week! They made some pretty big changes. The Cowpens branch was dissolved and that area was then divided up to 4 different wards. And then.... they split the Boiling Springs ward! So now there is the Boiling Springs ward and the Inman ward!!! Wahoo!!!!!! Who would have ever thought that Inman was a big enough city to get it's own ward haha ;) Well obviously more than just the city of Inman is in the ward, that's just the namesake! So now Sister Coleman and I will be covering that ward by ourselves and the Elders will be covering the Boiling Springs ward by themselves. It was great because the way it worked out we didn't lose anyone we are teaching and our area got a lot bigger so we will be getting some new people to work with! It's all very exciting! After the official meeting, our mission president met with all the missionaries to help direct us in the chaos haha ;) So that was good! Then in the evening we had a lesson with a lady we met a few weeks ago named P. Then we had a really good lesson with J. and K. about 1 Nephi 16!
So this week was good and full of lots and lots of adventures!!!
Spiritual thought for the week in a quote by President Uchtdorf from the October 2008 conference.  "Hope is critical to both faith and charity. When disobedience, disappointment, and procrastination erode faith, hope is there to uphold our faith. When frustration and impatience challenge charity, hope braces our resolve and urges us to care for our fellowmen even without expectation of reward. The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity." Hope is something that I have been learning a lot about on my mission. I love that hope is not something unsure. That hope is the Gospel is a trust in Jesus Christ and helps us realize that no matter our situation right now, if we rely on Christ, it can and will get better! Hope helps us in all things in our life and I am grateful that through Christ we can have hope.

I love y'all so much and I hope y'all have a blessed week!!!!! Y'all are the BEST!!!
Love always,
Sister Amy Bennett :)
 
At the Insta Care... yes cat bites do hurt and bruise!

Baking gingerbread Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego!


Our District awkward "family" photo
 

Monday, July 11, 2016

Miracles truly are brought about by faith and prayer.



Hey y'all!!!

How are y'all doing this week? I am doing great! We've had another good and busy week here in Boiling Springs!!!
Here's the run down:

Monday was awesome!!! We had a fourth of July ward breakfast! So that was fun!! In the evening we (us, the elders, and 2 other sets of sisters) ran a booth at a fair in Spartanburg. We did a family history booth and we also make paper hats right on people's heads! It was a huge success! We had quite a few people sign up for the family history class that is being started and we made over 200 hats! It was awesome! And a great part was we had permission from our mission president to stay for the whole event! So that was crazy, haha! The best part was getting to watch the fireworks at the end! Wahoo!!! The traffic on the way home was a little crazy (meaning we saw a hit and run accident right in front of us) but luckily we got home safe and were in at 11:00! So that was a little different than our usual being in at 9 haha! That was really fun!!

Tuesday we were able to meet part of a part member family, so that was good!! We also sang at Golden Age and had a lesson with Sister K. in the evening! 

Wednesday we helped the S.'s out with their house again! (They are the couple that we've been helping them with their house on and off since I first got here). Then they wanted to feed us dinner, so we invited S. and S. (the 14 year old and 9 year old sisters) to come over. They were really shy at first, but in the end the warmed up and had a really great time and wanted to stay longer even when we needed to leave so that was really good!!! Then we had our ward coordination meeting!

Thursday we planned for our week and we had yoga day!!! Then we sang at Golden Age! We then had a lesson with a man named A. and the M. family!! With the M. family we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Friday we had another zone meeting!! (not as long as last week's zone conference but we still had another car inspection haha). It was a really good meeting and we set some great goals as a zone! Then we saw S. and talked about faith!! In the evening we had a lesson with J. about true conversion and a lesson with K. on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy! 

Saturday we had inspections on our house (they really like inspections haha). And then we saw a lady named H. Then we met a man named C. We met him while trying to meet a former investigator. It was cool because as we were talking about the Book of Mormon he told us that he actually has read from the Book of Mormon that the former investigator had. So that was really cool!! Yay for people having already read from the Book of Mormon! Then in the evening we had a lesson with B. and we reviewed the Restoration. Our ward mission leader, Brother B., came along with us! Then we had a lesson with an older man named B.!! 

Sunday: We had church!!! The M. Family, B., and J. were all there so that was really exciting!! We also found out that they are changing the boundaries of 5 wards in the Stake next Sunday and the adjustments will most likely result in our ward being split into two wards... so next Sunday our world may go pretty crazy haha!!! But we'll see what actually happens! In the afternoon we had a really good lesson with R. about the Atonement and in the evening we had a lesson with a less active named J. and we had a great lesson with J. and K. where we read 3 Nephi 17! 

So this week was really great!!!

My spiritual thought comes from a quote I really like from the Bible Dictionary entry on prayer. "Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional upon our asking for them." Prayer has always meant a lot to me, but has become so dear to me during my mission. I have seen so many examples of God answering my prayers, but I know those experiences would not have happened if I had not first asked for them. So I hope y'all take the time once or twice a day to kneel down and talk to God. Miracles truly are brought about by faith and prayer.

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

Love always,
Sister Amy Bennett :)

July 4th Ward Breakfast Fun!

 Captain America Vs. Iron Man Yoga Day
 Spartanburg Fair on July 4th- Family History Fun

Planting Seeds of Faith at a Lesson!
 

Monday, July 4, 2016

A blessed week and a happy 4th of July!!!


Hey y'all!!!

I hope that you have had a great week!!!! We had a good but very full week!
Here is the run down:
Monday we had p-day! Then in the evening we had a good lesson with
M. and were able to review the restoration with her!!
Tuesday: we had a lesson with a less active V. and her friend
J. and read out of the Book of Mormon. We also saw R. and talked about
tender mercies of the Lord. Then we sang at Golden Age! In the evening
we had a lesson with an older lady named H. that Sis Coleman met on
exchanges.
Wednesday we had zone conference! So that was where all the
missionaries in this area have an all day long (9am-4pm) meeting where
our mission president is there and we get to learn from him! We
learned about less active work and the importance of obedience and
goal setting! So that was great! In the evening we had a lesson with
B. about recognizing the Holy Ghost.
Thursday we saw the I. family from the Ward. Then we had yoga day!!
Wahoo!!!!! In the evening we saw a man named A. and then had a
lesson with the M. family about temples!!
Friday was quite the adventure! The Tiwi box in our car that monitors
our driving died two weeks ago so it had to be replaced. The
unfortunate part was the it had to be replaced in Irmo at our mission
office. Irmo is over an hour and a half away and we had to be there at
8 am. So it made for a very early morning haha! So we were there for a
little while and then came back and did weekly planning. Luckily we
had time in the evening to go see a man named B.! So yeah that was
a crazy day!
Saturday we saw two less active families in the afternoon, the
N.s and a sister named V. We also met a lady named P.
and were able to teach her briefly. In the evening we had a lesson
with K. which was great!!
Sunday the M. Family came to church! After church we had a lesson with
S. about enduring to the end and in the evening we had a lesson
with a lady named B. about Christ strengthening us through
trials!
So yeah it was a really great week!! And today is the fourth so that's
pretty awesome! We had a Ward party/breakfast this morning and this
evening we are going to be helping out at a family history booth at a
fair in Spartanburg! So that should be good!!
But since the library is closed we are emailing on our iPads at the
church so no pictures today :( but that will mean more for next week
haha!!
Spiritual thought of the week: a scripture that I really like is from
alma 32 (a fantastic chapter by the way). In verse 21 it says, "and no
as I said concerning faith- faith is not to have a perfect knowledge
of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for this which are not
seen, which are true." I really like this verse because it talks about
how we don't need to know everything in this life. Which I honestly
think is such a relief! We just need to trust in God and his plan for
us!

I love the work, I love the people here, I love SC, I love my
companion, and I love y'all!!! I hope y'all have a blessed week and a
happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

Love always,
Sister Amy Bennett :)
 
July 4th Ward Breakfast! :)