Ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ

Hey y'all!!!

It's been another good busy week! Those keep happening... it's awesome!!!

Run down of the week:

Monday was another fun p-day! In the evening we saw A. again and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He liked it and said he hoped that it was true. So I thought that was cool! Sometimes in the Gospel we don't know that something is true, and may not even believe it is, but if we hope it is then that is a good enough starting point that we can build from. Then we had a family home evening with the S. Family (the family that we've helped them a lot with their house) and  a part member family the E. family.  It was really fun! We talked about the story of Nephi breaking his bow and then the kids all pretending to go hunting for stuffed animals (wish I could say that was our clever idea... but it was Sister S.'s.)

Tuesday Sister Coleman got struck down by the plague! There has been a really bad head cold going around and it hit Sister Coleman! But she is such a trouper! We still went to our district meeting. I gave a training on the importance of planning and more specifically planning to find new people to teach. Then we had to stay in for Sister Coleman (which she reluctantly admitted). Then in the evening we had a joint ward council meeting with the leaders of the Boiling Springs ward to figure out a few things since there are now two wards in the building (i.e. building sharing, if we would have any combined activities, etc.). So that was interesting (good interesting).

Wednesday: We helped out at the soup kitchen! Then we met a lady named G. who had ordered a free bible from Mormon.org. So we delivered that to her but we were also able to tell her about the restoration and Book of Mormon! so that was exciting! In the evening we saw S. and read the story of Abinidi with her. We also saw B. and talked about the importance of putting God first in our lives. We then had our visit with Sister K.!

Thursday: We had yoga day which is always so fun!!!! Then Sister Coleman's plague was worse again so we spent the rest of the afternoon getting her some rest. I read some gospel related books so that was fun! Then in the evening we saw the M. family and taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Friday: we had planning for the upcoming week! Then we went and did service for the M. family. They are redoing their kitchen and they needed help scraping wallpaper off. So that was great! In the evening we had a lesson with the B. family where we finished teaching then the Gospel of Jesus Christ (baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end).

Saturday was another day full of teaching (yay!). We taught a guy named A. (that we met a few weeks ago) the Restoration! Then we had a lesson with R. where we talked about having faith and patience in our trials. In the evening we saw Papa J. again and reviewed the restoration with him. We also met a lady named B. while she was outside and talked about the Book of Mormon. Then we saw S. (a less active) and talked about how much God loves and supports his children!

Sunday was good! We had church! The B. and M. families were there! I gave a 5 minute talk in Sacrament meeting on sustaining our church leaders. Then Sister Coleman and I also taught Sunday school on developing our talents. So it was a day I got to talk a lot haha! In the evening we had a good lesson with J. and K. where we read Moroni 7 with them!

It a great week!!! Those keep happening :)

 

My spiritual thought comes from Moroni chapter 7 (one of my all time favorite chapters). This chapter talks a lot about faith, hope, and charity and there are so many things that I could share! But one of the verses that I really like is Moroni 7:41 which says, "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." I love this verse because life has a lot of twist and turns, but we can stay anchored because of the hope we can have because of Jesus Christ!

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

 

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

 At the Boiling Spring

Sparkle Lane

Teaching Fun!

 

All He requires is the heart and a willing mind

Hey y'all!!!!

How are y'all doing this week? Hopefully doing well! I am doing great! Missionary life is the best :)

Rundown of the week:

Monday: p-day was fun! We went looking at Goodwill to find some crazy outfits to try on haha! so that was great! After p-day we met a lady named R.! We shared briefly about the Restoration and she wants to learn more! yay! Then we saw S. B. briefly, read a scripture, and set a return appointment!

Tuesday: We had our district meeting! I gave a 7 minute training on becoming a consecrate (fully diligent) missionary! In the afternoon we went out with a girl in the ward, who's actually here only for a few weeks between semesters. She wanted to come out with us for a few hours so that was exciting! With her we were able to see M. We shared talked about God strengthening us through challenging times with her. Then we saw H and read Alma 32:26-27 about faith. Then we saw B and read Moroni 7:16 and talked about how we can know of truth for ourselves and we also talked about tithing. (haha I know that sounds super random... but B had a few questions about that). Then we had our weekly visit with Sister K so that was fun! And then sang at Golden Age! In the evening we had a really good lesson with the M. Family where we taught the Plan of Salvation! So it was a full teaching day! yay!!!

Wednesday we helped out at the Soup Kitchen! We also had interviews with our mission President! We had them as a companionship this time, much to the relief of Sister Coleman haha. He talked about goal setting for finding new people to teach! So that was good! In the evening we had a good lesson with S. B. where we read 3 Nephi 17 with him. Then we had our ward missionary meeting!

Thursday was exchanges!! I stayed in Inman with Sister Johanson (who I was in the MTC with so that's fun). We had yoga day! Yay :) Then we had a lesson with B. where we continued to (hopefully) answer her questions. She has desire to learn, but wants to learn very thoroughly haha! In the evening we saw K. who is still struggling a little bit, so right now we are really focusing on how much God loves her.

Friday we planned for our upcoming week! Then we had a good lesson with R. where we reviewed the Restoration with him! In the evening we had a lesson with J. where we read part of a conference talk with him. (President Utchdorf's from the April 2016 conference). Then we saw the B. family! We taught half of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They really like to talk, which is great! haha :)

Saturday we had a visit with the R. family (members of the ward). Then we saw N. (the N. that does not have a twin haha!) and read Alma 36 and talked about repentance with him! He compared the story to Saul/Paul which I thought was really cool!! In the evening we met an old man named Papa J. who was someone that is part of our "new" area with the ward split! So that's exciting! He is planning on coming to church this Sunday so fingers crossed :)

Sunday was another great day! J., K., the M. Family, K. (a less active we are working with), and B. were all there! It was really exciting to see B. there because we had lost contact with him for the past few weeks! Turns out he went back to school and has been super busy, but we were really exciting to see him there! yay!! In the evening we stopped in on K. (lady who's family we met a few weeks ago) and she told us they have all been reading the Book of Mormon and loving it! Even her teenagers! so that's pretty cool haha! Then we had a good lesson with J. and K. where we read 3 Nephi 1!

So it's been a really great week!

 

Now for some quotes, one fun and one spiritual.

I was reading this morning from the April 1998 conference. 

One of the talks was about missionaries and here's the fun quote:
"I thought you might be interested in several statistics shared with me during a recent visit to the Missionary Training Center. In one month the 3,000 missionaries consume over 5,000 pounds of dry cereal. That is over 2 1/2 tons. of that amount, 2,200 pounds I Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms is a popular breakfast dry cereal. Maybe one of the best preparations for being a missionary is to eat Lucky Charms. For you parents who try to focus your young men's eating habits on what you may consider is more nutritious food, you might be away that in one month missionaries consumed only 16 pounds of All Bran."

I just thought that was a funny and now y'all are a little bit more aware of what actually goes on in missionary life. Also to show how great it is to eat Lucky Charms! Who'd have ever thought all those years I was doing such great missionary preparation! (Shout out to you Mom! ;) )

 

Now a more spiritual quote haha :) Another talk I read was called "The Heart and a Willing Mind" from the same conference. The speaker is also talking about the importance of missions. He said, "I promise you that it will change your life and others' as God directs you on your mission. All He requires is 'the heart and a willing mind.' You can do so much good that it will astound you as you are changed and as you see others change." Serving a mission is the best! Everyone should go :) But I also know that people with name tags aren't the only missionaries. Anyone can and should be a missionary, no matter their situation in life.

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

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

 Bill!

 Good-bye old house!

 Good Will Outfits! ;0

We love Landrum!

Godliness characterizes each of you who truly loves the Lord

Hey y'all!!!

This week has been awesome and crazy, but so good!!!

Late Monday we got a call from our housing coordinator telling us that we were moving Tuesday (which was good because that was the day our lease was ending, but bad because originally we had been told Wednesday at the earliest so that made for a crazy Monday and Tuesday! But we were still able to go visit a less active Sister with a couple sisters from the ward and so that was good! 

Tuesday: We found out why our housing coordinator was pushing for us to leave because our power was cut off in the morning haha! Then we had our district meeting in the morning which was good! Then we spent the rest of the day cleaning and packing like crazy!!! In the evening we had a lot of members come and help us, which was super nice because we had to ask for help super last minute so that was way awesome! The church is just the best!!

Wednesday we couldn't go to soup kitchen because we had to finish up the last few cleaning things :( But then we got our keys turned into to our landlord. We then went to go have our return appointment with D. (the teenage boy we met last week). We had this embarrassing moment when at first we didn't realize we were talking to his twin instead of him haha... no wonder he was originally confused on why we asked him if he had read from the book of Mormon that week! We were then able to teach his brother, N., the restoration haha!!! Then we met a less active named S. and have a good visit with her and talking about how even with all the craziness going on in the world, we can still see the hand of God. In the evening we had our ward missionary meeting!!

Thursday we tried a few people and then had yoga day!!!! Then we met with B. again and were able to answer a few of her questions and then teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Then we sang at Golden Age!!! In the evening we were able to teach the B. family and have a really good lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation!! Then we saw K. and taught about faith and how faith starts out really small, but then after we take care of it our faith grows to be like a giant tree!

Friday was awesome as well! We had weekly planning! Then we had a really good lesson with R. We talked about the priesthood and also about how much God loves each of his children. I don't know if I've mention this before, but R. has a lot of serious health problems and so it was cool because we were able to bring some Brothers from the ward with us and they gave him a priesthood blessing. It meant a lot to R. and the spirit was so strong!!! In the evening we say the M. Family! After baptism, we review the lessons with people again so we started at the beginning with the Restoration! Then we saw Sister S. (a less active) and shared Omni 1:26 with her! So that was fun to share a scripture from Omni haha!

Saturday was a really great day! In the morning we went with part of the relief society. In Boiling Springs ward the relief society took on a service project to redecorate (including painting walls, etc.) rooms at a shelter for homeless women and families. The group we were with went today (since the ward split happened just after we planned this it became a combined ward thing haha!). So that was really fun! Service is the best!!! Then we went out with a member from the ward and saw a less active named D. Then we met a man outside named W. who was super cool and excited about the Gospel. He told us he was dog sitting for his friend and didn't actually live at the house we met him at. We got his address from him and it's less than a half mile outside our area! Man! Well at least we have missionaries there too haha! So they should thank us for finding someone cool for them to teach ;) Then in the evening we had a lesson with S. ( her sister S. was out of town). She wants to start seriously reading the Book of Mormon so we read the first chapter with her for her kick start into reading! So that was great! Then we saw B. and taught about the Sabbath Day!!

Sunday church was great! J. came and R. came as well! In the afternoon we saw a guy named N. (different N. than earlier this week). We had taught him a couple times in March/April, but hadn't had contact with him since, so it was good to see him again! In the evening we shared a message with an active family, the N.s. Then we had a lesson with J. and K. and read the story of Samuel the Lamanite!

So another good, busy week!

Oh! One other exciting thing that I just have to share with y'all!!!!! B. (the lady I taught in Camden) emailed me today and she told me that her husband is now taking the lessons!!!! I'm just so happy about that :) yay!!!!! So yeah :)

 

Spiritual thought for today:

This morning I was studying the Christ Like attributes and I was reading about Godliness and I found this quoe by President Nelson that I really like. It says, "Godliness characterizes each of you who truly loves the Lord. You are constantly mindful of the Savior's atonement and rejoice in His unconditional love. Meanwhile you vanquish personal pride and vain ambition. You consider your accomplishments important only if they help establish His kingdom on earth." I know that as we love God and turn to Him in all things, everything will work out! It always does :)

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

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

 The Relief Society Sisters at the Service Project

The finished room! :)

Chaos of the move...

Moving mess!

 

How Great Thou Art!

Hey y'all!!!!!

This week was fantastic!!!! I hope y'alls was too :)

 

Here is the run down for the week:

Monday: we spent a lot of the day packing in anticipation of our move! But then there ended up being a minor complication in the paper work, so we will be finding out today when we can move so we've been in limbo this week of half packed, half not packed haha!! In the evening we had a lesson with a lady named H.! Then we went to follow up with a man we met a few weeks ago named C. We first started teaching him, his wife K., and his cousin T. Then their two kids, K. and J., and their friend T. all walked in and sat in on the lesson too! So that was exciting! We were able to teach them the restoration and they were really excited about it!!

Tuesday was also good! We were had a lesson with R. on prayer! Then we sang at Golden Age! In the evening we had a lesson with B. on the Atonement and then saw S. and S. and talked about how the Lord strengthens us through our trials!

Wednesday we worked at the soup kitchen! Always a joy :) then we met a guy named D. and he was also excited about the restoration! In the evening we had a lesson with the recent converts, the B. family, and also taught them the restoration haha! So Wednesday was Restoration Wednesday! Try saying that 5 times fast ;)

Thursday we had yoga day!!! Then we had a lesson with B. and we read with her out of the Book of Mormon! We sang at Golden Age! Then we had a lesson with a guy named A. who was being taught with the Elders before the ward split. Then we had dinner with the M. Family and got everything all finalized for the baptism!!!!

Friday we had a zone meeting!! It was good and we learned about the importance of planning! Then we went and tried to see M., but she wasn't home so we read/shared Ether 12:27 with her husband L.! Then in the evening we saw J. and read Alma 32 and then talked about the Atonement with L. And then we had a lesson with K. about Pressing forward with faith in Christ!

Saturday was a glorious day!!! In the afternoon we taught a less active named R. (different R. from the one earlier in the week). And then in the evening we had Kris and Jordan's baptism!!!! It was really exciting because we got to go early and fill up the font get everything all set up and it was just super exciting! There was a really good turn out from the ward and everything went so good :) Kris and Jordan were super excited about everything as well and they were so happy!!! After the baptism we went and had a visit with Sister K.!! It was just really excited to see Kris and Jordan get baptized because now their goal is to go to the temple in a year and be sealed as a family and they are all just so excited for that! It's awesome :)

Sunday was great as well! K. and J. were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting and that went great too!!! They are just the best family :) Our day was pretty full of meetings, but in the evening we did get to see J. and K. and have a really good lesson with them about the Book of Mormon missionary Ammon and how cool he is! (Alma 17&18).

So this week was just so amazing!!!!!

 

My Spiritual thought is my testimony that I know God lives and that He loves each and everyone of us. He knows what our dreams and fears are, even the ones we never say out loud. Before my mission I decided that the dream of my mission would be to teach a part member family with one parent and one kid that were not members and that the parents would get married and the non member parent and child would get baptized. And it's been really amazing to see that this wish I had was one that God gave to me through the M. family. I testify that God lives and that He loves you. God knows what you are going through right now and if you let Him guide you in your life, He will take you to exactly where you need to be. If a few years ago anyone would have asked me if I thought I would have ever ended up in Inman, South Carolina I would have laughed and then asked where on Earth that was. But I am grateful to be here, to be serving the Lord, and to love the people here.

 

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.

I love y'all so much and I hope y'all have a blessed week! Y'all mean so much to me!

 

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

Kris and Jordan with Sister Bennett and Sister Coleman

Sister Bennett and Sister Coleman with the May family after the baptism

Working at the Soup Kitchen!

Increase our faith

Hey y'all!!!!

I hope y'all are having just a grand day!!! We are doing great here!!

Quick run down of our week:

Monday: P-day and then in the evening we saw S. and S. and had an lesson on individual worth!

Tuesday: We had a lesson with a man named A. who wants to set the goal of being baptized! So that's cool :) Then we had a really great lesson with R.! Then we sang at Golden Age! Then we saw a less active named K. and talked about the importance of motherhood. Then we saw the I. Family and talked about the Atonement. We saw J. and K. and read out of Alma 22 with them!

Wednesday: we had the Soup Kitchen! Then went around trying to meet some people. In the evening we had a lesson with a man named B. and we read 1 Nephi 4 with him!

Thursday: Yoga Day! Wahoo!!! One of the Spanish Elders that does this class with us got transferred so now we have a new elder in the class! Then we had a lesson with B. (who we met a couple weeks ago). We taught her the Plan of Salvation and answered a lot of her questions. In the evening we had dinner with the M. Family and are continuing to prepare them for their baptism next week!!!

Friday: we planned for our week! Then we met a man named J. while he was sitting out on his porch. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon and he said we could come back and teach him more! In the evening we had a visit with ward members, the L.s. Then we had a lesson with a family that is new to the Inman ward (they were in the Spartanburg 2 ward before the boundary change). They were baptized not too long ago and so we had a lesson with them and the Sisters they were working with. Then on Saturday we went around trying people. In the evening we had a lesson with ward members, the L.s (A different L. Family) . And then we were able to see S. (a less active we are working with) with one of the ward members!

Sunday: was a great day!!! We had so many people at church!! The M. Family and J. came! (B. is out of town this week). We also had a lot of less actives there: K. and her nonmember Husband, R., S. B., a man named A,, and Sis A,! So that was super exciting!!! We still only had one hour of church this week, but now it should be getting back to normal! After church we had a little ward mingle after sacrament meeting where everyone brought a little snack to share and then we all got to meet everyone as part of the new Inman ward! So that was a lot of fun! In the afternoon we went singing at a nursing home with some of the families in the ward. Cool story with that! When I was with Sister Staheli there was an older lady named E. That we used to go visit but then her son told us she had to go to hospice. Well, E. was at the nursing home we sang at and she remembered me! It was so awesome :) Then in the evening we had another lesson with K. about Mosiah 24!

So it was a really great week! And this upcoming week should be good too! K. and J. are all set for their baptisms on Saturday so that should be really exciting!!

Spiritual thought for this week: This scriptures comes from Luke 17:5 which reads, "And the apostels said unto the Lord, Increase our faith." I love this scripture because we talk a lot about how faith is our belief in Christ and what that causes us to do in this life, but we learn from this scripture that not only can we ask Christ to increase our faith, but that it is a really good idea to ask for that. His 12 apostles asked Him to increase their faith, and so should we. I love this because it shows that there is nothing here on this earth that we can not asked for Heaven's help with. God and Christ want to help us and they are just waiting for us to ask.

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

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

 

Saying Goodbye to our old apartment!

With E. at the Nursing Home- a friendly reunion!