"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! :)

 

LEAP for JOY!!! God will place us exactly where he needs us to be!!

Hey y'all!!!

This week has been another great week!!! Also I have to say Happy Leap Year to all y'all!! Wahoo! It's pretty great that I basically get an extra day of my mission ;)

Brief overview of the week! It was as busy as ever :)

Monday we had a family home evening lesson with a less active member and her nonmember brother! It was pretty cool! We are hoping to continue to work with them.

Tuesday we had a district meeting, a few lessons, and sang at Golden Age!

Wednesday we worked at the soup kitchen and painted baseboards for the same couple we've been helping out. Then we had a couple lessons.

Thursday we had interviews with our mission president. We have interviews with him quarterly. This time was a little different because we had them in companionships instead of individually. Even though they are called interviews, they are more like conversations with him on a specific topic. This interview we talked about goal setting and the different kinds of goals we set and how to include faith in our goal setting. It was pretty cool! We then had our yoga class! Then we sang at Golden Age and had some lessons. The recent convert B., that I mention a few weeks ago, is actually going to start working with the Elders now. So we had what we call a pass off lesson, where both sets of missionaries are there for a lesson.

Friday we had weekly planning (where we basically discuss every single person we are working with and what we want to teach them next, etc.)

Saturday we helped the couple move into their house! Then we went knocking and actually had several lessons from that! So that was exciting!

Sunday we had church!! Our yoga instructor, J., and his wife came to church which was super exciting! Then we had a few lessons!

So it was a great week!!

     So a pretty cool story that I feel prompted to share from this week was that right after I sent in my mission papers (before I got my call) I had a dream one night where we were teaching this lady with a couple daughters and had a very specific conversation with her. From the dream I guessed that I was going to serve in the South, so I was very excited when I got my call to South Carolina! Well this week we were having a lesson with a woman named L. We started to have a conversation that to me seemed oddly familiar, which was strange for such a specific conversation. It was then I realized that it was the very conversation from the dream I had and that L's situation matched everything from the woman in my dream. So that was a really cool moment for me!

     What I learned from that is that as we are doing our best and all that we can do, God will place us exactly where he needs us to be. It may not turn out how we expect, or we may not get there in the way we expected, but God knows what He is doing. So that was awesome for me to see so powerfully this week!

     I love y'all so much and I hope y'all have a blessed week! We have pulled back out the short sleeves as it is back in the high 60s this week haha! I hope y'all don't freeze and have a happy last day of February!!! I love y'all!!

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

Waiting for our interview with President Turner

We love those selfies

The day we went running and got caught in a giant rain storm!

Teaching a lesson with a recent convert K. :)

The work is awesome! My companions are awesome! The gospel is awesome!

Hey y'all!!!!

We had another fantastically busy week here in Boiling Springs!

Quick overview of the week:

Monday there was a big freezing rainstorm and so we got put on lock-down for the evening. Meaning we couldn't leave our apartment. So we did some inside productive things like making phone calls. Lock-down seems to happen to me a lot haha!

Tuesday we had a District meeting! Our District includes us, the Zone Leaders (who we split our ward with), and two sets of Spanish Elders. So that's pretty fun! Then we had a lesson with a returning less active named Robert and then a few more lessons with some really cool people. We also sang at Golden Age!

Wednesday we volunteered at the Soup Kitchen again! It's fun because we help with serving the food and after everyone has been served we get to go around talking with people. A lot of them actually have questions about the church which is pretty cool!  Then we had to go get new tires on our car. That only took about 2+ hours haha. Then we went on exchanges (switching companions for 24 hours). In a threepack it is a little different because two of the three companions end up staying together. Sister Yancey and I stayed in Inman with Sister Stoker and Sister Staheli went to Spartanburg with Sister Bird. So that was a lot of fun!

Thursday we had a few lessons and sang at Golden Age and had our Yoga day in the morning!!!

Friday we planned for our week and then had some lessons!!

Saturday we helped paint at the same house that we've been painting at the past few weeks. Then we had a lot of lessons with is great!

Sunday we had church and Sister Yancey playing at the Spanish Branch. Then we had lunch with some members and taught a couple lessons.

A cool person we have been working with is the returning less active member R. He was baptized as a young teenager and then stopped coming to church just a few years later. Sister Yancey and her companion before us were knocking in a neighborhood and actually knocked into him. The ward here didn't have his records. He was actually wanting to look for a church to go to and so was super open to learning. We have been working a lot with him. Since he wasn't active very long he doesn't remember really anything, so it's been cool working and teaching him!

As for the Spiritual thought for this week. I was reading in the Bible this morning in the book of Matthew. I read the chapter where John the Baptist gets killed and when Jesus finds out He's really sad and goes out into the wilderness to be alone. A group of people follow Him and when He sees them, instead of sending them all away, He heals and ministers to them. I was thinking a lot about what a huge example of charity that is! I know there are times when I'm dealing with things and the last thing I want to do is help someone else, but as we look for those small opportunities to serve and help others, our own problems become a lot easier to handle.

I am doing awesome here!  The work is awesome! My companions are awesome!  The gospel is awesome!  

I love y'all so much and hope y'all have a fantastic week! Know I love y'all and am praying for you!!! Have a blessed week!

Love always,

Sister Amy Bennett :)

The Three Pack! :)

God has really got a handle on things!

Hey y'all!!!

How are y'all doing today??? Hopefully doing well and not too cold!! I
laugh because I was in the hottest part of the state for the hottest
time of the year and the coldest part of the state for the coldest
time of the year. I'm here in Boiling Springs at the warm temperature
of 26 degrees with humidity making it feel like 18. Which I'm sure
doesn't sound super cold to all y'all... but when I wore short sleeves
for all of December and most of January it's a tad bit cold haha!

But this week was awesome again!! This is just a really great area and
the three of us are having so much fun while being super productive!
So it's just awesome!!!

Brief overview of the week:
Monday we had p-day, which is always nice haha! Didn't do anything
super exciting, but buying food and writing y'all is always good haha!
We taught some lessons that evening!

Tuesday we taught some lessons and sang at the Nursing home Golden Age!

Wednesday we volunteered at a soup kitchen, which is always a cool
experience. And then did more teaching!

Thursday we had our yoga/martial arts class which is just super fun!!
Then we planned for this upcoming week! Then we taught some lessons!

Friday was a crazy day!! We had a big zone meeting but when we got
there it started snowing pretty heavily! They almost canceled the
meeting, but then we had it anyway. I got to do a musical number there
which was awesome!! I played the guitar while me, Sister Yancey, and
Sister Staheli sang. We did a really cool medley where we wrote our
own lyrics to the song Hallelujah (the one that's in the movie Shrek)
and then did called to serve and then sang them together. It was
really cool!!! So that was awesome!! Then we spent the rest of the
day teaching!!!

Saturday we helped paint the house of a couple that's moving. Then we
had some lessons. Then we had a ward party. It was a fun activity
where we were divided into teams and then drove around doing a picture
scavenger hunt! So that was a blast!

Then Sunday we had church and some lessons! Something cool I forgot to
say last time is that we meet in the same building as the Spanish
branch. No one in the Spanish branch can play the piano so Sister
Yancey plays the piano for their sacrament meeting so we get to go to
that. One of the Spanish Elders sits behind us and translates the
meeting for us. So basically we are the honorary Spanish Sisters. It's
pretty cool!!!

So yeah it was a great week!!
I'm going to tell y'all about someone we are working with and then tie
that into the spiritual thought for the week!
     So we are working with a guy who was baptized in September. His name
is B. and he is hilarious! He is a race car driver and loves it
so much. It's basically all he talks about. Last season he got in a
wreck where he hurt his back really badly. In a fellow up check up
just about a week ago the doctors told him that he wouldn't be able to
race any more after this season. He's really sad because racing has
been his dream his entire life and he's been doing really well and was
just about to qualify for some really big races next season. He's been
feeling really discouraged and sad, believable. Something we've been
talking about a lot with him and that I've been reflecting on is our
will verses the Lord's will.
     Sometimes in life we have these big dreams that we want and we work
our hardest to obtain them, but then something gets in the way. Some
people use this as an opportunity to get mad at God, when in reality,
the opposite is what should happen. And it's easier said then done.
But as we face opposition and trials in our life that seem to be
roadblocks, they are really caution cones that God has set up for us
so we don't go down the wrong roads. Often times what seem like
detours end up being the roads we need to take to make us the
happiest. When a door is closed a window is opened and it came become
an opportunity to find a kind of happiness we never imagined for
ourselves. It's pretty cool how much God's really got a handle on
things. I'm grateful for Him!

I hope that y'all have an awesome week! Know how much I love and pray
for y'all! Stay warm!

Love always,
Sister Amy Bennett :)

This building was built for pictures of trios!

Sister Bennett, Sister Yancey, Sister Staheli

With B.