Monday, June 2, 2014

Week 27: "Malo e lelei!!"

May 27, 2014
Dearest Family and Friends,

It has been an incredibly eventful week, in the sense that I am now companions with the beautiful Sister Fiefia! She is from Tonga, and this is her first experience in North America. She was in the MTC for 8 weeks learning more English before coming out.

Sister Fiefia comes from a family of 12 kids! So much for me thinking I had a big family! She LOVES her family, and she is the first Sister to serve! There have been a few unique experiences we've had together. First, she has never seen domesticated cats. All the animals in Tonga are wild and not fit to live indoors. I loved her reaction to the first cat that walked in on us! She's also never seen squirrels, until she got here. I guess I was in a similar boat though, there are not many squirrels in the great plains of Southern Alberta.

She is such an example of faith, trust, and hard work. I am so excited to serve with her in this transfer! Although I have the assignment of training and being an English tutor, I think I'm going to learn as much from Sister Fiefia as she is going to learn from me. It was a cool experience to see these two new Sisters and two new Elders come into the mission, and to see the revelation process as our mission president assigned these missionaries to their trainers. 

Last Tuesday, our ward put on a Luau for the seniors in our area. It was a lot of fun! The entertainment fell through, so a few of us did spontaneous performances. Sister Fiefia sang a tongan hymn, and I got the crowd to sing "this little light of mine." Originally we were supposed to be outside, but we moved it to inside because of the rain. We created our own sunshine. :)

We've found some great potential investigators this week. We talked to a lady outside her home, gardening. She's from New York, and had a subtle accent. We had a great talk with her, and will be coming back to see her soon. Last night, we went to a less active/part member home, where we were welcomed with open arms. I played piano and we both sang for them, and they gave us a tour of their place, and shared homemade cheesecake with us! 

Well, I guess I just want to leave you all with this: Living the gospel, and striving to serve the Lord with all my heart, has had an incredible influence on my life. I have seen miracles and growth that I know I would not have had otherwise. I love my Savior with all my heart. I definitely have weaknesses, we all do. But I also know that as I strive to be the best I can be - who I truly want to be - that the Savior helps me move past those weaknesses. "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a checklist of things to do; rather, it lives in our hearts. The gospel 'is not weight. It is wings.' It carries us." 

Ofa atu! I love you all!  

Sister Bennett

Romans 1:16

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