Week 44: "You're a Wizard, Harry. Part 2"

September 22, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, the great reveal is now over. Sister McClellan has been transferred to Meridian! What? Nooo! But, no fear -for Sister Capitan is now here! She's a ball of red-headed wildfire fun. She's originally from a Navajo reservation in Arizona! I'm so excited to learn about her culture.  We'll definitely have adventures together. 

In other news, Louis's baptism date is this Saturday! At 3pm. Women's Conference and a Baptism all in the same day? I don't think anything could get missionary better. 

And funny story, Sister Willard (my MTC companion) is now my Sister Training Leader! That means we'll get to go on exchanges together! Sweet! I don't know if that should be legal. We'll have too much fun. An Elder made fun of me today at transfer meeting. He called me out for having to say hello and goodbye to "every missionary in the building." Well, not all 70 that were there, but I did get to see many of my good friends! 

AND I had a couple incredible experiences this week! Sometimes Elders and Sisters mention lessons that changed their mission. Well, until this point I have only had one - and that was my first lesson with Angie! And she was baptized with her daughter on Saturday! And her grandma (I call her Grams) is being baptized in two weeks! It was like a flood of happiness! She asked me to sing. I had one song picked out for Sacrament meeting for singing in my ward, but on Thursday as we practiced I felt like I should sing "Come Thou Fount" instead. It ended up being perfect! Wow, I couldn't believe that they were being baptized! It still seems surreal to me, but so so special. It was also very special to see many from my old ward family. :) 

I also had another very cool experience. Sister McClellan and I intended on going to mutual with a girl, but she cancelled on us, and so we had a couple of hours to re-plan and improvise! Well, improvising is my favorite - because that's when miracles happen. Sometimes I don't believe in coincidence. A name came to mind of a woman whom I had never met, that had semi taken some lessons with the Sisters before me. She's from the Congo and her first language is French, but she speaks some English. When we got there, her other friend from the Congo, Dennis, was there. As we sat down, Dennis requested that he say goodbye to her before he left. We agreed, and he began speaking to her in French. We could pick out some words - particularly a version of "Mormon". Turns out he was a member! We don't know what he said or where he's from, but it seemed like he bore his testimony to her. Pretty amazing to experience. Well, we scheduled a lesson for that Saturday, and came with Brother Taylor, a member from our ward who speaks English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. He truly has the gift of tongues. We had a crazy morning that morning - service on a Hidden Springs community farm, attempting to give blood at a boy's blood drive for his Eagle Scout award, (we both failed - I had too low of an iron count, and Sister McClellan's vein clogged. But we tried!) and then transfer calls. Finally, we got to plan some for the lesson - we wanted to talk about the importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, we met with Brother Taylor and went to teach. It was amazing to feel the Spirit there - it was so apparent in the room! We ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon - and it was amazing how much we understood what Brother Taylor was talking about in French, and we felt prompted to testify of those things he was teaching about, even though we didn't know the words he was saying! We were able to say very similar things to what Brother Taylor was saying in French, and we told her we how we knew the Book of Mormon was true. It was amazing. She's truly going to read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon now. I can't wait to go back. 

I also had the chance to sing in Hidden Springs Ward! Our Bishop's son is leaving to go to the Dominican Republic, and so it was his mission farewell. No pressure, right? Eeh. But it went well. I sang what now is my favorite version of "I Stand All Amazed." It's from a fireside presentation called, "I Know He Lives." You should look it up. 

Te Quiero Mucho! 

- Sister Bennett

P.s. Pictures to come! 

"Edward Cullen's House." We dub it such because 1) Glass garage doors. and 2) The Volvo

Mansion #1

Mansion #2

Anne's baptism!!

Idaho!!

Exchanges with Sister Hatch! 

Elder Pearce has left us. :( I'm so lucky to have had him as a Zone leader! He's 27 - a convert to the church. He bore the most powerful testimony before leaving. The IBM is going to miss him for sure.

Giving blood! So scurred. 

Bishop and Sister Lister selfie!

Angie and Cora. :)

All us Sisters who taught them!