Week 30 Were Training!

So this week was so amazing!! My heart is so full and feel so blessed. Absolutely high off missionary work and being a missionary I love it! So President called us up Sunday night and told us there was a new missionary coming inMonday and we’re going to train him. His name is Elder Thacker and he’s from Highland, UT, 18 years old. He was originally assigned to the England, Birmingham mission but went home after a couple months and was then reassigned to our mission! He’s such a stud and we’re so pumped to have him with us!

Do y’all believe in miracles?!? CAUSE RJ COMMITTED TO BE BAPTIZED MARCH 31ST!!! Throughout the whole week she’s been calling us telling us about her reading the Book of Mormon and what she’s getting out of it. She has just been flipping to random pages and reading. One night she flipped to Moroni 6 which talks all about baptism. Then she did it again later in the week!! Then while we were teaching our lesson Monday night she did it again and was like this isn’t coincidence haha it was great. We read the Title Page and Introduction to the Book of Mormon with her and then she wanted to continue reading the Testimony of the Witnesses and it all just clicked with her. She stopped and was like, “Wait, so The Book of Mormon is ancient history and stories that really happened?” And we were all like yes RJ and it just clicked for her! RJ who is the same woman that laughed at me a month ago when we invited her to be baptized on the 31st of March, committed Tuesday to be baptized on March 31st. Miracle. I know the only reason why this is happening is because we are doing the lessons in members homes and using them in teaching RJ combined with the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of this gospel to her. The difference the members make is incredible.

These past investigators Levy and Jana messaged the old missionaries from this area and told them that Levy wants to get baptized! So they got them in contact with us and we met up with them to start teaching them! That doesn’t just happen! Miracles!! So Levy and Jana are dating and Jana is pregnant with their son. Levy is an ex gang member and just got out of jail a month ago and said he found peace and God by reading the Book of Mormon in jail. He’s leaving for a rehab in Wellington in like a month and wanted to get baptized before he leaves. Unfortunately he’s on probation for the next 2 years so can’t until then but when we told him that he said that he wants to make the change and wasn’t phased by it! He’s such a humble man. Jana is 7 Day Adventist but she likes reading the Book of Mormon and is taking the lessons as well, we are seeing her progress a lot. Levy said something so cool the other day while reading the Book of Mormon. He said “All my life I’ve tried reading the Bible and been confused, but the Book of Mormon and the stories all just make sense and relate to me.” It was so awesome I was so happy!

Ed who showed up at church last week we taught this week and things went good there, he’s humble and has a sincere desire to learn. He was there at church on Sunday, suit and tie, such a baller! Ed is a crazy funny character!! He called us up Sunday night and told us he wants one of us to date his daughter cause we got our focus on the Lord and she needs a man like that in her life hahaha. Love Ed, such a character!

WE GOT MOONED!! Funny story from when we were out tracting, we met this older guy out in his driveway doing yard work and talked to him, gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, offered to help out and he said he was okay. Then told us he’s had 7 back surgeries and proceeded to show us the scar on his back. He lifts up his shirt, and on his lower back you can see the scar already but he just pulls his pants down for whatever reason and straight up mooned us in broad daylight! Like cmon bruh! I looked over at Elder Treanor after and his face almost made me lose it, so dang funny.

We got to clean the temple on Monday which was so sick! We got a tour afterwards and got to go in the attic and down in the baptistery with the oxen. It was such a cool experience!

Today for District P Day we went to Zephyr Hats which was dope. Then we went to the park afterwards and played a bunch of games. Reminded me of being at the beach at Leo Carrillo playing poison and whiffle ball. Tender mercy cause I know I’m missing out on that trip with my family but at the same time I had an epiphany that I was with my new family in Colorado playing all those games and it’s like a wasn’t missing anything. Weird but it was special for me and just connected. God’s got his hand in all our lives and he finds unique ways to touch us that’s special to us individually and that’s because he knows us all individually and we are his children. Sorry bout the long email but honestly this week was so amazing I could’ve gone on a lot longer and I left a lot out haha. 

Love y’all. Make the time to sincerely read the Book of Mormon. It will change your life.

I  love Jesus

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 

1715 N Wilson Ave. Apt. #308

Loveland, CO 80538

Temple cleaning squad

Rolled up on some horsies

Zephyr Hats...Elder Thacker is to my right in the picture

District Squad Pic

Week 29 High On My Mission

This week was so amazing!! So many miracles and tender mercies. To start off Elder Treanor and I taught seminary this morning and it was so fun! Reminded me of when I used to be in seminary and brought back a lot of funny memories. Our lesson went really well and the spirit was strong. The teacher came up to us after and told Elder Treanor and I that we teach so well together, so grateful for my companion and how well we get along and how much he teaches me, he’s so awesome! Then we went and hooped and my homie Elder Halladay, who’s in another zone, was at the church cause he had to take his comp to our building for a meeting so we got to hoop together, tender mercy seein that boi.

This week Colorado was having some beautiful weather, reminded me of Cali. Made it easy to go out and talk with people cause lots of people were on walks or doing stuff in their garages, we had a lot of success talking with people this week and got some solid potentials we’re looking to follow up with this week.

We were fasting and praying Sunday for our investigators to progress and an increase in our missionary work. We were blessed with a miracle. After sacrament someone came up to us and said there were some people in the foyer looking for us. We went out to find 2 guys in jeans and button up shirts. 1 was named Steve and he was a returning member who had just moved from Greeley, and the other was his friend Ed who’s not a member. So we talked with them a while and they came to gospel principles with us and Ed was loving it and participating and cracking jokes the whole time it was great! Then we gave him a Book of Mormon and he was excited to read it and was already calling it the word of God. We’re going to meet with him this week to start teaching him. WHAT A MIRACLE!!!

In sacrament meeting I sat next to Joe and RJ and RJ was asking me questions about going to the temple and I was like chill girl you gotta get baptized first. Nah just playin but I was hype that she was already talking about going to the temple like she knows it’s gonna happen! And she stayed all 3 hours which was huge for her!!

We taught RJ Monday and she told us about how she had been praying about baptism and that her neighbor Lucy, who’s a member in our ward, called her and told her that she had a dream where RJ was baptized and then she had a baby! This was HUGE to hear, cause Joe and RJ have been trying to start their family a while now and haven’t been able to. So that was incredible to hear!! The lesson went really well and now RJ is praying about being baptized March 31st!

Darron Arnold said he doesn’t think he’s ready to be baptized on the 10th but he wants to continue meeting and going to church, praying, and reading his scriptures before he is baptized. Please pray for him, the adversary is really working on him.

I got to interview a man named John on Friday for baptism and he is one of the most humble men I’ve ever met. He said the opening prayer for our interview and said, “Please bless my brother Bennett, I know I just met him but he my brother” He continuously bore testimony of Christ, Heavenly Father, The Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith throughout the interview. It was very touching for me and I learned a lot from him.

I love my mission. I love the people I’m serving. I love The Book of Mormon. I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Please please please read the Book of Mormon if you haven’t! It is one of the single greatest decisions you could ever make. It is the word of God, and I know it was written for us today in these last days. It can bless and uplift you no matter what circumstances you’re in or trials you’re facing, it will always bring you the spirit and love of God unto your life.

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 

1715 N Wilson Ave. Apt. #308

Loveland, CO 80538

                   1-This guy’s backyard we did service for

      

                  2-Beecher and Bennett

                     3-My main woman Carol who I sing with twice a week

             4-Dope service pic

              5-Zone Conference

               6/7-Squad

8-John’s Baptism and his brother Hue, love those guys. He was baptized by President McMurray 

Week 28 Mountain Lion District

Mountain Lion District is the name of the District I’m over and we’re
stack! Seriously so blessed to be able to serve with these
missionaries! They’re all so amazing and super excited about doing
missionary work, we tryna put up the best numbers in the mission this
transfer! We on the come up just wait.

This week was awesome! On Thursday we had dinner with the Hart family
who’s a less active family were trying to reactivate. We also want to
have the dad baptize his 2 daughters next month. Zoey who’s 11 and
Haley who turns 8 on Sunday. We had a great dinner with them and feel
like we’re really making progress with them! When we first got here we
struggled getting in the door with them but things are looking really
good now! They have come to church 3 weeks in a row now!!!

Saturday night we met with Darron and his wife Rachel and brought
Kayleigh(who’s a member and just got her mission call to the Illinois,
Nauvoo mission). We read 1 Nephi 3/4 with them and talked about going
forward with faith not knowing the outcome cause he’s still struggling
with committing to his baptism March 10th. But Kayleigh was able to
bear powerful testimony on going forward with faith which was awesome
that we could see really clicked with him! He started seeming more
comfortable about things and even said the closing prayer!! He
committed to pray the whole week about March 10th.

Monday night was a straight miracle! We had our lesson planned with
RJ, so quick background on RJ, she’s married to Joe. Joe is a convert
of 5 years now. She has been on/off investigating the church probably
3 years now. She’s a very prideful and independent woman. She is all
about “spirituality, energy, reincarnation” and practically laughed at
me a couple weeks ago when I extended the invitation of baptism to her
a couple weeks ago. So anyway, we were having dinner with the
LaMarr’s, and Joe has always talked about how huge Bro. LaMarr was in
his conversion. So Bro. LaMarr is basically Thanos from the Marvel
comics dead serious haha. Looks just like him, has a deep powerful
voice anyway, so while at dinner I just told him “You know Joe thinks
the world of you, and we’re having a lesson with RJ tonight and I
think it would be good if you could come with us” so he said he would
come. And I can’t even explain the world of difference he made. We do
the lessons in the Williams home, who are Joe and RJ’s close friends
in the church and that also is huge being in members homes for
lessons! We talked about the Plan of Salvation and RJ was throwing
stuff out that kinda had us unsure about how to counter it. But Bro
Williams and Bro LaMarr just related things so perfectly to RJ to make
things understandable to her and the spirit was there. And you could
see that she was starting to understand everything. It was so crazy to
see how things had gone from the start of the lesson to the end, RJ
had a complete change of heart. At the end she was starting to talk
about March 31st like it was actually gonna happen and asking about
who could baptize her! It was incredible to see. The impact that
members have is amazing. I basically realized during that lesson how
much easier it is having members there and having them teach.
Incredible.

Sorry no pics, love y’all 🤟

I ❤️ Jesus

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 💛
1715 N Wilson Ave. Apt. #308
Loveland, CO 80538

Week 27 Land of Love

Transfers are this week and Elder Treanor and I are staying together in Loveland and I’m gonna be the District Leader of the Mountain Lion District! I’m so pumped that we get to be together for another transfer! I’m excited for this new calling I have and the opportunity to love, serve, and encourage my District.

As for this past week not much has been going on, just about all our appointments canceled on us :( 

But all 4 of our investigators and a less active we’ve been working with were at church on Sunday which was really amazing! :)

We also found a new investigator named Brent! We talked with him for like 45 minutes on his porch and then he asked for a copy of The Book of Mormon which was really sweet! He said he was gonna read it and we could come back this week.

We read 2 Nephi 31 with Allen and talked with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so cool cause right after we finished the chapter I said to him “So Allen what do ya wanna do?” And he said “I wanna be baptized” and had this big smile on his face. It was so awesome, you could just see the light in his eyes when talking about baptism. So now him and his mom are going to start working on a date that works!

I hit my 6th month mark on the 16th and tried burning a tie in our apartment so that was fun :)

Sunday afternoon got up to be like 70 then Monday just snowed all day and there was a high of like 18. Colorado you wildn.

 I love y’all!

I ️ Jesus

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 

1715 N Wilson Ave. Apt. #308

Loveland, CO 80538

                                         Burning my tie

                                          Sunday afternoon

Our dinner had us wear these aprons to protect our white shirts haha

                                        Monday snowstorm

Week 26 Show Some Love

   Yooooo Sunday was such an amazing day!!! We had 4 investigators at church  and were so hype! We had Darron and his family, Allen and his mom, RJ and her husband Joe, and Zoey Hart and her family! Sacrament meeting was so awesome too, we had great speakers and a wonderful spirit. Then for gospel principles the class was so big we couldn’t fit in the classroom and had to move into the gym! Our ward mission leader said it was the biggest class for gospel principles he’s ever seen so we were pretty hype over that! Sunday was just an all around amazing day!

   We met with Darron on Wednesday and he committed to be baptized March 17th if he comes to know the Book of Mormon is true and baptism is the right choice for him! We are so pumped for him and his family! We met with him again on Saturday night and talked with him about fasting. We then started a fast with him so that he could receive his answer. After church we connected with him and his wife through Facebook messenger and told them we wanted them to read Enos separately then come together and talk about it. They told us they did that and had a really amazing discussion from it! We are meeting with them this later this week and go more in depth with them on that.

   We met with Allen Saturday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He started talking with his mom about baptism and so if all goes well we will probably extend that invite to him this week. We brought one of Allen’s best friends, Isaac, that’s in our ward to the lesson with us and it was great having him there. He loved it, it was so funny, we went and dropped him off after the lesson and as he was walking up the driveway to his mom we hear him say “That was so awesome!” We we’re happy a 14 year old thought missionary work was so awesome :)

   Last night we met with RJ and Joe in the Williams home and that went great! That was a miracle in itself cause RJ has had no interest in meeting with missionaries for the past couple years, then all the sudden she’s setting up our meeting in a members home and excited for our meeting, so miracle. Now let me tell you, the difference it makes working with the members is incredible! Our meeting was more of an open discussion than it was us just teaching her the whole time which I loved that everybody could share their testimony with her. We extended a baptism invite which she declined cause she said she wants to know for herself first before she’s going to commit to anything. After the lesson I was talking to her and just wanted to make sure she knew we aren’t trying to pressure her into anything and she didn’t feel we were pressuring her and then she said something that stood out to me. She said the only reason these lessons are happening and she’s willing to listen, is cause she can tell that we actually do love her and when we say it she feels it. That we’re not just in it for a baptism but we genuinely care and love for her. It was really sweet to hear her say that cause it’s all true and I’m happy she feels of our love for her. Missionary work is easy, you just gotta love people. Look at them as Christ would, he loved everyone. So with Valentine’s Day, love your close ones, but show some love to your neighbors and everyone around you.

Much love 🤟

I love ️ Jesus

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 


                        Homie Elder Kerchner Went home. RIP Kerch-Dawg 

Loveland, CO 80538

Week 25 Sam’s Club Shoutout

Quick shoutout to Sam’s Club for being our go to for lunch everyday cause it’s perfect for missionaries ballin on a budget.

This week flew by but was amazing! Here’s a quick recap of some of the lessons we had

We had an awesome lesson with the Clopton family who’s a single mother that’s a member and has 2 children (Chloe-18 & Allen-14) who are unbaptized. The lesson was wonderful and we had a member present which was awesome! We have another lesson with them on Thursday and look forward to extending the invitation to baptism. 

We have also been working with the Arnold family. A younger family where the wife is a convert but the husband is not and has been investigating for years. He is very intrigued with Buddhism which is funny cause I never would’ve guessed on my mission I’d be trying to convert someone from Buddhism. But he’s been to church the past 2 weeks and stayed for all 3 hours this last week and is getting to know a lot of the members. Just trying to focus on getting him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon cause we know that will be key.

Also have had great discussions with RJ Nock who’s a non member but her husband Joe is a convert of 5 years now. She is a very spiritual person and doesn’t see the need for being baptized or receiving the Holy Ghost cause she says she already feels it and is close with God. She agreed to start taking the lessons in a members home (the Williams) who they’re good friends with which we’re really excited about cause she practically set it all up and we didn’t even have to ask! Sister Williams called us and told us that RJ has been turned off to missionaries for the past couple years cause of past experiences but really likes us so we were hype about that!

The members here are really starting to get involved with the work and it’s helping so much! Three Saturdays ago we tracted into this guy named Casey Clifford and he told us his boss was a member and is actually in our ward. We haven’t been able to contact Casey since then and then his boss that’s in or ward is feeding us tomorrow and told us he went up to Casey yesterday and invited him to dinner with us and he said he’s gonna come and bring his whole family! The work is so much more effective with the help of members! Missionary work is something we should always be doing. Always looking and praying for opportunities to share this gospel with everyone around us. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest blessing our world has ever been given and so many people are living their lives not knowing of the peace and joy it can bring their lives. We need to share it with all and let them know. It’s our responsibility as members.

Much love everyone 🤟

I ️ Jesus

Elder Bennett aka yoboigator 

1715 N Wilson Ave. Apt. #308

Loveland, CO 80538

                 

    Here’s a pic of Elder Treanor and I doin service inside a fridge at a local food bank :)