Christmas

Kia Ora whanau!! 

Well, Christmas happened. I was sweaty and there was no snow. In other words, it didn't really feel like Christmas. We had breakfast with our young mens president and the food was awesome. We ate at 7 and I was full until about 3... hahah. 

I also took a nap on Christmas. For like two hours. Our ward is tiny and everyone was either not home or had family over so we didn't do a whole lot. 

On Saturday, we had S's baptism! Our zone leader, was the one to baptize and confirm her, but the spirit was so strong. It felt so good to know that I had a part in that sacred ordinance. 

On Wednesday of last week, we had 4 lessons cancel in one day. 4 lessons. But hey, we decided to laugh about it instead of cry. 

I'm onto my 4th transfer now and I'm staying in the where I am to finish training my companion! I love that guy and I love my ward.

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Lessons Learned I Guess

This week has been pretty neat, like it always is. 

We door knocked into a less-active lady who invited us to come back next week to start teaching her! She told us that she wants to quit smoking and come back to church. She was even going to come this Sunday but she got sick so she couldn't. LAME. 

I spoke in sacrament meeting about the different names of the Savior and how they help us remember him. So, S/O to everyone that helped with that. You all basically wrote my talk. :) (We sent Jared an Advent Calendar for Christmas.  Each day there was a new ornament to add with a different name of Christ.  Each family member chose a name of Christ and chose a scripture and explained why that title of Christ was significant to them.)

Speaking of Sunday though. We had our Christmas fireside! Overall, I think the result was good. We got some non-members into the chapel, talking to ward members. We watched a video, people acted out a nativity that my missionaries narrated and people seemed to enjoy it. 

Lots of bad things happened from my perspective, like my USB breaking, but overall, I think it went well! 

We've been teaching S and she's really really receptive! It feels so good to work with someone that has been prepared. If all goes to plan, we should be baptizing her this Saturday! 

Love you all.

Love,

Elder Benjamin

December 13, 2015

Kia ora whanau!

This week has been awesome. Well, every week is. The mission is pretty cool. 

We taught our first lesson to the girl I told you about last week, she understood, she answered questions, and it was brilliant. Then, after, a few really cool things happened. The first was that they fed us KFC. Then, Susana came in with a flower for both of us. And then. She said, "Elder Benjamin, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah of course."

"Thanks for teaching me the gospel." 

That legits almost made me cry. It was so sweet.

One investigator that we've been seeing the whole time I've been here but her husband doesn't like mormons so she goes to a different church told us this week that we could meet her husband! She even said she'd plan a family bbq and invite us to come! 

We went carolling as a district and people offered us money at almost every door! Why don't they do that in the states? 

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Goals Achieved

So here's a few highlights of this week. 

There was a visitor in our ward, he was 16 and he bore his testimony. He was talking about the plan of Salvation and how we can become like Heavenly Father but he said, "We get everything Heavenly Father has. And that's like, a lot." hahaha so using his words, I'm really excited to get like, a lot in the next life. 

Here's the real one though. President and Sister Hudson wanted us to set a baptismal goal for this transfer. We decided to have one baptism as our goal. Then, we had no idea how we were gonna get it. Nobody we were teaching was even remotely ready to get baptized and it's getting close to the end. We have been working hard though, cleaning up our area and dropping investigators that weren't progressing. Last night, the zone leaders called us and told us about  a less active family that had been to their sacrament meeting two weeks in a row because they slept in late (ours is at 9 theirs is at 1.) 

Their daughter  is 9 or 10 and wants to get baptized. She's already been to sacrament meeting two times in a row, her parents are supportive and all that needs to happen is the lessons. So, the zone leaders called and told us that they set a baptismal date for us!! All we have to do is teach her. I'm honestly in awe. We've been working so hard and we set a goal like we were told and Heavenly Father just gave us the baptism. It's incredible. I'm so so so so excited, obviously. Cuz it's my first baptism!! We already have an appointment set up to start teaching and I know it's all gonna work out. 

Thanks for everything. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

This Week

Kia ora whanau!!

I wanna tell yous about some really awesome things that have happened. We started splits/rescue visits to our less active members on Wednesday night and one of them came to church on Sunday! In Sunday school, he told us a story. He moved to Australia, joined the church because of his son, but he fell less active as he moved back to NZ. He had been out of the church for about three years and he said that he wanted to get back into it. So, he called the church to see if he could get the number for the elders serving in his area and after about 15 minutes, he couldn't find anything. He was pretty upset about it. A couple hours later, Elder A and our Bishop came knocking on his door. They came, got him a ride to church, and Elder A and I are gonna start teaching him the lessons again. It was amazing. 

This week started out pretty rough, though. I was really struggling and was pretty hard on myself as. (Surprising, right?) Haha I didn't really know what was wrong and I just figured that I needed to fix or change something. On Thursday night, because of an inspirational zone training, I decided to pray until I felt peace, comfort, the spirit, really anything. I've heard about 100 stories of missionaries praying and crying until they were just overwhelmed with the spirit. So, I went to the main room of my flat and prayed for about 50 minutes. I felt almost nothing. 

Dejected, but still believing that eventually I would feel something, I went to bed. 

Friday came and went and nothing much changed. On Saturday night, we went to visit someone that told us his entire life story which was incredibly depressing. We had no idea what to say. The spirit wasn't there, we had no words, and then he blamed us for making us depressed. We said we're sorry and we went home. 

During training, I had the thought to stop and ask my companion how he could teach the plan of salvation in a way that would address all that we had just heard. As we followed the spirit and practiced, the spirit came flooding in. We knew how we could finally help this man. 

I rejected the spirit a little bit though. I was really glad to have been able to feel that but I wanted to spirit to come as a result of my prayer. During my prayer. 

So of course, as I prayed again for that on Saturday night, I felt nothing. 

During sacrament meeting, I repented. I told Heavenly Father I was sorry. 

Then, during Sunday School again, I received that witness that I was so earnestly seeking for. Our Ward Mission Leader asked everyone, whether convert or raised in the church, how/when we came to know the church was true. My mind was taken back to my first youth conference. 

Before going, I had started talking to my parents about wondering whether or not I actually had my own testimony. During the testimony meeting, I stood up with a pounding heart and shaky voice and told all the youth in the ward that I couldn't deny that the church was true. I didn't know where the words came from, but they fell out of my mouth. After the meeting was over, my dad pulled me aside and helped me see that I had a testimony of my own! I did know it. 

I then remembered some of the countless moments that my dad has been there for. Priesthood blessings, phone calls, youth conferences. Always there as I need him. Never letting me fall away and always, always bringing me closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior. I was able to see that my dad's constant love and care for me were and still are evidence that I have a Loving Heavenly Father.   

I heard the words, "Jared. This is the witness you were looking for." 

Such a distinct and powerful answer to prayer. 

I know God lives. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin