January

This is "literally" my favorite missionary!

Kia ora whanau! 

As always, this week was great. Well, I guess I've had a few hard weeks, but most of the time they're great! Like this one was. 

Elder A and I were talking and realized that, if all goes to plan, we'll go from having one investigator to having 7 in just a couple weeks!! Now, it hardly ever all goes to plan because what's the fun if life works out the way you expect, but it's still such a miracle to have the possibility of teaching so much! 

We had a zone training meeting on Friday and that was really neat. I got assigned to talk about accountability for 10 minutes. Which sounded super daunting at first, but the spirit helped me soooo much and I was able to be really pleased with the discussion I led. 

We started teaching someone named Santana. Her husband is less-active and she's so receptive! She understood all we taught, she asked questions, and she read all of her reading commitment from the Book of Mormon! And, because her name is the same of a very talented guitarist, it makes it really makes it hard to keep that music out of my head. 

Also, as I was typing, I turned the language of the computer to Chinese. That was neat. 

Well, my district is great, the work is great, I'm also pretty great. 

Good things are happening. Like my missionaries getting baptisms. I think we've had one every week this transfer! Speaking of, it's now week six and I'll find out on Thursday or Friday what's gonna happen. Wish me luck!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

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January 25, 2016

Kia Ora Whanau! 

This week was pretty neat. We had a worldwide missionary broadcast this week for a couple hours and it was the coolest thing in the world. I loved being able to learn from the apostles about how to be a missionary. A couple things that really stuck out to me though was that the apostles referred to us as "fellow missionaries" which was really neat. The other thing was to realize, as I had to take my suit coat off because of how hot I was, that all the missionaries in the conference center in SLC were cold. It still blows my mind that it's summer here and winter there. 

We made a companionship goal to visit all the former investigators in our area book because we have like 4000 that we don't know. As we were doing so on Saturday, we met a guy who came out, hugged us, and told us that he's been waiting for us to come around!! He said that he wants to learn more and we're starting the lessons with him this week! 

On Sunday at church, there was a young man aged  who told us that he wants to be a missionary!! Why is that so cool do you ask? Because he's not a member and he wants to have the lessons!! That's why. 

The God I've come to know is definitely a God of miracles. 

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Speaking Unprepared

So this week was pretty neat.  Here’s a few highlights.

WE FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR. They're basically like gold here in the Hawkes Bay. But they're finally starting to come! One last week, we're gonna get another this week, and good things are happening. Here's the problem though, and WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO TEACH HIM. AT all. 

"Elder Benjamin. Didn't you have a powerful HTBT and find what he needs? Don't you have the gift of discernment? Don't you just teach the Restoration?" 

Answer: YES.

Here's the problem though.

I studied the Restoration for him and I felt terrible! So, we moved onto something else. But Elder A and I have probably spent 3 hours talking about it and we still haven't felt good about anything. The logical thing is the Atonement but even with all of our prayer and fasting and discussion, the spirit hasn't confirmed it to us. I'm kinda freaking out. But hey. It's all good. Just pray for him. 

Another highlight and the subject of the email. 

Elder A and I spoke on Sunday as we do the 3rd Sunday of the month. Elder A looked really nervous, I asked him why, and he said, "I think I'm supposed to speak on something else." 

I encouraged him to do just that, to follow the spirit and I told him not to worry because I could take the rest of the time. 

So he got up and (I was so proud of him) He gave a completely different talk! Awesome, right? I was super excited for him until I realized that THE SPIRIT TOLD HIM TO GIVE HALF OF THE TALK THAT I PREPARED. What the heck. He gave half of my talk. 

He sat down, we sang the rest hymn, I had 25 minutes to fill, and about 7 minutes of a talk that I could give. Then I realized that I was gonna have to do what I just encouraged my companion to do. 

So on the way up to the pulpit, I prayed and told Heavenly Father that I didn't know what I was supposed to speak on but I knew that He could help me and I was gonna do my best and expect him to do the rest. and I did just that. 

I spoke from my notes and then I looked up at the congregation and just started speaking and the spirit took over. IT was the coolest thing. I filled up the time, gave a powerful talk, and people were visibly affected by what I said. Well, by what the spirit said through me. 

I still don't know what I said. I know the principles I spoke on, but most of my talk wasn't actually me speaking. I didn't even use notes. I just kinda spoke. It was THE COOLEST THING. 

The spirit is real. Heavenly Father answers our prayers. The church is true. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Another day, another...nickel

So the weeks gone again. They all go by so fast. It's wild. 

My last email, I was very obviously inspired and on a spiritual high. This week has just kinda felt slow. We've started cleaning our area which means we're going through our area book which hasn't been done in over a year, and we're going through our ward list! (It has over 250 names on it and only about 30-40 come every Sunday.) Our work is cut out for us. It's good though. It's slow, but it just kinda feels right and there's something really satisfying about being able to fulfil Heavenly Father's will even if it doesn't immediately result in heaps of new investigators and baptisms. 

I've been thinking a lot about light this week and how it's used as a symbol throughout the scriptures. The Savior being the light of the world, letting our light so shine like President Monson asked us, the mists of darkness in the tree of life, phrases like "the lord is my light and my salvation." I can't say that I have many profound thoughts about it so far, but the thing that I keep drifting back to is how, when someone is converted, worthy, and Christlike, they have a light about them. It's not a physical glow and most often you can only see it in their eyes, but there's a light. I've seen it in missionaries, in ward members, in investigators preparing for baptism, and others. It's not doctrine, per se, but it's definitely something I've seen. You should all pay attention to that this week. 

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

2 Nephi 5:27

Kia Ora Whanau! 

As always, this week has been so so so so good. I love the mission. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's easily the best. 

I found one of the reasons I was called to the New Zealand Wellington Mission. The zone leaders had been teaching a girl  and they set her baptismal date for Saturday and they asked me to do the interview cuz District Leader. I can't share all the details of what happened, but I'll share some. We sat down, I asked the questions and the spirit was there. Then, half way through, the spirit left but I had no idea why. We got talking and I did my best to follow the spirit and it eventually led us to the Atonement. About the Savior's crucifixion. About how, as he was hanging on the cross, the spirit left him which led him to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" I told her that it is my personal belief that when the Savior had fulfilled everything Heavenly Father needed him to do, died, and went to be reunited with his Father that He was told something like this: "As hard as it was for you to go through that, it was harder for me to watch." 

Silence followed. 

Tears started rolling down her

face, she finally told me what she was scared of and, without me having to say anything, she gained a determined look in her eyes and said that she was ready to be baptized. My favorite part though, was to see the light enter her eyes. The pure light of Christ which I was able to watch only get brighter as she was baptized and confirmed in the coming days.

The mission is the coolest thing I've ever done. Everyone needs to serve. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin