HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! It has been a really fast week but I've missed you lots! I hope your birthday was good. Two years in a row I've missed your birthday. :/ Maybe by next year it won't be as hard but just know how much I love you. It's weird thinking I was in Hawai'i last year at this time and you had flown home. Before I know it February will be here and I will have been serving for a year. Life can just pass you by if you are not constantly moving forward.
Preparation day was a lot of fun last week. Having a car makes things ten times easier. We go to a lot more stores and play soccer still. We went to the golf store last p-day and I got to see the new clubs and hit the new drivers. I have a lot hate relationship with p-days. It's nice to have a well deserved break but by the time 6:00 pm rolls around I'm starting to think about things that “Cameron” likes to do and then I'm forced to refocus on what “Elder Bennion's” purpose is. It's the same feeling I get every fall when school starts. I'm excited to go back, but I'm a little sad as well.
On Tuesday we went to these town homes looking for a former investigator but we didn't have the address so we just started knocking on doors. The first door we knocked on this blonde pregnant woman opened the door. To make a long story short, we talked to Sarah and her husband Jeff. Sarah is from Vancouver and was in the Harmony ward! Her brother, Sam who was serving in Atlanta Georgia, is really good friends with Zach Reeves! Through Zach I knew Sam. Sam was actually the kid that was driving when Kodi was trying to go off campus in the trunk of the car! haha (you can delete this if it seems inappropriate lol) It is just funny what a small world it is!
Thinking back on the week I realize we actually saw a lot of miracles, I just tend to forget them as the week goes on. One of my favorite things that happened this week came on Thursday. It was about 8:45 pm and we had one more person we wanted to contact. This duplex we had been looking for was hard to find because there are four sets of them on the same road and we usually go knock the door at night when it is already dark outside. The past two times we had knocked the door and no one was home. This time we rechecked the address and realized we had been knocking the wrong letter "A". We were about to walk past the door we had knocked twice before but I could tell someone was home. I told Elder Lopez there had to be a reason we had come to this house before so why not knock the door and get directions to where we needed to go. This fifteen-year-old girl named Brittany answered the door. She couldn't tell us where to go but I began talking to her and asked if she had talked with missionaries before and if it would be all right if I sent the sister missionaries over to talk with her. She said yes and so I told the sisters about her. Saturday I came to find out in DTM (District Training Meeting) that the sisters had went by and the grandma welcomed them in with no hesitation. They had recently experienced a death in the family and have never talked with missionaries. The sister missionaries said it is really looking promising!
Saturday afternoon we were contacting a referral given to us by the sisters. Again, we had knocked that door twice and no one was home. I had this thought that there is a reason we are here right now so instead of getting in the car we started walking. I saw this house with an older suburban that had a Nike sticker and that just looked Hispanic to me. Then Elder Lopez said, "Oh yeah, the virgin!" and he started crossing the street. There was a plaque on the house of the virgin marry so we knocked the door and talked to this man named ‘Nino.’ He was muy amigable and receptive to our message so now we have a return appointment with him. It really was a testimony builder to see the Lord give me promptings like that.
Sometimes you don't even understand what the Holy Ghost is directing you to do but you just have to learn to go with it. I feel so blessed when I'm able to look back at situations like these and know I was worthy and in tune enough with the Holy Ghost to receive promptings to go find people who are not in the fold of my Father. There is a verse in the hymn "I'll go Where you want me to go" (Pg. 270) that says, "...But if by a still, small voice he calls To paths that I do not know, I'll answer, dear Lord with my hand in thine: I'll go where you want me to go." The Lord's hand is in this work. This is HIS church and HIS children. I'm so blessed to be one of His 53,000 missionaries. Never forget the importance of missionary work. Whether your are a full-time missionary or not, it is our duty as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to find. Members are the primary finding tool for missionaries and it is the missionary’s primary job to teach the gospel. I challenge you all to find one new person for the missionaries to teach. That is the responsibility of us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Make it a great week and replace fear with faith. Vaya con Dios.
God is love,
Elder Bennion
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