Happy FIFA World Cup,

South America is going NUTS down here. Seriously. Every night, partidos, partidos, partidos.. There are so many games going on, jerseys and alcohaul being sold! Its like Christmas here. This week was another week..extremely difficult. Para que les voy a mentir.. (Why am I gonna lie to you all?) Our program doesnt quite exist. Sister Jimenez and I both are a little flustered that we dont have a program or people progressing but we are working on humility and faith. Its hard to be out here. Our less actives just dont seem to enjoy when we teach, or we catch them at a bad time and they arent super receptive, we invite people and use the techniques weve been taught for months, teach the doctrine, teach with power and authority and the people just walk away or laugh. This has been HARD on me!

My testimony is growing because i have been trapted in this lesson of faith for quite sometime. Its like the example of the little tree that needs the wind to be strengthened. Im that little twig.

Its easy to have faith at home, because we arent having tests of faith every minute of your day for 78 weeks of your life. But, the lessons you learn in moments like these are incredible.. I have received alot of revelation out here. ALOT!

"Let thy will be mine.. " 
Also, Something I think has helped me lately is truly letting my guard down.. In my prayers, Ive directly said,"Lord, I really...miss my bed at home", "my dog"..etc.. And have left all of the things that could possibly distract me from my purpose in my prayers with the Lord.. I leave the house with one less thing to think about. It actually works! This week I was centered in what I needed to do and feel super good. 

:) Anyways.. Thats all ive got for today folks. 
We have transfers tonight.. So well see where I am next week :)

Until then,
Hna Bennett

 

TRUTH IS: I would love to watch Ferris Buellers Day off right now. 

:) Hello.

I would love to start this email out by saying a mission is TOUGH. In Las Vegas, my stake and my ward all know me, I feel as if Im someone that they trust and look up to and that I am someone. In contrast, here in my mission, I am CONSTANTLY humbled and feel the TINIEST little speck of a person, even though I eat alot of rice HAHA. Maybe thats what I need to learn to become more like Christ.. (I dont say these things to honk my own horn but seriously, I feel SO different out here..Sometimes, I dont even feel like myself!) and thats hard.. If there are any Ex-sisters reading this, did you feel the same? 
Our baptism would have been great. We didnt have one. Something happened with our investigator and suddenly he didnt answer our calls, didnt want anything to do with anything..Until a few days ago when he started sending me strange texts and calls... He called me and just said he is now asisting a different church and yeah..what could I say? It was awkward!  But really, it turned out to be a great learning and growing experience... 

what do we do in moments like this? :)  KEEP GOING..and thats about it. 

Nothing is SUPER interesting. Oh.. I have funny stories! 
***note from letter to MOM********************************
So, I here from the mission office that I have 2 boxes!!! Hoorah! I can not tell you how happy that makes me. I look forward to reading the letters, and seeing stuff that is from home. I can now celebrate my birthday for real. Oh, and valentines, and easter. My comp will get a kick out of my crazy package!!

So happy to hear about Josh Nelson's home coming talk. I know what he is experiencing. I know I miss home, but I will really miss ECUADOR too. Sounds like he did a great job, and helped some many Saints! I am not suprised knowing Josh!! Good work, Elder!!!
****************************************************
Here ya go:
A man (slightly intoxicated) came up to us and wanted to know the word of God.. Hes like, ¨Sister, whats your name?¨ and I reply ¨Sister Bennett!¨ and hes like..uhhh your other name, whats your other name, thats easier.. Can I call you Sister Angie? and I was like..well, I guess if you want to.. And so, he called me Sister Angie.. They next day, I called his house and his dad answered and was like... who is this? And I said, Sister Angie! And literally in the background, this man was screaming SIIIIISSSSTER ANGGGGIEEE! hahah it was SO beyond funny.

Also, pray for me and my comp! I feel like we could use the blessings. 

FAMILY: Be safe and know that you are so loved. I just love yall so much. Stay strong. 
Missionary Friends: STAY valient. Learn from your comps and be receptive to the Spirit. I know this church is so true. 

LOVE,
Hna Bennett aka Hermana ANGIE

 
THE TRUTH IS..im beat. Im already tired, and this week hasnt even started yet. Seriously. What the heck? :) Let us reflect on this past week.. Heres a few things that have happened..

Guess what.. Im halfway there.. a little bit over halfway.. wow :) The time passes to fast! I cant even believe it. Sometimes I just feel like I just started and I know absolutley nothing, other times, it feels like Ive been here for YEARS. Its interesting.
Being trunky doesnt exist because I am me :) But.. just an FYI.. I only have 8 more fast sundays.. WOW Also.. in 12 weeks I will hit 1 year. WOW

This week is the last week of this transfer.. and man.. This transfer has been a ride. I have learned so much about Christ in these 6 weeks. Every other week has been good or bad.. Usually, the mission is the same, we have bad days and good ones..but recently, its been literally a WEEK thats brutle and then a week where we are are FIRE.. Sometimes, I dont understand why things happen the way they do, but you just gotta go with the flow and love it(or force yourself to love it).. One week, we invite the world to be baptized and they generously accept us and we teach them and the next week, our numbers are extremely humble and we perhaps lose a little motivation.. Motivation is a key aspect here.. Im learning this. 

Also, what else? PABLO is getting baptized this week! We are so pumped. I seriously cant even tell ya. He was chosen. This man seriously doesnt have any challenges with anything so it was so easy for him to accept the gospel. Why cant I find these golden investigators everyday? I think I need to grow my faith. He is ready to get baptized. What else what else what else? :)

I am really trying to gain a testimony of the Word of Wisdom and personal health.. as you might have guessed, I am a little more.. more here in Ecuador thanks to these great mamitas and random Ecuadorians that feed us rice and fried eggs and all sorts of deliciously interesting food all the time.. And its really been great.. I feel the blessings of being more healthy and feel more energy.. :) Sister Wiscomb from Montana now lives in our house and we both workout together in the morning and eat oatmeal everyday. Who would have thought that Quaker Oats could bond two sisters :) I love Sister Wicomb! Send me pinterest workouts, ideas, something cool, anything! :)

And..thats all folks.. I know, even when life is hard, we are so blessed..Sometimes we arent given the direction in which we should go (as missionaries, often) BUT the Lord trusts us enough to be wise and just do the right things and to figure it out. I need to raise my diligence and work more! This is my goal. :) Youd be so suprized and all of my many life goals ive created here on the mish. I know that I am needed to be here in this moment for this exact reason.. to be a better person, a better sister, a better daughter, a better wife, mom, grammy, etc! I needed to go through hardships to learn something new, I need to learn how to seek the Lord in this very moment to truly understand how to raise my future family.. QUE BENDICIONE! Seriously. I am too blessed. Even though this is hard, the blessings are incredible. 

I LOVE YOU all. Please be strong and think of a way to serve someone this week :) All of Heavenly Fathers children need a little boost, Pray for these opritunities.. I promise that if you will pray for an experience, it will come and you will feel the hand of the Lord working through you. 

Also, HELP the missionaries. Go teach a lesson with the Elders, dad :) 
 
LOVE YOU all so dearly,
Hermana Bennett


 


 
Every Monday at approximately 3:30pm I sit inside of a cyber cafe looking at a white space in which I should write an email to the world and I should declare all of my greatest achievements, miracles and life changing experiences and yet... Every week I cant remember what I am writing.. I seriously SPACE out. I cant remember a single story, person, NADA. Its quite tragic. Hmm. Lets begin with a great quote from our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, " I pledge my life, to ALL that I may have, I will strife to the utmost of my abilities to be what you would want me to be. I am grateful for the words of Jesus Christ, our Savior, when he said,"I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to Him", I earnestly pray my brothers and sisters that my life and my merit this promise from the Savior"..
This week Ive had a lot of deep questions in my heart.. DEEP experiences that I undoubtedly know in my heart I need to be here to figure out what Im doing.

This week, I had a dream. I was with Grammy. We were driving in the car or something and I was just talking and teaching the doctrine of Christ. We just talked about problems and life. It was tender. Somedays, I just desperatley miss my family, to a point of tears.. but these dreams get me by, because I know with all humility that I have a gift. I know I am supposed to learn something from these dreams. 

A few days passed, and I had a crazy cool experience.. We taught a woman named Maria.. Maria is the sister of the patriarch..and she is really Catholic. (So is the rest of Cuenca).. We taught Lesson 2: The Plan of Salvation..and I was at LOST for words. I could hardly speak, let alone bear my testimony. It was crazy. I was stuck thinking about Grammy again. I seriously sat there and just stared blank into the ceiling. I was on an exchange with Hermana Torres from Guatamala and I just told her how I was so struck by this woman. She cant accept the gospel (to any degree) because her husband is Catholic and yeah..its a sin to just up and change. And its difficult. Sometimes, as missionaries, we just surf through people that don't listen to us or cant progress because we really cant help them to the degree that we desire, but with this woman, I saw her cry. I saw her weep because she KNEW this message was true, but is stuck in a hard place and just cant exactly do everything to progress. Man. If I could explain how I felt.. 8 layer bean dip of a emotions.


Also, I want to teach you guys something SUPER cool :) This comes from Elder Viteri from Argentina.  Its called "LA TAPA" ... 

theres a story that talks about a flea thats in a container.. the flea can stay in the container for 3 weeks and just jump, jump, jump! By the end of the month, you can take the lid off of the container and the flea will NOT pass the limit of where the lid once was...this is like our lifes.. sometimes we put expectations that are low..we just dont meet our potential.. and really, the lesson im learning is that we need to open our tapa / open the lid! How many times have we thought "I cant go on a mission, Im too old", "I cant go to prom, I dont have a date", "I cant possibly get into medical school"  "(insert name) is too good for me, he will never love me" and so forth.. Basically..its a lesson for life. WE need to let down our guard and just keep positive, stop believing the things in your head.. TRUST in the lord and be happy. 

The prayers get longer and my knees get weaker. I pray that I can be what the Lord wants me to be. I pray that you have safety.
Pray for ME.
Love,
Hna Bennett

 
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Helps the pastillas(pills) go down! This week, I obtained an illness from the Elders.. It was horrible.. Ear ache, nausea, cough, you name it, I had it. This week was incredibly more slow than the other week. It was not fun, to be honest. Ill write some of the things that have happened this week in relation to the Plan of Salvation..


1) Pablos nephew passed away..which was SO sad, he was just a baby, 2 weeks old.. Ive never seen a man so sad in my life. He is so powerful! :) We taught about the Plan of Salvation and that really his nephew is living in paradise, I cried during this lesson.. I was so touched. And I´ve always thought back to the time when Sister Crocketts baby Ezra passed away, we all talked about what had happened in young womens and how Ezra had been obedient, chosen to come to the earth, recieved his body and a great family and was needed for something bigger. His spirit was valient, and I strongly felt the same way about this little baby. 

2) The Zone Leaders also had an interesting experience this week. They were in a bus, in the bus station and somehow, a little girl was hit and sadly lost her life.. with her family...mother & siblings all standing within reach of her. The elders were devastated but then related the experience to the Plan of Salvation.. There were other religious groups there in the station that were trying to console this poor mother, but what she needed was the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. In this moment, this mom needed this Plan, this guide, this comfort. WOW! The elders gained a strong testimony of this plan and it really helped mine also. 

What else? Nothing really. This week was somewhat ... dull and slow. But heres a miracle:  A woman named Janet, from Bolivia came to church for the first time in over 8 years.. Nobody even knew she lived here for all this time..  Wow! :) We are working to rescue these less actives and its actually really cool. It works! :) Its been fun. 

Lesson for you:Eat an apple, take a vitamin, Dont get sick on the mission, folks. Its not fun, at all. Promise. 

:) But, Im better now, and I want to work hard this week and feel the days pass by like they did before! I love you all. 


BE GOOD and write me! :)
Sister Bennett  


 

This is an excerpt of a letter that I wrote to Breanne Earl.
WOW  I am so worn out. Seriously. This is so hard. Nobody tells ya how hard a mission really is.. You have to love everyone, look decent(a little less decent in Ecuador haha), follow with exactitud every single rule from waking up on time, to practicing teaching, to teaching, to walking around for hours in rain or shine until your feet just ache..and smell. :) Its not always pretty. But I have learned so much about life and so many little lessons that I know will be applicable in the future..Recently, we had a member of the 70, an elder of the area(i forgot this name in english) come and explain the importance of decision making..and how when I personally decide to be disobedient, it does not only affect me, It affects EVERYBODY! wooh. That was hard to hear but something thats so true. Its a life lesson, if I choose to drive faster than I should, my likelihood of something bad happens goes up, and if i get into a crash, others are affected, perhaps other familys, my family, friends, everyone.. and then Channel 8 news rolls around and videotapes my accident and now all of Las Vegas is aware of my one small wrong decision.  Its all about decisions. There are alot of decisions I wish I had made in highschool. Let me just tell ya a few :)
 
1) Seminary. I was not as diligent as I could have been..I kind of was on fire with it ALL and loved it and then I got bored or something (not too sure) and I became a little apathetic.. I went for the most part but my participation wasnt always the best and my desire was not always there
2)My relation with my siblings.. I would do anything just to hug Simon, Ellie, Luke or Jakie! Now that I am so far away from them, I value our relationship. I just want to hug my siblings! 
3)Stop worrying about what others think.. Love every moment, be yourself. There are moments when I was so caught up in myself and my teendrama, my clothes, my makeup, my car (which turned out to be the minivan..the Lord humbles the prideful hah) when really.. IT DOESNT MATTER. Now im walking around in Ecuador everyday reminding all of Gods children what really matters.  
4) Dont get stressed.. the mission has (i hope) taught me to be a little less stressed out.. Or maybe Im just accustomed to a stressful inviroment? Either way, dont stress! Dont procrastinate either, I could be named the Queen of all procrastination in highschool.. and maybe that brought the stress..but dont worry :) Work hard, pray harder, trust that it will all be okay and take a deep breath. Ive learned a lot of stress relief techniches here. Its great :)
 
Know that Heavenly Father just loves you B  :) If you need a friend..know that Im here..every monday :) haha
 
LOVE YOU
Hna Bennett


 
 

Hola hola hola :)
LA PLENA. Estoy mucho más agradecida por mi mamá en este momento de mi vida de en TODO de mi PRE-Mish life. (TRANSLATION: Hello hello hello SO FULL. I'm much more grateful for my mother at this time in my life ALL PRE-Mish my life.)

 I love my mommy! I literally can testify that moms know..everything. They are always right, they know what their kids need! (At least my mom does) :) I love my mom. I am so blessed. 

Lets just sum up this week in one word:

Fall

Everything fell through this week. Everything. Literally. Every single thing that possibly could have not happened happened. Our investigators either couldnt progress or they just didnt accept us anymore, we contacted, didnt work. Not going to lie, I got just a tad bit discouraged this week. When everything goes good, I am stimulated to work, I can teach and I just RUN off of the Spirit, when there is NOTHING and my new ideas dont work, I get ssssssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppeeeerrrrrrrr... DISANIMADA.. :( Its so hard. Nobody tells you how hard this really is. Nobody. But, when people follow through and follow christ, man, Its worth it. 

Today is the start of a new transfer. Im just waiting for the leaders to call us and tell us we have transfers. Duh, duh, duh. 

In other news, I am sometimes a nit wit. Remember how I am Senior Comp and all that jazz? Yeah. Well, I guess I forgot the part where we were supposed to do the paperwork for our investigator.. his membership registration? So that was fun. I had to finish all of this paper work in only an hour, I spent like 30 dollars in taxis, I swear. It was so memorable, I learnedmy lesson. 

Something that Elder Ucera(member of the 70) told us when he came 2 weeks ago was that in life, we have a "moment of truth". Sometimes, these moments of truth are hard, others are easier...but either way, we have moments in which we learn what we lack or we learn what we can really do (that we can reach our potential).. Man, I have really been trying to realize moments when Ive felt like this. There are many! Its amazing. My invitation for you... is to realize when youve had moments like that. 

In other other news, I got another face infection. I dont understand if this is from stress or just germs but MAN its not pretty. But dont worry, I am taking 8 antibiotics and have one cream that I use like 6 times a day, its almost gone! :) Oh ecuador. Memories.

We have ONE INVESTIGATOR! Thats one more than zero, we are still looking for more :) His name is Pablo, he is 26 years old, is from Esmeraldas and is CHEVERISIMO! He at first was like... sisters, why do you guys want to bother me everyday..and were like "because.. its my job to bother you and to teach you!" and i explained that Satan does not want him to progress and he will put excuses in his path so that he wont do it...and BOOM.. he literally decided to drop all of his plans this week..he told us he would stop playing soccer to visit us. Hes great. He could be an apostle. 

Anyways, we will be talking in a heartbeat ..so dont miss me too much :)

PS.. I heard a quote from Elder Ucera that I really liked also.. he said sometihing to the tone that the U.S. is rapidly getting worse, more sins, more corruption but the Lord is preparing the church here, in Ecuador, in South America, and that one day, the church will be stronger here than in the states.. WOOOSH. That hit me hard and changed my perspective on my responsibility


PSS..  Elder Bennett is my cousin from Kansas, if anyone asks. HAHA!!

PSSS.. This week, I bought the Zone these sugar bread sticks things and a newer sister named Sis. Martin asked me, Whats this called? And I replied "Palo de Azucar"..which directly translated is Stick of Sugar... It was so funny. 

PSSSS.. Please... do me a favor this week, pray for safety :) Im not sure why I am writing this, but just do it! 


I LOVE YOU ALL! The Lord is so merciful and loving. We are too blessed. 

:) Love always,
HERMANA BENNETT

 
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Happy Mother’s Day!

We hope that you are enjoying all of the blessings of our Heavenly Father in this time of the year and also encourage you to keep helping in his work. Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,

The Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission with President and Sister Uceda of the South American Northeast Area Presidency.




 
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Hola!
its true. Im trying!
 
this week, we talk 3 deaf people, 1 prostitute, 2 old men who wanted to marry me, 1 old man who wanted to marry me, wanted money, told me he was going to die the next day, I simply replied that I dont have more than 5 cents, plus he was going to die the next day.. but I have an orange and he yelled at me...unfamiliar words...hahaha ALLL because the orange had seeds.. I love my life..

I am the lead comp, and really working hard at doing a great job. The work is hard but we are finding much Joy. I love my comp. she is darling. She is really homesick and I am trying to help her through it. Thanks for all the pictures and GC talks you sent dad! We love them. I love getting the notes and pictures from family and friends! The letters really help, you don't know. Lots of missionaries dont get letters, so sad! So thank you so much!!!!!! Tell everyone Thanks so much!!!
Tell Sister Daveline I love her, and I love the pins! It feel so wonderful to have a visiting teacher, I really need one! I can't wait to hug Sister Daveline!! 

Im in a ward with Elder Bennett, thats fun. haha we have the same name. Joke of the mission is that we are cousins. Now we can really fool the people. Hmmm.. My birthday was just another work day.. we ate cookies and milk, and calzones! I also asked 2 people to be baptized in the street haha that was fun.. We had a stake conf this sunday and it was prodcasted from SLC...it was given by elder nash, elder holland and elder scott.. man I felt so much love from them..it was great. I really had so much direction from them. it was so needed. hmmm what else..this is all i got for this week..pretty lame!

*****Customs is holding her two boxes hostage that we sent about 1 1/2 months ago (for her birthday)...so she will either get them soon, or she will see a man walking around in her size 10 1/2 shoes we sent her, and maybe he will wear the cute skirt too??******

         Bienvenidos!

    I am Sister(Hermana) Bekah Bennett.  I will shortly be serving 18 months of my life on a church-based mission  in Guayaquil, Ecuador. I leave August 28th, 2013 and travel to the Mexico Missionary Training Center to better prepare myself for my mission & mission language. My blog at that point in time will be ran by my little sister E and my mom! I am grateful to serve my Lord and invite you to follow my journey! 

    XO,
    Sister B

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