I am so lucky to serve here. I need to be grateful, like President Uctdorf taught us. Here are some funny update, tidbit, noticias de la HERMANA BENNETT.

1) I had transfers. Shocker. Every dang week enserio. I swear Im not a problem child. This is just an Always on the move mission or something like that.. Im in Miraflores, CUenca. My comps name is Hna Jimenez, de Guatamala. Shes so cute! Im so blessed. We have... less than 12 hours together..and Im senior comp. I am kind of freaking out. But I just need to trust in the Lord and let my fears go.. If you guys would send me talks on trusting in the Lord, not worrying, etc..Id oh so appreciate it. I am such a dang worry wart. 

2) I was sad to leave my other sector. We had JUST finally got to know members, investigators, recent converts, etc..But yeah. SO is the life. 

3) Funny story.. I was trying to tell my comp that I have cherry tea....I accidently said I have BEER tea. Yup. Theres a difference between the two. Cerveza, ceresa. 

4) I had my first exchange this week.. it was with Hermana Crum!! MY mommy in the missioN! :) She is so great. I really do love her. She didnt want to serve a mission but she is here and she can do so many things.. shes so powerful! I love that girl. 

5) Learning to go with the flow. I look back at my last companionship.. like ten minutes ago.. hah but seriously.. and I realize that sometimes I am reallllllllllly critical on others or myself.. this is something that I do not love in myself.. I need to change. I need to soften my heart and see the good in all situations, to let things go, breath a little, deal with my stress and GROW. I feel like this negativity brings me down spiritually... I am working on this attribute in myself. Can I just say I AM SO SORRY to my familiy or friends or roommates if I was like this before I came out here into the mission. I sometimes dont always do the right things, think the right things, take the right actions or have the best attitude..but I, as a daughter of God have all the rights and oppritunities to change. What a blessing I, and the rest of the world, have..to change! CHRIST LIVES. I know that Christ lives. 

6) Its my birthday this saturday. WHHHHHOOOOOOP WHOOP. I really am so stoked. I plan on eating my imported microwaved Betty Crocker cake mix for breakfast. Livin on the Edge, I know. 

7) Learning to be diligent and obedient. Something I am really learning here is to be exactly how Heavenly Father wants me to be. Its crazy. I really am grateful for all of my leaders in this zone and the oppritunity to learn these skills..I know it will help me as a mom, as a wife, as a sister, etc. This mission isnt particularly tough, besides the day to day stressors.. but we are OBEDIENT. We have set rules, alot of which are implemented here by the mission president and this has really taught me alot. Sure, I may not always have fun or enjoy every moment of everyday, but Im learning to work through problems, even if I dont want to, even if Im tired, even if I have every excuse to not work, I work. I feel like I have infamous moments of my pre mission life where I could just decide to turn back last minute. Here, I dont have a choice. I need to keep going. I need to teach these Ecuadorians. 

Gosh am I blessed. I love you all so so much. :) xo hna bennett
 
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Nothing amazing happened this week so heres just a tidbit of what im learning..

My most spiritual experience.. man I have so many. I have had days where literally, I can just OPEN my mouth and preach the truth like no other.. haha its like overpowering to be able to tell someone the truth in a different language. I think im a total brat in Spanish.. if thats possible.. Maybe im a brat in English too. 

The most spiritual moments are my let downs, when literally everything falls apart and I cant escape it. When NO one of our 21 people invited to the conference show up and we are just sitting there like fools, waiting for no one. These are the moments when I reallllllly ponder my intentions, why Im here, what Im doing..and sometimes I murmur..Ill admit it.. For example, yesterday I was thinking (after no one showed up to the conference ) that just as we are waiting for our investigators, Heavenly Father is waiting for us.. hes waiting for us to follow through with our invitations hes given us, hes waiting for us to repent, to love others, to be better people, to follow his Son.. He is waiting, more patiently than me. As a representative of Christ, I have to have patience. And man, is the Lord teaching me alot of this. In moments like these, I reaaaally am taught so many lessons, I recieve so much revelation for my life/future life.
xoxoxox
Hermana Bennett

 
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The city of Cuenca — in full, Santa Ana de los cuatro ríos de Cuenca — is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about 2500 m above sea level. The weather is cooler. this time of year: 70 high 40 low.  The dominant features of the city's geography are also the source of its name in Spanish: the four rivers of Cuenca (meaning a basin made by aconfluence of rivers). These rivers are the Tomebamba (named after the Inca culture), Yanuncay, Tarqui and Machangara, in order of importance. The first three of these rivers originate in the Páramo of Parque Nacional Cajas to the west of the city. These four rivers are part of the Amazon riverwatershed. Cuenca is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with passes to the west, south and east.


 
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Familia y amigos,

This week was crazy fast. Seriously. I had transfers. HA! I know. Again. I think every week I am doomed to be somewhere different. Now, I am in the ever so beautiful and cold CUENCA! My companion is Hermana Mojica, de Nicaragua.. Can I just say I feel so blessed to be here. I feel like I am at home. 

We had 2 baptisms this week, two teenagers, Eddy and Fernanda. We are working hard with their families to help them get baptized as well. I dont have too much to say this week but let me tell you a miracle that happened. 

We got here on Tuesday,and no one from our sector before (the other sisters) live here anymore..so we had to fend for ourselves, figure out where things were,etc.. IT WAS (is, at times) SO HARD. This sector is HUGE. Its called, Alamos. We had to go find our investigators getting baptized.. We found out that Eddy our inv, lives waaaay out far away..and that nobody could help us get out to see him, so we decided to visit him and drive in a taxi.. it was 6 dollars.. We got scammed..but thats okay. hah :) WE got dropped off in the middle of a mountain..literally.. it was about a mile from the main freeway, we tried finding his house, with the very few directions we had and yeah.. We could not find the house..we walked and walked and tried talking to people but no one would listen..seriously. So it was a little frustrating..we tried calling the mom, no response.. SO we started walking back to the main freeway to pay another 6 dollars to get home.. my comp was talking to me about how she was stressed and was wondering why bad things always happen..we talked about how Heavenly Father knows our hearts in times of despair, in times of difficulties and in times where we are really unsure what will happen, he knows.. And we should learn to be diligent and keep our chin up so we kept going, even though we knew if we didnt see Eddy, he probably wouldnt get baptized.. As we kept walking, we passed his mom and she directed us to the house, boom. Baptized the next day. It was a test of our faith. THe lord knew she would cross our path.. :)

And also, everyone says that my spanish is good. Im either improving or Cuencanos are liars. :) haha I feel like its good because I have been with Latinas nonstop for 2 months now. So..yeah :)

Our sector is really big. REALLY big. Its like... My house to Danielles house. With mountains. 

:) ANyways, I love you all. MOM; FWD THIS TO EVERYONE

 
 
Sister Hinkley gave this quote and man, do I LOVE it.  Este semana fue LO MAXIMO. Enserio, mi querido familia y amigos. Yo ha visto muchos bendiciones durante este semana... alot of tender mercies.. A lot of things that really have touched my heart. Lets start here:

First off, I have a new comp named Sister Ynunan.. from Lima, Peru. Shes BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. I have plans to take her home with me. Shes the cutest Peruvian ever. She reminds me of Eliana Kusaka, (pst..somebody tell her to write me) and yeah.. this sector is called HUANCAVILCA!

1- Ive learned that people gotta start somewhere.. Ive really learned that we are all here...and we dont know what we are doing.. I had the coolest experience this week.. We were contacting in the park and met this old guy with his grandbaby, we start conversing and he is really difficult, he started bashing the church and saying all kinds of things like we worship Joseph Smith and other things like that and BOOM.. Hermana Bennett just starts teaching The Restauracion. This is something big for me, because usually I am a little timid.. This has been a huge challenge in my mission.. Teaching just on the spot, in a language I pretend to know to a complete stranger.. In this moment, I just opened my mouth..and I was strong. I stood firm in the message, I explicitly explained what we believe, and he listened. He may still be verrrry Catholic, but I felt the spirit and SPOKE! Let me just say, this was an aha moment for me

2-  Working with less active.. there are so many less actives here. SO many. I had a revelation that we need to get the list and start contacting these people, we have done it..ususally we are walking around for 4 hours to find these lost people.. alot of them have family that arent members and they ALL need to come back.

3- Jean Paul.. is a investigator..he is 18 years old, hes mom is a lawyer, he is an interesting kid.. He came to church a tad bit...drunk this sunday. He knew he was doing something wrong and was embarrased. When we know we are doing something wrong, the truth is hard to face. He has a baptismal date for the 12th of april.. wow! He really is a special guy. Id love to see him progress.

4' Sister GIGI, is a member who has special needs, she has a disability with her spine and cant walk, she was baptized 8 ish years ago and is a doll. She invited me into her room and I sat in her bed with her and I sang in English songs.. It was so neat.. We read a scripture about how we have a brotherhood in the gospel, we have a family, ALWAYS.. And she began sobbing because she doesnt have any family,the sister missionarys... ( GRACIAS Sister Megan Murphy, specifically) befriended her and loved her. Ive never felt so much love. I beared testimony that no one else in the world can literally LEAVE their lives behind, their family, their friends, their country to serve somewhere foreign without contact and STILL feel love, still feel the same as they do in their home.. she also says that I dont know spanish.. So.. Im just taking this with humility, taking advice for the people that tell me I dont know what Im doing.. :) Its okay. Im trying. I came here not knowing 3 words, now I can understand everything. What a blessing. 

Its true. We are all here progressing. We are in the church of Jesus Christ. He lives. He suffers when we suffer. 

I love you ALL so much,

Hna Bennett
 
 

         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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