Sister-Sisters on Missions!

Hermana Bennett has a sister, Britton, who is also going a mission - to the Virginia Richmond Mission. She leaves July 3, just two weeks after Hermana Bennett (Shae) left. 

Click on the link below to see Britton's Blog (she won't be 'Sister' Bennett for another 10 days). http://brittonsmission.blogspot.com

Can you believe Britton didn't want to put on the hat for the second picture?

...And Hermana Bennett defended her opinion.

Shae already had her application for a mission planned for her 21st birthday when President Monson announced the age change. The announcement only resulted in her leaving about 3 months earlier than orignally planned, just before her 21st birthday. Britton was one of the ones you heard about that was texting all of her friends seconds after the announcement - all excitedly making new, immediate plans. Thanks to the announcment, Britton is leaving about three months after her 19th birthday! Thinking of the moment of the announcement still has a very strong effect on all of us. As a result of weekly sealings our ward has been doing as part of something we call 'The Elijah Project', as soon as they recieved thier endowments, some girls had a chance to do sealings with Sister Elaine Dalton (whose husband frequently performs the sealings). It was an incredible experience. She has explained how she had the privelege of being part of seeing the Lord create this movement in preparing young women for this incredible change that has so significantly affected the lives of so many sister missionaries, now going into the field. It is almost incomprehensible the change it will have on the lives of Heavenly Father's children, unknowingly waiting for the arrival of all these new missionaries all around the world.

With her final hug in the temple, Sister Dalton's final message was:

 "Give them HEAVEN!!".

Go do it sisters...

Shae's First Message from Peru

NOTE THAT ASSUMING BY HOW SHE SIGNED HER FIRST LETTER
'SHAE' SHALL HEREAFTER

(OR AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT 18 MONTHS)

BE KNOW AS HERMANA (SISTER) BENNETT.

Well, after almost exactly 12 hours of anxious anticipation since her plane landed (we tracked it on the internet and all cheered when it landed, assuming she was on it), we got Shae's first message from Peru. She is apparantly safe and very happy, as we should have known - hopefully we will get more confident at leaving things in the hands of the Lord as time goes on :).

kb

______________________________________________________________________

---

From: Shae Bennett <shae.bennett@myldsmail.net>
To: kenny and jennifer bennett <knj_bennett@yahoo.com>;
Sent: Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:54 AM
Subject: 

Guess who is in Peru... this sister (I'm pointing at myself right now). Disclaimer: the keyboards here are a little different than what I'm used to and there{s a timer flashing in my face of how long i get on the computer making me go fast, so hopefully this isn't too hard to understand...

I made it! It was the longest day of my life, but I´m so happy to be here. Remember how I was scared I{d be the only missionary going? well, the first plane i was in about 80% of the passengers were missionaries headed to peru. Then there were about 66 of us on the next plane, so it was not stressful at all! i think everyone else was wondering what was going on... we got to the mtc at about 3 in the morning and now we]re just getting all our legal stuff taken care of.

Yesterday, i had a lot of time to think (about 11 hours of just sitting on a plane, trying not to watch movies on my neighbors tv screen...) and i realized that this is really happening! it{s still kinda surreal, but I{m on a mission right now. I just put on my  nametag, and it fits great! But i am not going to lie, a lot of my thinking yesterday was like, "Shae, are you crazy, what are you doing?" I started getting a little freaked out. But then, I opened up my mini Book of Mormon. Before I even started reading it, I felt completely at peace. That is no ordinary book, and I am here to share it with whoever wants to find out what it can do for them in their lives. The Book of Mormon is a testament to me of God's love (for me and everyone else).

On another note, we had a weird welcome to peru. At the baggage claim, we were just sitting there waiting for everyone to get their stuff when we just heard this horrible noise coming out from one of the doors. It was like thousands of children just screaming! We all looked at each other and just looked around, and nobody else was doing anything so we just kind of tried to ignore it (maybe that was bad of us...). One of the sisters suggested it might be monkeys, so i was terrified. Come to find out, there was a Korean popstar in the airport and all of his fans had caught a glimpse of him ha ha ha ha! What a life.

well, thank you guys for everything, especially your uncomparable love. I can{t imagine what i would do if i didn{t have you guys. mom or dad: can you send this email out to family? and maybe just stick it on the ol' blog. Sorry i can{t send more, but if you are reading this email right now, just know that I love you!

--Hermana Bennett

I}ve still got 3 min till it times out.

Everything is so different here! all of the buildings are pretty run down at least in the middle of the city. the sky is straight up gray. I love it though. The people are so nice! the naitve missionaries just smile and say bueno to everyone ha ha. I{m in an awesome place.

Finally official - Sister Bennett! Set Apart June 18, 2013

Shae will likely have something to say about what transpired tonight in the High Council Room with Presidents Malone, Wilson & Christensen. Until then, I will say that it was a very nice experience with excellent council provided, culminating in a great blessing by President Malone. It was a perfect start to Shae's mission.

Now I'm off to nag her some more and make her frantic as she packs. I can't see a single inch on the living room floor. It will be a miracle - like unto feeding 5,000 - if she can get all of that stuff in her bags. Fortunately, it is only 11:40 PM - and she does not have to get in the car to head for the airport until 3:45 AM. Assuming that sleep is not going to happen tonight (today?), there are well over 3 more hours to get packed ;).

Think she can make it? Tune in tomorrow and see - hopefully the next words you read will be her own, coming to us from Peru!

 

An Explanation of how Shae Hopes this Blog will Work:

Hi,

This is Shae's extremely fortunate father, Kenny. Why fortunate? If you know Shae at all, I won't need to explain. She is an INCREDIBLE person in every conceivable way. I cannot even begin to say what a huge privilege and pleasure it has been to share the first 20 years of her life. I cannot imagine what she will accomplish as a missionary. She has literally been planning her mission since she was 4 years old. There was never ANY question she was going. At age 4, she got hold of a CD we picked up somewhere with some little games to start to show kids how to read. Without anybody knowing what she was doing, she used it to teach herself to read and write. She had heard a poem once about Jesus and was touched by it - and decided to write her own. Then she illustrated it. It was as deep and touching as anything I had ever read. The only indication that it was the work of a child was the use of crayons on the otherwise amazing artwork. It has only been getting more astounding since then. Ok, sorry, I had to say a little bit so you get a feel for who we are about to follow through this incredible mission journey. Peru is in for quite an experience.

 

Shae has given me the task of taking care of this blog for her (what kind of a word is 'blog' - does it even mean anything??). I can build a computer with paper clips and duct tape (ok, it wouldn't be much of a computer), but this is literally the first time I have ever even opened a blog, let alone worked on one. So, here we go. If (ok - when) I begin to violate all forms of blog etiquette (which I have probably already done), PLEASE, see past it and enjoy the content that Shae gives me to post here.


Please note her email address on this blog so you can send mail to her. She also has her mission office address, but we have heard it is about a 50/50 chance of getting a package to Peru intact, a bit better with letters. So, the email approach is likely the best hope of getting your messages to her.


On this blog, I will post a weekly a general information email and some pics from Shae to let anyone interested know what is happening in Peru as efficiently as possible (that's right, she says weekly - big talk now, but we will see how long that lasts once P-Days get interesting) . If you send her emails, she will do the best she can to answer personal stuff via email, with most general information being covered in the blog.
 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR VISITING SHAE'S MISSION BLOG. She will no doubt find great happiness in your support through emails and comments. And thanks so VERY much to all who came to her farewell. It was so nice to have friends and family there to show thier support.

 

Worth Living For

While trying to prepare my farewell talk, I came across this quote from past church president Spencer W. Kimball: "Sometimes to be tested and proved requires that we be temporarily deprived—but righteous women and men will one day receive all—think of it—all that our Father has! It is not only worth waiting for; it is worth living for!"
I think that's something everyone needs to hear, right?