He's My Son too...

October 14, 2013

Buenos Días/tardes/noches/whatever time of day you are reading this.

Another week goes by in Santa Anita. There's only one more week left in this transfer, which means there's a possibility I will be leaving the area on Tuesday. I will cry on the day I have to leave here, I can guarantee you that; this has become my home! But such is the life of a missionary. And I know that I'll fall in love with the next area just the same. It's just hard to think that many of these people, I'll never see again. Facebook is such a blessing for that purpose ha! And also, it's funny to hear the way people here say "Facebook."

This week, we had a "training for the trained" conference with President Ardila and his wife, which was for all of the people who came in the same group with me and are finishing their 12 weeks of training. He has already told me that I'm going to be training soon (not enough experienced sisters to keep up with the big wave of new sisters), so that's terrifying. So, maybe because he wanted to test my Spanish skills, he kept calling on me during the conference ha ha! I don't know what happens, but every time he talks to me, I get so nervous that I forget everything I know in Spanish (I don't know why, he's one of the nicest men ever). In fact, after the conference, my companions turned to me and asked, "Hermana Bennett, what happened to your Spanish in there? It was terrible!" ha ha ha but really, it was terrible. Maybe he's rethinking this whole training thing.

Anyways, missionary work continues here. Right now, we are working with a couple of people towards their baptisms, which has been complicated. Esmeralda wants so badly to be baptized. She comes to church every week, pays her tithing, she obeys the word of wisdom, and even goes to seminary. The problem is that her mom doesn't want her to be baptized, for reasons that she won't tell us. I think she's heard things from non-Mormons about Mormons, so she has hesitations. We also are teaching Ali, who has been attending church regularly for years, and has read the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover multiple times. The problem is, she lives with a man who is basically her husband (they've been together for 20 years and have 2 children), except for they're not married, so she can't be baptized. The problem is that he is married to another woman from when he was like 18 years old, and he first needs to divorce that woman to be married to Ali, and he doesn't want to do it, maybe because of how much money it costs, or maybe for other reasons, we don't know. It's a tricky situation and I can see the pain in her eyes when it comes up. These two are just so ready to be baptized, and it hurts them so much to not be. They are so strong, and I know they are going to be baptized someday. It's just the waiting that's hard.

Welllll, I can't really think of what else to say... mostly because I am sitting in a small room full of hot computers, sweating because the Peruvian summer is almost upon us. Oh, it's almost Halloween! Which is one of the best days of the year if you ask me. I will probably dress up as a missionary. And also, an investigator (Leydi) almost named her baby Sheli (how they would spell "Shae Lee" here) after me! We were at her house and she couldn't think of a name, so my companion told her to use mine ha. But i think her husband didn't like it... He just chuckled nervously when they said it to him.

Love from Perú,
Hna Bennett (or "Hermana Venet" as one member spelled it the other day)

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P.S. I am reminded of a talk I read in the MTC. I probably already told you all about it, but it talked about a man whose son was very sick, on the edge of death. He started praying to God, asking how God could do this to his son. Then, the answer came to him, a voice saying, "He's my son too." I remember when I read this, I thought of my mom and dad, and how I was worried about you two, being so far away and all. That no matter how many years you live on this earth, you will always be God's child. He is taking care of you, even if there seem to be "complications," which are really inherent parts of this life. He loves you so much! He told me so when I was in the MTC, and the Spirit is reconfirming it now. The first lesson we teach, the very first lesson in Preach my Gospel, is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. It's so powerful a lesson that it's the one we start off with.

How do we forget the burnings of the bosom we have when we truly allow the spirit to talk to us? it's pretty crazy the things we forget with our human minds.

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P.P.S. My companion and I had an argument about Christopher Columbus today ha! Well, not a real argument... anyways, in Spanish his name is really Cristobal Colon? what kind of name is Colon?

Spanish... somehow i'm getting the hang of it. I'd probably be a lot better if I would talk more, but I'm not good at that even in English! the hardest thing for me has been connecting with people--my usual social awkwardness. Last night I was actually feeling pretty bad about it, but then my companion told me, "God called you to be yourself as a missionary. Your personality is exactly what He needs here, so stop focusing on what you think you SHOULD be." It helped :)