I am so happy that my face hurts from smiling

July 11, 2013

Hola!

This week has been full of ups and downs, but looking back, it's really been SO great.

Some highlights:

--conversation between the two elders in my district: "It's been 3 weeks since I hugged a girl." "The last girl I hugged was my mom..." These two elders are like phil and luke dunphy when they're together. I seriously spend most of my time here laughing with them. My district is the best district that ever existed, and somehow we got blessed to have the best teachers at the CCM (MTC). The teachers all like to say, "Que en el freaking mundo!" ha ha ha i think they're actually kind of making fun of us North Americans...

--so there's a volleyball net set up on the lawn here. We have tournaments. and they're AWESOME. I'm actually not too bad. We get an hour of physical time every day, so I'll probably be like Misty May status by the time i leave.

--My hair. okay, it's really not a highlight, but it's kind of hilarious at how much of an afro i have here. Humidity is real, people.

--I really am so so happy. I can't tell you how many times a day my face actually hurts from smiling. Of course there are times I feel overwhelmed, but this is where i need to be right now.

So here's the lowdown on the CCM: My group was the first time that there has been this many sister missionaries here! there are 2 elders in my district and 8 sisters. We (the hermanas) kind of are taking over this place. People here are going to missions on places like peru, bolivia, ecuador, dominican republic, etc. It's kind of cool becuase I'm actually in my mission (Lima East) right now.

The latinos that come to this ccm are here for about a week and a half (like those who are staying in the states who go the the provo mtc), so we're going to see three different groups of latinos while we're here. Next week, my group is going to be the "advanced" group ha which really just means we've been here the longest. Honestly though, I am amazed at how fast we are all learning spanish. Sometimes, i beat myself up about not being able to speak fluently, but then I'm like, "Hermana Bennett, you've been here for like 3 weeks." It'll come. sometimes, i even have a hard time writing in English now! It's weird.

This Saturday, they are actually turning us loose to go proselyting. like, outside the walls of the CCM. So i'm terrified. But also excited. Whenever we go out for P days, I just look around and think, "these are my people!" They're so beautiful.

I want to share a quote i read from Howard W. Hunter: "Repentance is but a homesickness of the soul." As I have been studying here, I've been feeling this kind of yearning for home. It's weird though, because it's not for my home in Utah (although I do miss and think of you guys every day). It's like I'm realizing how much i want to return home to My Heavenly Father. I really am amazed at how much closer i feel like I am getting to my Savior and Father in Heaven. I know that it's happening because I am doing their work.

One thing I just want you to know: As I was doing personal study the other day, I came across a story in the Ensign where a man was upset with god because his son had a life threatening disease. As he was angry with god, an answer came to him from Heavenly Father that said, "He's my son too."If you guys ever get worried about me over here, just remember Who i have looking over me. That is what keeps me from worrying about all of you at home :)

Well, that's about all i have for this week! Thanks for all of your emails, i wish i could do handwritten letters, but about one third of the missionaries get their letters here :( Also, it can get pretty cold! if anyone asks for your advice about lima peru, tell them to bring scarves and a jacket ha. K, LOVE YOU!

--Hermana Bennett

first: my amazing district. they seriously make my time here so fun.

 second: one of our teachers, hmo gonzalez. his favorite english word: "freaking".

4th of July in Peru

[July 4, 2013]


[email #1 - kb]

i think it will be best if i spend the beginning of my time writing one big email for everyone and then using whatever's left to write back to everyone. I appreciate everyone's individual emails and i love you all! I read everything everyone sends to me, and it helps so much :) thank you!

This was a great week in the CCM (MTC)! some highlights:

Pineapple sopapilla. enough said.

Something my teacher said to me in the middle of class one day: "Hermana Bennett, I like your hair. It looks like a... nurse."

One day during personal study time, i was reading a book. I rested my head on my hand, because this getting up at 6 AM thing is kinda rough for me, and the next thing I knew, i opened my eyes to everyone smiling at me. Obviously i had completely fallen asleep and started snoring... :/

Every night in our room we try to sing hymns together before we go to sleep. It would be really nice except for every one of us wears a retainer at night ha ha ha. It's a good effort though.

The other day during a dodgeball game with the Latinos, one of them turned to me and said, "you know lord of the rings?" and i said, "yes." and he said, "my preciousss," pointing to a ring on his hand, in a Smeagul voice with a Spanish accent ha ha HA!

Today, they gave us a 4th of july buffet! all of the teachers wore red white and blue, and american flags were everywhere. It was SO sweet.

So. obviously there's a lot of fun stuff going on here. But i'm actually learning so much about myself, and the gospel every day. Elder Christofferson of the 12 apostles was here last week in honor of the 100th stake being set apart in Perú! he came and spoke to us at the CCM, and since there are only about 150 missionaries here, we each got to shake his hand. Right as I went in for the handshake, i remembered this one time somebody told me that you're not supposed ot shake general authorities´ hands very hard at all or you might break their wrist because they shake so many hands every day. So i totally froze ha ha oh man it was awkward. we werejust like standing there, not saying anything so then i smiled and stuck out my hand and said, "gracias!" and walked away. ha ha obviously i speak spanish when I'm nervous now! but it was a very cool experience. the man who introduced him said, "there are only 12 apostles in the world, and one of them is here talking to you right now." the one thing I can remember best about his message was that as missionaries, we are companions with the apostles since their duty is to spread the gospel to all corners of the earth. how cool is that?

To be honest, there are a lot of days here where i feel SO overwhelmed. I rarely feel like a missionary. I'm actually beside myself a lot of the time, just thinking, "Is this really happening? am i really on my mission in PERU right now?" It's still not feeling completely real yet ha ha.The other day, we had to teach some latina missionaries, pretending they were investigators. it went HORRIBLY. my companion even started crying and we just threw in the towel. And then we had to go straight to another practice exercise. I took a minute, and said a prayer beforehand. I asked for just a tiny glimpse that i could really do this mission thing. And as we taught our next lesson, it was i could feel the spirit so strongly. The words flowed so easily. the pretend investigators stood up and hugged us afterwards, saying that it was the most beautiful lesson they'd heard. I know that we couldn't have done that on our own. I know that the spirit is going to be the companion i will have with me for this entire mission, and that if i allow Him to do the teaching, i will find all the success i need to on my mission.

this week has actually flown by so stinking fast! I have a feeling that I'm going to be out in the mission field before i even know it. I am so excited! whenever we get to go out for P day, I get to see the people I'll be teaching in a month. They are SO beautiful.

Well, I've been taking pictures! the problem is, I don't get 4 days to let them upload, so i'll try to send one every once in a while. I love you all! The other day I was thinking about my family, and i received the sweetest confirmation that my Heavenly Father is taking care of you all. Remember that :) Con mucho amor.

Hermana Bennett

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[email #2 - kb]

Here are some pictures! one is of the 4th of july feast, and the other is me and my compañera Hermana Blackwell at the temple.

Some things i forgot that I'm really bummed about that you should probably get to Brit (and me if you can think of a safe way) if she forgot: my business cards, pictures of family and like, my picture books from graduation, and everyone's email addresses! that last one you could just email me if you get time. How was dropping her off? I'm so excited to be out here at the same time as her. We're basically companions. :) And dad, I found your Fish! thank you! love you all.

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[Email # 3 (actually went to Nash, but everone will probably like it) kb]

Nash, kenneth, bennett. I'm going to pretend like you didn't NOT email me last week... well things here are pretty rough. we get fed 3 huge meals every day. we get an hour of physical activity to do whatever we want (soccer with south americans is amazing). we get taught the gospel all day. I'm learning a lot it's hard, but so so good. Sometimes i forget how to speak english ha i'm not very good at spansih either, so sometimes, i just can't speak any language.... we have to ride these huge buses to get around when they let us out on our days off. the other day, our bus dies in the middle of the street... but they go tit working in a couple minutes with cars just buzzing past us! the building here are all kind of run down, hopefully i can send pics soon! there ARE a lot of dogs, but they're not as terrifying as the ones on the internet. just a lot of strays. write back fool.

hermana bennett

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

______________________________________________________________________

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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?