It's A Wonderful Life!

Well, here I am, typing up another letter here in Perú. Time keeps on slipping, into the future... I love Space Jam.






Maybe just ignore that first line, especially if you have never seen Space Jam. or Kid President.


I am still in Canadá and i am still training. I am going to be honest with you, i still don't feel like i even know how to train. I am in a little bit of a funk. But, times like these are always followed by really awesome experiences, so get ready for the best email yet next week!






My Christmas was very different than other Chritmases I have had. All the fiestas here start at midnight, so we tried (and failed) to sleep the 24th. There were fireworks going off like crazy for about 2 hours. But, more importantly than that, we were able to teach Antony, a recent convert (one of the two baptisms we have had since i've been in this ward). He lives alone, and works in the banana market here. we scheduled an appointment with him the sunday before last to meet on the 24th, not realizing that it would be Christmas Eve. As i looked at my agenda for that day, I realized that we had made an appointment with him Christmas Eve night, and that more than likely, he would be out doing something to celebrate. But, (with more prompting from the spirit than i realized at the time) we ran over to meet him at the chapel anyway (since he lives in a part of town that we try to avoid after dark). We walked around the chapel, and saw a man sleeping on the grass. We almost didn't realize that it was, in fact, Antony. We got closer and started calling his name. He eventually woke up with a startle. It was obvious that he had been working and was really exhausted. The chapel was closed, so we sat on the grass with him and taught about the temple. He then started to give the most amazing testimony about how beautiful the story of the first vision of Joseph Smith is to him. While teaching Antony, i have noticed that he understands things in his very own, unique way. But as he began to tell us of how at first, he had may doubts about Joseph Smith and then about how he researched and prayed, and came to realize that Joseph was in fact a prophet, and that the priesthood is in fact very important to have, i realized that he had come to understand very well the Restoration. I was very impressed, and very very content to realize that we had not just baptized someone, but we had helped someone to become a convert (which is one of the fears i have: that i will baptize someone who will later become inactive. happens more often than not here). I then asked if he had plans for Christmas. he simply said no. I felt terrible. We were running late to go over to dinner with some members, but i knew that i would not enjoy anything if we had to leave antony alone on christmas. i sent a text to the family to see if he could join us. Stalling while waiting for a reply, we started walking in the direction of their house really slow. I was praying harder and harder that they would answer as we got closer and closer. Finally, we were almost there, and they still hadn't answered. I was stuck. I coudn't just invite someone to someone else's party, but i also didn't know how i could just leave Antony. Literally as i went to shake his hand to say goodbye, on the verge of tears, the phone started ringing. The sister who had invited us to dinner said of course antony could join us! And yet again, i had a very precise and direct answer to my prayers, which as happened over and over again on my mission. I wish that you could have seen how happy Antony was when we asked if he would like to join us. It was a very special Christmas, one that i will never forget.


so much more has happened this week, but i am just out of time to tell you! just know that this mission is very very worth every little pain that comes with being a missionary. I love it. It's the best thing I've done with my life.


Miss you all, and love you all!


Hna Bennett






The Castillo Family










Christmas caps for the whole mission

Parrot Prayers

hello all!


this week has been... well actually i don't really remember most of what happened... but i will try ha.


the other day we had one of the most memorable lessons i've ever had. We went to the house of a contact named julio that herman rubio and i taught on the sidewalk the other day (i was going to say "that we taught in the street," but then i realized that that might seem like we were actually teaching him in the street and that is not what happened at all. too many cars). anyways, we went to his house and he and his wife welcomed us in. we sat down, and the started telling us about their lives. they have been catholic since birth, have been married 52 years, and are very active in their church, so that was cool to see. the whole time, there was this chanting playing on their tv in the background, which was pretty except for their was really bad feedback and it was making this screeching noise the entire time, but i don't think they could hear it because they were a little older ha. anyways. julio started telling us about how his wife had been travelling the last couple weeks, and then she interrumpted with, "and i came home and found my husband fat. all he had eaten in those weeks was bread and cookies." and then julio looked just so cute and innocent and said, "but my love, I was HUNGRY!" we continued the lesson, and then in the middle of one of my sentences, julio said, "Wait, you have to see my bunny!" his wife was like, "Julio, they don't want to see your bunny." but nevertheless, he showed us to his backyard and sure enough, he had a pet bunny. he said, "it's my pet. not for eating." then he also tried to get his pet parrot to talk, but then said he was too cold to want to respond. ha so he said, "here, i'll show you my other pet parrot." We went back inside and he started clapping. all of the sudden, one of those sound activated parrots started squawking up on his shelf ha ha ha. we shared a little message with the two of them, which they said was nice, and then we asked the wife to say a prayer to close. she gave a beautifully sweet prayer, and as soon as she said amen, her husband said, "in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost, AMEN!" and gave two loud claps to set off his toy parrot ha ha. He's the best!


Christmas here is going to be awesome. i think. people have told us that everyone will be a little bit more receptive to hearing about jesus christ, which is great news for us. we are seeing a lot of christmas lights and nativities go up. and, a lot of people are inviting us to come eat christmas dinner with them :)


i have to bear my testimony that our Heavenly Father is so very aware of each of us, and wants us to find joy, especially within our own families. we are given the people we have as family for very specific purposes, and i have been blessed with such a wonderful group of people, with whom i can't imagine life without. and that is the blessing of this gospel, that we can literally be together forever, even after this life, through the powers of the priesthood. i pray every day that we can, as a family, work towards achieving that goal. i hope you all can feel those prayers! i love you!


hna bennett










The Canada Christmas party guest of honor!

Training 101 and Intro to Paneton

A couple hours after we got done with emailing last time, Hna Rubio got the call about transfers. She is now in a new area, training (what a champ) and I am still in Canadá, also training! My companion is Hermana Llavilla, from Cusco, Peru. She has about two weeks in the mission and obviously someone thought it was a good idea for me to teach her how to be a missionary ha ha! It has been a good time for me to step up and take on some more responsibilty. Also, she has been to Macchu Picchu like 3 times and has all these connections and tips for me (aka Dad, i'm going to be sending you her suggested itinerary so you can start planning for next december ha). So far, we've done pretty well in this week! and, seeing how i don't have anyone to speak english with anymore, i am started to forget how to speak my own language a little.


We have had a couple lessons with a family that has been talking to the missionaries for about a year. There is Omar, Rosela, and their two kids Joselyn and Aaron. In our lessons this week, they told us that they know the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. They are now praying to know when they should be baptized. Sometimes i think as missionaries, we (myself included) get caught up in how fast we think others should progress. When i first got here, we questioned whether or not we should continue to teach this family, but we kept working with them. Now, after a year of missionaries coming and going, they are ready to move forward. I may even be able to see them get baptized. And, looking really far into a year in the future, i may even be on my mission when they enter they temple to be sealed as a family (which is already a goal that they are very set on). how cool is that?


We are also teaching a new investigator, named Fani. She has a two year old named nicolas who is the bomb. In the second lesson, we planned to invite her to baptism. As it got closer to the end of the lesson, i started getting nervous. I didn't want to push her away from us by asking her to be baptized (you would think i would be used to doing it by now, but sometimes, i let my own silly worries get in the way of being a missionary). but, all according to plan, we invited her to baptism. and you know what? she said yes. in that moment, i felt the spirit in the way the scriptures describe as a burning of the bosom. And it built up my testimony that we as missionaries have to put the same faith in God that we teach. When we put our confidence in him, we recieve the blessings he promises, every time.


i just want to leave my testimony with you all that i have seen this gospel change many many lives already in the short 6 months that i've been here. my own life has been changed by this experience. I invite all of you to feel this same thing. Pray. read (the bible, the book of mormon, and all of the modern-day revelation found through living prophets). and act on that which you find to be true. NEVER be afraid to act on what you know is true. i love you!


Hna Bennett






P.S. They have this stuff called paneton here, and it's probably similar to fruitcake (which i've never actually tried). I've eaten it like 3 times a day since december started. anyone out there have some good lines to use to get out of eating it? help a sister out. please

A Timeless Parable

This week has been full of so many emotions, but somehow i can really only remember the good ones.


the other day, we went to teach a sister who hasn't been coming to church because she recently had a spinal operation (I know, i know, what a lame excuse...) Earlier that day, during personal study, i had been drawn to the parable of the ten virgins. we decided to share it with her for the appointment we had lined up that day. As we began the lesson, she got very defensive. she said, "I told the other missionaries, and i am telling you. i still have my faith, i still read my scriptures and pray, i just can't go out very easily because of my operation." at this point, i was actually just thinking, "Well, okay, you can't blame her. let's just deliver this lesson since she hasn't been able to go to church in a while and it will lift her spirits." but as we started to teach about the ten virgins, i just realized how much this parable applies specifically to church members. And she did too. we asked her what could be represented by each of the parts of the story. she answered without much thought: we are the virgins, the bridegroom is the Lord, and the lamps are what we do to follow god... then her daughter stopped her and asked, "then what is the oil?" her mom stopped and thought for a while. Then she said, "You know what... the lamps our are testimonies, but the oil is what we do with our testimonies.Right now, i have my lamp, because i have my faith. but it's empty. i'm not doing enough. i need to attend church. i need to read my scriptures EVERY day. i need to go to the temple with my family and be sealed to them. at the day the lord comes, i can't ask someone else to borrow their temple recommend to hurry and go through the temple to be sealed to my family. I know i need to change." She then actually become emotional and said something that i will never forget. She said,"When you first came here, i thought, 'oh great, they're just going to preach at me.' and then you said you were going to talk about the 10 virgins and i thought, 'oh great, this story again?' but then, as you invited me to really think about it, i realized that god is completely aware of my situation, and that he wants me to come back and fill my lamp. and you sisters have some here, with your lamps spilling over, with this message to help me. thank you sisters for coming. you have blessed my life." and then i was just over, sitting in my chair, thinking, "how did she get all of that out of the crummy spanish that i just stumbled through?" The spirit truly works through us as missionaries, if we will allow it. Her statement about how my oil was above the brim touched my heart, and also compelled me to change, to become worthy of that image she had of us. I am grateful for these little reminders that i am, in fact, becoming a better missionary, and a stronger disciple of christ. there is always room for improvement, but it's always nice to realize how far you've come. i truly have changed so much for the better in these 5 and a half months, and it's all because of the love of my father in heaven.


thank you for your emails and letters, and love!


Con muchísimo amor, hna bennett






PHOTOS!!






our district in a taxi










children asking me to sing one direction to them










a large hill overlooking lima










our zone struggles with pictures...










Peruvian Thanksgiving

A Surprise Baptism

It has been a pretty peaceful week here in San Luis.
Well, first off, we have not had a lot of investigators who are progressing here. and by "not a lot" I mean "zero." There are quite a few people who really like our visits because they like to talk about religion, but unfortunately, we just can't spend a lot of our time going to those kind of visits. We have tried contacting old investigators, tracting, asking for references, and teaching part member families, and we do have a lot of appointments lined up for the future that look like they have potential! We also have a lot of really aswesome members who are always giving us families to visit. There is one brother in the ward, Brother Zamudio, who owns a little juice shop and always tells us to come by. He is about as kind and jolly as a little old man could be. Whenever we stop by, he calls to anyone that walks by his shop and says, "These are missionaries. They come from other countries to teach the gospel." as he shakes their hands and won't let go until they stop and take out an appointment with us ha ha. he's the best!

hmmm what else... I recieved a call Saturday night from my old area, Santa Anita. A missionary who is there now asked if I remembered Prisila, an old investigator. I said, "Of Course!" Prisila was a woman we found one day when we went to a home and the family wasn't there. Prisila was just leaving the same apartment building with her friend as we walked out. Her friend, a member, stopped us and told us to visit her. As we started visiting her, it was obvious that she has a lot of faith in Christ. She already knew a lot about the church, and so had a lot of questions. I could tell that she really really wanted to believe the church was true, but she just had a hard time believing that joseph smith was a prophet. She would say things like, "One day, i want to serve a mission like you guys." And when she would come to the chapel, people would always think she was a member. She told us one week she wanted to be baptized, and we got everything all set up, but then a couple days before, she come to us crying and said she just couldn't be baptized because she wasn't sure. she said she needed time to think. it was really really sad for all of us. Well, this saturday, after i answered the missionary on the phone, she said,"okay, one second..." and then Prisila's voice some through! She said, "yep, i just got baptized!" I was so so happy! I still don't really know all the details because i could only talk long enough to say congratulations, but I can only suppose that she had received an answer to her prayers about Joseph Smith, that he was in fact a prophet. I know how amazing that answer is when we finally receive it, because i have experienced that process myself! I now have no doubt whatesoever that he was a prophet, that he restored the church of Christ on the earth, and that the Book of Mormon is proof of his truthfulness as a man called of God. If a person wants to know if this church is true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet, they HAVE to read the Book of Mormon. And if they will do that, and then sincerely ask, through prayer, if what they are reading is true, they'll receive this same answer. I promise.
I love you, and I am so thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers and letters and emails this Thanksgiving week!
Sincerely,
Hermana Shae Lee Bennett
PS the other day some members found out my full name, and asked me why it was a chinese name... and then i was like, huh, shae lee really does sound chinese ha ha represent!

All is well in Canada (Peru)

This week was so, so good. We had TWO baptisms! Saturday was Antony. He came from Chiclayo (which is a city north of Lima) where he had received the missionaries and wanted to be baptized. He moved here to work in a banana market, and looked for a chapel for a month until he finally found one in another area from ours. The missionaries over there introduced us, and now he is a member of the church! He was even ordained to the priesthood yesterday! He's a funny one ha ha when we asked him to bear his testimony at the baptism, he said, "Remember to be punctual to church tomorrow." Which is actually really good advice here in Perú!

Karla has been investigating for like 3 years. I really just came right when she was already set on getting baptized, but it was still cool to be a part of such a big step in her life. In her confirmation, she was blessed to become a strong wife and mother, and I really feel that she will. I was touched realizing that these converts can truly make positive changes in the world. Seeing all of the inactive members of this area, I sometimes get a little scared of leaving any of the people I teach behind. But, we have to make sure that these people who are getting baptized are truly converted to the gospel, and that they have strong ties to the ward. Which is why I was so very happy yesterday as I realized that before church started, Antony had changed into a brand new set of church clothes that (I later found out) were given to him from ward members.

I wish I had just a half an hour more to write... there's so much I want to tell you! But with the few minutes I have left, I want to testify that this is God's true church; I cannot deny that. The Book of Mormon is the work of God, given to us by a true prophet, Joseph Smith. Today, we have the divine guidance of President Thomas S. Monson as he is directed by our Father in Heaven. Most of all, I know that Jesus Christ lives, and he loves us (which is such an understatement). All of us can feel that love as we pray to Him and learn of Him, and act like Him!

I love you all. Hasta luego!

Hna Bennett

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Antony's Baptism

The baptism of Karla - the bishop baptized her. In this picture, they are both anxiously anticipating the freezing cold water of the baptismal font.

This one time my old landlady Betty made me a scarf for my birthday. then i realized that it works much better as a hat/artificial afro.

Hermana Rubio and me... she's funky
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I feel that I have had a lot of mercies from god as I've tried to get over my shyness. I know I just need to open my mouth and talk, but sometimes it is just so intimidating and hard! I have definitely gotten better, and sometimes,when I feel like a failure, we find someone that is awesome, and it's like God is saying, "I understand it's hard for you... but next time you gotta just declare your purpose without fear!" and it has gotten easier and easier. 

I am also anticipating the days of the iPad ha ha we have to carry around an area book that weighs about 80 pounds, all handwritten. and the phones we use are about ten years old ha! And no Facebook for us yet. Someday the technology will catch up to us.

Antony and Karla

Some good news for this week! We've got two baptisms coming up for this week: Antony and Karla. Antony actually showed up to the chapel having already received missionaries in Chiclayo, ready for baptism. He's a funny one ha. I'll send pics when it happens.

We've been working a lot with members (active and inactive) and we're starting to see some potential there. It's kinda hard sometimes waiting for things to happen, but I think we're getting close to seeing some fruits of our labors.

Yeah, i'm just going to apologize right now for this letter being so scatterbrained... so sorry!

This week, we have spent a lot of time walking around, looking for people to teach. Sometimes, i'm just like, "When is the missionary work going to start? Why do we spend so much time just not doing anything but walking? What are we doing wrong?" The fact is, it's not going to be easy to find people who are ready to listen, no matter how life changing and beautiful the message is. Many are called, but few are chosen. But they ARE out there. I've already met many choice people, and that's what I remember when I start to question myself.

In other news, someone told me yesterday that my accent is muy muy bueno! Finally, i'm starting to get this Spanish thing ha! it's weird to think that I am actually having conversations with people in another language all day, every day.

Well, sorry that was so short and probably you're now thinking, "What was the point of that email?" ha ha but, I know this church is the true church, more and more every day. I know that Christ lives, and that our Heavenly Father still works miracles, and that he is always listening and waiting for us to listen back.

les amo mucho
Herman(a) Bennett


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Here are pictures! and now i realize they're both of food...

 Us eating lasagna at a member's house. It was delicious.

One of the baby bananas they have here. There are a ton of different bananas. and the fruit is delicious.

i'm getting off the computer. until next week, my friends...