Sister Benson: 6/6/22

 

week 29: the sisbenz is killing us all

YALL TRANSFERS ARE THIS WEEK! How wild is that. Anyone else feel like we... like literally just had transfers? Cause I do. I feel like that. But yeah so Im just gonna let yall wait in SISBENZ (sister benson/suspense. hehehehehe) 

This week was such a good one honestly. Well I mean as good as it can get as a missionary haha. We started out the week with TWO people telling us not to come back or contact them again. One lady we had been talking to/teaching for three months. And the other was an amazing street contact we found a week or so ago that asked us to come back but then.... someone told her a lot of stuff about "mormons" and she said she didnt want to see us again. Gotta love it. BUT. God blessed us regardless. 

This week we went to visit a referral. We had tried to get in contact multiple times and just hadnt been able to. So we went to his house as kind of a final contact. And no one was home :/ so we were standing on the porch writing a note and a car pulled up. And low and behold who got out of the car? The very man we were trying to find! He came up and told us he usually works overtime, but something told him he needed to come home early. So he did! We talked to him about doing lessons and he seemed excited! God DOES perform miracles. Unfortunately since then he has ignored most all of our texts and didnt come to church. :( Agency is an amazing gift and.... we often dont use it the way our Father in Heaven wishes we would. So everyone please pray for Joseph! 

Another miracle this week is that we were able to have not one, but TWO lessons with Zachery this week!! In the first one he taught himself the law of chastity, and in the second one he readily accepted the Word of Wisdom. He is elect!! But... because he is so golden, Satan knows it. And he is working hard. We came Saturday afternoon to make sure that he was coming to church so we could find a ride. And he was having a bad day. His roomate who is..... a child of God, is planning to rent him out of the house. So Zachery was having to be out by Monday. (today) He had no place to go and told us he couldnt come to church because of all of this. As missionaries we are set apart with the power and authority to promise blessings, and if people put in their part to fulfil the promise and we all have the faith, it will happen. BUT I often am human and get a little nervous to promise... anything. But Sister Swain said, "Zachery. I promise you that as you put God first and come to church tomorrow, you will find a place to stay by Monday." And you better believe i looked at her like say whaaaaat???? Thats a big promise are you bonkers??? And God (every wanting to teach) took that opportunity to give me a lesson. As I sat and looked at Sister Swain who refused to look at me, I felt it. The power of that promise. The power of God. Because who am I, little, insignificant Scout Benson from Springville, Utah, to tell GOD that a promise is too big for him to fulfil. He gave US the power to make those promises. Do you realize how cool that is?? I didnt. Until that moment. When my loving Father in Heaven took the time to show me. How could you not believe in God? So, Zachery agreed to come to church. The thing about promised blessings is that they cant come true if you dont fulfil your end. Sunday morning we showed up with a couple in our ward to pick Zachery up. And after knocking on the door about five times (five times for salvation) and standing their for a good ten minutes, we finally accepted that once again, agency is sometimes the bane of our existance as missionaries. So please pray for Zachery as well. 

A cool thing we did this week was that one of the days we tried to see Zachery and he wasnt home, his neighbors- who we see all the time but they never seemed to want to talk to us- were standing in the shade hiding from the heat. So we went and started talking to them! At first they were very standoff-ish. But we didnt try to preach to them at all we just started talking. And after a couple minutes we were all friends!! They eventually told us that they had thought we were Jehovahs Witness and... if youre not aware, JWs dont have a great rap down here haha. But we were able to clear that up and answer some questions! Then they told us to say hi anytime we were in the neighborhood. And so we have :) An amazing thing about God is that he will provide opportunities to testify. And i love that :) 

Alright and now.... the moment youve all been waiting for.... where is Sister Benson going next?????? The answer is..... GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA!!!! Its a college campus town and no... sadly I wont be in the YSA ward. (And no I will not be changing teams. Born and raised a dawg) But Im still super excited!! My companions name is Sister Doxey and she is just finishing training this transfer. Im sad to be leaving Waycross but, as always, Im beyond stoked for the new adventure :)) Wish me luck, Ill talk to you next week from Florida!! 

Love yall!!!