Sister Benson: 9/19/22

 

Week 44: The Miracle of the Mansfields

Hi :) I havent sent a good email I a HOT minute, so I thought I would this week. 

Last monday was wild, we spent all day at a museum with our district, so thats why my email was about .3 seconds long, and why I didnt take the time to THANK ANY OF YALL FOR BEING AMAZING and reaching out to me on my birthday! Although I couldn't answer any of them, I was so grateful. It made me feel loved :) I am so blessed to be surrounded by people who are so kind and loving and such good examples. ❤️

Alright so this week!! We started off Tuesday with zone conference! Elder Vern P. Stanfill of the 70 came. (If you havent heard his conference talk, you should definetly go give it a listen.) So! One thing he talked about really stuck with me. We opened up to John 21, and started with verse 3. Jesus has been resurrected, appears to the apostles, and then leaves again in chapter 20. Then, verse 3, Peter decides to "go a fishing". (which i just think is the best way to say that) So Peter and the disciples do what they do somewhat best, and go fishing. I say somewhat best because pretty much anytime we hear about the apostles fishing, theyre really bad at it until Jesus comes. And its the same with this time! "...they caught nothing." And then after a long night of terrible fishing, theres a man on the shore. The disciples dont know who it is, but he tells them to cast their nets on the other side. (sound familiar?) They have been fishing ALL NIGHT. How much of a difference is tossing the net on the other side of their 10 foot boat really going to make?? But they do it anyways. And what happens? "They cast therefor and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." and the next verse, "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord." So, lesson 1. Do it the Lords way. Even if you think going to the otherside of the boat will make no difference, God doesnt ask stupid questions, he doesnt make thoughtless requests, and he has a plan. (and its better than yours :)) 

Now for this next lesson we have to remember what happened just a few days earlier. John 18, Peter denies Christ three separate times, just as Jesus told him he would. Three times he was given the opportunity to "take His name upon him" and three times he denied it. Matthew 26:75 "...and he went out, and wept bitterly." Can you imagine the guilt Peter feels about denying his Savior not once, but three times? I can imagine he wept pretty bitterly. So back to John 21. Very 15, "Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" A truly piercing quesiton for someone who just days before gave in to the pressure of the world and disregarded his love for Christ. I can just feel Peters anguish as he was asked this question once, twice, and then a third time. "Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me?" (verse 17) Jesus really seems to be rubbing it in at this point. But when i stop and think about this, Christ isnt punishing Peter for his denial, he is giving him the chance to repent. Peter has had his days of Godly sorrow and is GRIEVED by his choices, and now Jesus Christ again stands before him, and he gives him the opportunity to tell him he loves him once, twice, three times. Each time taking a little bit of the pain of each denial. Rereading i see that grieved a little differently. I see it more as longing to be forgiven, longing to be made whole by the only One who can truly grant such a gift. He asks one more time, and Peter im sure answered with tears "Lord thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee." (verse 17) So, lesson 2. Repentance is not easy. But regardless of what we have done, where we came from or who we have become, Jesus will give us just as much- if not more- opportunity to come back to him, to be whole, as we gave ourselves to pull away from him. And i know that. 

So zone conference was great :) and so was the rest of our week! We had an awesome lesson with Anthony and Julianna, talking about the Plan of Salvation. We are just praying hard that they will have a soft enough heart to hear the Spirits whisperings about this truth. And we would appreciate your prayers :) This just feels like a big opportunity, and Sister Ballard and I are beyond scared to mess it up haha. 

We also had a lesson with Skyler this week... it will be our last. We showed up and he tells us that he has made a written list of all the things that were wrong with what we told him last time. (We taught the Restoration) He has a notebook, with literally a huge list. So i sit down across the table from him, tell him that we're not here to fight, and he says oh i know i just want to tell you. I consider myself a pretty intimidating person when I want to be, so I just sat across the table making complete eye contact, feeling very powerful. And I didnt think of it at the time, but i truly did feel powerful. I felt like absolutely nothing he could have said would shake me at all. I felt like he had no power. And suddenly the man who came ready, had nothing to say. It was all written down in front of him but he couldnt remember anything. He was nervous, flustered and just straight up confused. We left that interaction with a testimony that God will not let his servants be confounded. That our Heavenly Father is in charge, and will not let us fail. I was very grateful. 

We also had our ward activity, a pancake breakfast! And our friend Michael came!! It was so amazing we were so excited and happy and he talked to lots of people and it was just so good!! We're praying that he'll be more open to coming to church in the future!! 

On Saturday night our wonderful district got on a call. We all sent in names of people who needed Gods help, and we started a district fast. So we fasted all of Sunday, praying for those people by name and keeping them on our minds. Well Sunday morning Sister Ballard and i were standing outside the chapel doors like we always do, greeting people and handing out programs. We were talking to one of our young women. I turned to look down the hallway and saw a family coming down the hall. I didnt think and i turned back to Sister Ballard and the young woman. Well you BETTER BELIEVE i double took so hard! Because i realized it was the MANSFIELDS!!!! Here they come down the hall, it their tshirts and khaki shorts. I had never seen a more beautiful sight. I literally cried after they went into the chapel. I had been trying for three months, and here they were. We sat next to them in sacrament meeting, all the kids were so well behaved. I could hardly believe they were even the same kids! They stayed the whole time, everyone loved primary and young mens. Leah and Lee are super heros. They brought Aiden (16), his friend who was sleeping over and got dragged to church, Georgia (8), Walker (7), and Marshall (3). Addy and Riley didnt come, but we'll get them next week. God answers prayers!! Not only for us, but a set of elders in our district put their friend on baptismal date yesterday during the fast, another set of elders found 2 truly interested people and got 6 numbers at church. It was a day of miracles. We were so excited. 

So, if yall could please keep these amazing people in your prayers:

THE MANSFIELDS

Alex

David

Anthony and Julianna 

Michael 

Neil 

Richard 

Thank you SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!! i love you all :)))