Sister Benson: 11/14/22

 

Week 52: a trip around the big ol sun

Scout Benson

Let's take a second to remember that I havent even missed ONE week emailing, so you've been on a journey of 52 emails with me. 52 weeks of thousands of pictures :)) 

ANYWAYS! that's gross and we're not gonna think about it ever again. So! This week has been all over the place in all thr best ways. From hurricanes to birthdays it's been a good one. SO! Let's jump in. 

Nothing exciting happened this week until Thursday. When hurricane Nicole rolled in and we were stuck inside our apartment for a day. We planned and.... blinked for long amounts of time. :) but we were ready to get out again by the next day. We are praying, and ask for your prayers, for the people who got more than rain and a little wind. Our friend michael had a MASSIVE tree fall in his backyard and it was just a little wind. So I can't imagine what happened further south. God hears prayers ❤️ 

Post hurricane weather though is the MOST magic. It's been low 70s and high 60s since then and it's been just the best. As someone who just absolutely LOATHES being hot, I am just the happiest that summer is coming to an end here in the sun shine-y state of Florida. Missing the snow! If it's snowing where you are you should send a picture. Us western girls are missing it. So thats been great we love cooler weather. 

So! Friday was sister ballards birthday!! She turned TWENTY!!! 😱 Welcome to the ancient of days sister ballard. We have joined Ham. No but it was actually probably THEE best possible mission birthday. We went to the Ranes for lunch. I absolutely adore that family. The oldest girl- Talie- had made a cake, we lit candles and sang to her. It was so fun. We did some good random contacts, (which sister ballard loves) then went to have a lesson with our friends lynn and neil. Lynn was baptized in January, and neil has been being taught since! He is just the sweetest 80 year old man ever. BUT! Hes been an athiest his whole life. 80 years is a long time to build habits and beliefs! So you can image, suddenly introducing God in a strong way is hard to grasp. Its not that he had chosen to not have God in his life, he just really was never given a real chance. But since Lynns baptism, Neil comes to church every single week, with or without Lynn. He comes to every activity and is very involved. Everyone knows and loves Neil. We have talked extensivly about baptism with Neil my entire 6 months in Gainesville. And each time he has the same answer: i just dont know. He doesnt feel like hes felt the Spirit, he doesnt feel like he has faith. He just doesnt think i know. Which I have always thought was total BALOGNA because I have seen this man exibit more faith than ive seen so many members do. Buuuuut you cant really just walk in and TELL people they have faith. It doesnt really work that way. But i have been working with him. We love Neil. So this October, Lynn went and did baptisms for the dead in the Orlando temple for the very first time. She showed us pictures and i was ABSOLUTELY heartbroken, because she was alone. So on Sister Ballards birthday when we went over, we got talking about it. And i cried like a child. I was so overcome by the Spirit, and just by the overwhelming sadness of the thought of Lynn and Neil being temporary, and not eternal. So i cried as I followed the Spirit and told Neil that I wanted them to be sealed. And I continued to cry as I told him that the only thing standing in the way of that, was him. We talked more and the Spirit was felt so strongly. Sister Palmer was crying, both her and Sister Ballard were testifying strongly. So i kept following the Spirit and I asked Neil if he hoped that God was his loving Heavenly Father. And for the first time in 6 months he went "yes" without hesitation. And then he looked at me in the eyes, and tried not to smile as we both teared up. I smiled bigger than ever and I said something along the lines of "Neil. I felt the Spirit so strongly when you said that just now, and I know you did too cause youre trying to hold back a smile." We both laughed. He told me he knew that was the first baptismal interview question, and he asked me to ask him the rest of them. I asked him the rest of the questions, and cried as he confidently affirmed that he believed and had faith with each question. When he had answered them all, him and I shared a sweet sweet moment of silent eye contact. Six months of total love for this man. And here we sat, in a place I never thought we would. So I asked him if he would be baptized by proper authority, and he said yes. We all cried for a moment, and then I told him that I had been here with him for half a year. I told him that I would love to be here for his baptism. But i told him that transfers were the day after Thanksgiving, and I had been here a long time. So i asked him to be baptized this coming Saturday.  (😨) Lynn was like "WHAT?? i can tell you thats never going to happen" But Neil looked in my eyes and told me yes. So. Neil is getting baptized on Saturday the 19th. And that was just the most amazing thing in the whole universe. He asked me to give the talk about the Holy Ghost, which is the same talk I gave at James' baptism in Waycross. 🤍

God is a God of miracles. I can never deny it. I have seen too many in my life to ever look back. I have seen to many in others lives to question. I pray that each one of you will learn to see Gods hand more plentifully in your life because he is THERE. 

I know this is SUCH a long email so probably no one has read this far. BUT. I have another thought and im on a roll so im going to keep going. 

This week in my personal reading I finished Alma! Which is like finishing swimming across the ocean so i pat myself on the back. :) But! I had this thought while reading and i think everyone needs to hear it so here it is :))

Alma 58:32-33. (Go read it. Im waiting. Okay welcome back.) Sometimes we might feel like God has given us too much to carry. Work, a calling, on top of that you're supposed to pray, read your scriptures, don't forget to listen to every single conference talk ever given, love your neighbor, make cookies for the person you hate- in fact you should forgive them by the way- AND just be super aware of any prompting that comes your way cause you have to follow it. It's too much!! Are you kidding me? How could God expect me to do ALL of that. I'll admit sometimes that's how I feel. But just like Helaman in verse 33, I remember who asked me to do all these things. God did. And like nephi said way before helaman, when God asks, he provides. (Thats paraphrased.) So yes, God asks us to do a lot. But He has promised to provide a way for YOU to be able to accomplish the things He has asked you to do. I know the Lord provides a way, He wants me to obey. Our God knows you. He may stretch you thin, but He'll ask you to do nothing you can't handle. And He'll ask you to do nothing that won't benefit more than your mere mortal eyes can see. 

I love you all so MUCH!! Thank you for reading this far if you have. If you have, you know the drill. Whats your favorite hymn and why? My favorite right now is #97 Lead, Kindly Light. Its kind of a weird one that youre like what... are they saying. But!! This is my favorite line. "I loved to choose and see my path but now, lead thou me on" I spent so much of my life trying to make my own path, choose my own path, thinking i needed to see the whole picture. But now? My life is in the hands of He who knows all. And thats good enough for me. Lead thou me on. ❤ (another really good one is #197 O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown. The second verse really shows Christs character. The last line of that verse, "The very foes who slay thee, have access to thy grace." gets me every time. Not but 24 hours before, Jesus Christ suffered in the garden for the sins of the VERY people who nailed him to the cross. Of course he said "Father forgive them" he had paid it all. He had felt it all. He knew it all. Doesnt that just pierce your heart?) 

So long!! But for real I love yall pray for Neil! Byeeeeee!!!!!!!