First Baptism!

Dear Family :)
This week has literally been AMAZING! My goodness. I just love being a missionary. We had a great lesson with Alecia and she committed to being baptized on the 28th of September. So we went over the questions with her and she knew it all. She was ready. So this week we got everything ready. It certainly was a lot more stressful then I thought it would be. Alecia was great all week though. She kept asking us if there was anything else she should study to prepare herself. I love those kind of questions. She had her baptismal interview on Thursday....she then got BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! It was wonderful! She was so nervous the whole time, but she was great. She was just amazing. She was truly so prepared. Then on Sunday she was confirmed. It was such a sweet experience to watch someone from the start go through the process and get baptized. She was again really nervous, but she said when they laid their hands on her head and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost she felt immense peace, and just this great feeling coarse through her body. She told us that she had always believed what we believed, but she just could never find the place that gave her all of it. She said the closest thing she found was the pentecostal church, but after hearing about this Church, it was EVERYTHING she needed, and wanted for her and her kids. Ah! Don't you just love the Gospel?! I love Alecia and I'm so glad I got to witness this great miracle. I love being here in Emu Plains. I just love being a missionary.

 

This whole week was just an incredibly spirit filled week. Friday we had an amazing zone conference. The spirit was just so amazingly strong. We had role plays, and I think that is the strongest spirit I have ever felt during a role play. It was great. :) The Assistants trained us on Hope and having a positive attitude. We watched the video "A Mother's Hope" about President Uchtdorf and his family. It was really inspiring the power that hope can have on us. If you get the chance, listen to that talk "The Infinite power of Hope." It is really quite inspiring. And when we have hope it pushes us to act and achieve greatness instead of just waiting for something to happen. We talked a lot about having a positive attitude as well. And we really should have a positive attitude because we are doing the Lord's work. Its great. :) 

 

Sister Howes then gave a great training on a talk by Elder John H. Groberg, who some of us know as "Kolipoki." This talk is called "The Power of God's Love." It’s the talk that the movie "The Other Side of Heaven" is based from. It was an AMAZING talk. Just to give a few quotes.
" All love emanates from God, we are born with the capacity and the desire to love and be loved.....only as we feel God's love and fill our hearts with His love can we be truly happy."
"Trying to find lasting love without obeying God is like trying to quench thirst by drinking from an empty cup."
"When we understand who God is, who we are, how He loves us, and what His plan is for us, fear evaporates. When we get the tiniest glimpse of these truths, our concern over worldly things vanishes. To Think we actually fall for Satan's lies that power, fame or wealth is important is truly laughable - or it would be were it not so sad."
"Being Filled with God's love is the most joyous of all things and is worth every cost."
And my personal favorite...
"When filled with God's love, we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand. Filled with his love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us."
I love this talk. It is amazing. I can testify to that God's love is real! President Howes then gave a great training about the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. I have never understood that before and how it could actually relate to women as well.
But something that really stood out to me is what he said at the end. That we can't jeopardize our future potential for immediate gratification. How can I risk the opportunity to create worlds, for a small rule broken in the WHB. I need to be better. I love that we receive all the blessings of the priesthood when we are sealed in the temple. I have always said throughout my life that I want to marry a righteous Priesthood holder, one who will be worthy to take me to the temple. I always have said I want to marry a returned missionary, but one that was a good and faithful, and obedient missionary. And I have come to realize over the course of my life that I can't do that unless I am worthy. Unless I am righteous enough to gain the blessings of the Priesthood, if I am worthy enough to go to the temple with him, and come home as a righteous, faithful and obedient missionary. 

 

Another really cool experience of the week. We had an Area 70 come to our ward council on Sunday. At the end he was talking about missionary work. He said the wave was bigger then the Church had expected. He said it won't be long before we have 4 missionaries in every ward. How cool is that! Every time people talk about missionary work I just get the chills. I Love it! After the meeting, he came over and told us, "In behalf of President Monson, I'm here to tell you sisters that He is pleased with your work." This wonderful spirit just filled me up and it literally felt like President Monson had said that to me. Testimony builder for sure. 

 

Then just to top this amazing week off, the ward is excited about missionary work. The 5th Sunday meeting was all about the Hastening the Work of Salvation Broadcast. But what I loved the most is what the Bishop said. He talked about his children and how when they had left on their missions, he wanted them to go to a great ward. One that would take care of them and do great missionary work. He talked about our families at home and how he knows that they would want the same thing. He said so lets do this work and let the missionaries help us. We should be doing this because we would want the wards and branches taking care of our children to do the same.
I just love this ward. I love being on a mission at this time. I know that this is exactly where I am supposed to be , right now. I'm so grateful for this Gospel and the opportunity that I have to Share it with others. You never truly know how much you love the Gospel until you sacrifice for it.
Hope you have a great week
Love you heaps
Sister Benjamin