Sister Benjamin in Australia: The Best Week Ever!

Oh my lanta!

Can I just say, this literally was the best week on the mission so far. I loved it. :) It started off wonderfully in the city. I loved every second of it there. We worked so hard and I have never walked so much on the mission, so my legs were a little sore this week. But it was no problem compared to the blessings we saw. We taught heaps, and we taught 3 first lessons with people in the city when I was there. They were so incredibly prepared. They were so willing to accept the Gospel in their life, and so willing to change so that they could fulfill the potential that they have. It really strengthened my testimony that God really is preparing more people to hear the Gospel. On a funnier note, we were teaching one of them and he is from Korea. We were talking about the feelings that the Holy Ghost gives us, and we talked about how it gives us feelings of love. And he was like so the times when I see beautiful girls on the street for 3 seconds and I'm instantly in love with them? Haha :) We laughed pretty hard at that one, which really broke the ice and helped him to come closer to the spirit. It was a wonderful lesson, and he is preparing for Baptism in October. I loved working with S. Mckinnon too. She is AMAZING. I learned so much from her and I was only with her for 3 days. I learned so much better how to work hard and how to work effectively. I really learned how to teach simply because there is a language barrier because you teach heaps of Asians in the city. But it was incredible. I really hope I get the chance to serve there. We then went to the Mission Home on Wednesday to pick up our new missionaries. Can I just say that I was so nervous. I had never trained before. I felt like I was just trained, there was no way that I could do it. But then I remembered the blessing I got last week that promised that I would be able to have full confidence in Heavenly Father. So once I remembered that this huge feeling of peace came over me. I felt so overwhelmed, and I was so excited to get a new missionary instead of freaking out like before....:)

Harbour Bridge

More Sydney

Hyde Park

So my new companion is from Texas and she is fresh from the MTC. But she is INCREDIBLE. She is amazing and we get along so well. I mean she loves Harry Potter and Musicals and laughing and we just get along so well. I love her to pieces and I have only known her for less then a week. We went through training with President and Sister Howes. IT was wonderful. And it was certainly much better the second time because I was actually awake the whole time to hear all of it. hahahaha :) We then went out to EMU PLAINS. Which is in the Penrith zone which really is about 30 minutes from the Mission Office which is awesome. And can I just tell you, I absolutely love it here. We are in an AMAZING ward. They are so ready to do missionary work. We met with the Bishop the first night and he went through their whole plan. He said we are just doing what the prophet asked. And I loved that. He is so excited about it too, which in turn made us really excited. We then met with the Ward Mission Leader and he is SO EXCITED to do missionary work. He was so excited when he found out they were getting sisters too, which is awesome because I mean who wouldn't be excited about having sister missionaries. And I guess the whole ward freaked out when they found out they were getting sisters, which is awesome. I love them all already. It was fast and testimony meeting on Sunday and the Ward Mission Leader bore his testimony and he started talking about us and he got emotional and talked about how wonderful of a spirit we have about us. It was so great. I felt the spirit so strongly at the point that we are called to serve here in EMU PLAINS at this time. :) I love how Heavenly Father is truly in all the details of our lives.

And we have seen miracle after miracle in the 3 days we have been here. We met with a Less Active on Saturday who apparently has never been to Church in Emu Plains and we taught her a lesson on Saturday and committed her to come to Church and guess what she came on Sunday! Oh my good night it was incredible. She stayed the whole time and participated in our lesson about Heavenly Father. She said she really enjoyed Church and I was so grateful. The ward was really welcoming to her as well. Also on Saturday we met with a family. Parents are less Active and the kids haven't been baptized yet. And apparently it is so hard to catch them home. But I felt strongly that we needed to go see them so we did. We went and they were all home. MIRACLE! Then we taught them a lesson and committed them to come to Church. And drum roll please....they were all there on Sunday! Even the son’s girlfriend who I guess hasn't even been investigating the Church.

I tell you what! I love EMU PLAINS. The members here are incredible we have met wonderful people and they are so excited about missionary work. One even told us that if we ever want Referrals to just come on over.

I love being here. I love my Companion and I love being a missionary.

I'm so grateful to see Heavenly Father’s hand in the work. He truly has blessed me so much on my mission. I love working here and I cannot wait to see what else Heavenly Father has in store for us.

I love you all. Thank you for being incredible examples to me and loving me and supporting me.

Love you Heaps

Sister Benjamin