Hi... I'm five. I love God!

This week was the primary program in our ward, not that I'm biased but it was wayyyyy cuter here in Mongolia!! (: so here's my favorite highlight, this little boy gets up and holds the mic super close to his mouth and says,

"Hi.. I'm five.
I love God!....
...uhhh (*heavy breathing into the microphone)...

....I like coming to church.

I like reading scriptures.

and I like praying

and I say my testimony
in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Too cute, short and sweet (:

Heres my mini miracle of the week, I was looking for a picture for 30 minutes before personal study this week and then I started personal study with a prayer of course and I pray that I will be able to find it this week, I sit down to personal study and my first thought is "look in your Bible!" and there I looked and BAM!!! there it was right there, why it was in my Bible I'm not sure but God answers prayers, and that I am very grateful for.

I figured I'd make a short list of things I am grateful for in the season of Thanksgiving.

I'm grateful...

for the atonement.

to be able to share the peace in knowing about the plan of salvation.

to be a missionary

to BE IN WONDERFUL MONGOLIA.

for the miracles we have seen this week in the work.

to able to feel the spirit.

for my mission so far and how much I feel I've grown.

to be able to associate with awesome sisters!

and lastly I'm grateful for my family!

#feelingblessed

This week we were walking home from an appointment and we hear this man speaking on the phone behind us and he starts talking about us and goes, "let's speak in English" to the person he was talking to. What he didn't realize is that we both understood him :P #sillyboy

My companion is the best but the funniest thing this week is she has a new found addiction... She tried toast for the first time and now has it multiple times a day! she was meant to go to america! #toocute

On Tuesday my companion and I were prepping to meet with this investigator family and we didn't want to mess it up and so we did practices, we prepped asking the baptism question. We read scriptures and then we felt ready to go and help them get baptized and we get there and are introducing ourselves, and THEY ARE MEMBERS!!! granted they were less actives, but they didn't need to be invited to be baptized haha.... #lessonchange #alwaysbeprepared

This week was filled with phone calls, but through them we have met with people! but we are ready to find the miracles in store for us this week!  we are ready to be bold and love these people a whole lot!

Sister Bennett

Sansar squad!! we didn't do that, promise ;P

Old investigator from Unur who now lives in Sansar!!

Thanksgiving p-day dinner!! Thanks for the gravy mom it made the dinner!

30 MINUTES TO MOTHERHOOD!

So we are going to start out this email with...It was a typical Friday in Mongolia. I'm teaching English to my cute and sometimes crazy little kiddos and we get a phone call from the assistants which means it's pretty important, so I have Sister Kofoed take over my class for a moment and I call them back. Here's how the conversation goes,

"Hello Sister Bennett, how are you?" (that's a question meant to soften the blow I bet :P)

"I'm good thanks."

"Are you coming to the byanzurk today?"

"No I wasn't planning on it."

"Well your companion is here and waiting for you. When can you be here?"

"I can be there in 30 minutes? Wait, Sister Peterson is waiting for me?"

"Oh no, not her, do you not know? YOU'RE TRAINING SISTER BENNETT!"

"WHAT?!?!"
And that's yeah about how it happened. I am a mom! (It's what they call themselves when they train a new missionary)  It was the longest drive back to the byanzurk even though it was probably only 30 minutes!! but anyways I go and pick up the new sister and she is seriously the cutest, happiest person ever, I love it! Her name is Sister Maralmaa and she is visa waiting, but I know we are going to be best friends. and that I'm probably going to cry when she gets her visa but she was called to GOOD OLE OREM, UTAH!! (: but until then I claim her, and thank goodness I don't have to teach her Mongolian she's got that part down pretty good! (: We are going to stay in the same ward but if we find people in Byanzurk or American Denj then we can teach them too, so we are starting from scratch (: BUT HEY WE WILL MAKE IT WORK AND BRING THE MIRACLES!! but let me tell you I thought I was safe this transfer #nooneissafe! #30minutestomotherhood

I'm a mom!  This is my daughter Sister Maralmaa.  Isn't she cute?

Since I haven't had very many days since pday, I only have so many stories, but let's go back to last Thursday, so we we're getting groceries, Sister Petersen and I, and we are walking away from the store, and this man starts yelling at us from behind us. We kind of don't want to turn around, but then it seemed more urgent and so I turn around and this man had stopped traiffic and was pointing to my ham stick in the road, this great little man just wanted to make sure our hamstick didnt get squished! #thanksforstoppingtraffic #hamstickontheloose

My ponderizing scripture this week was D&C 4:5 "And faith, hope, charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God qualify him for the work" and I grateful that I can work on each one of those things and I know I can love these people. I definitely don't know everything but as long as I focus on those things and strive to learn Mongolian, then that's what really matters (:

So READY OR NOT, here we go! I'm ready to find the miracles God has in store for us, and it may be rough at first, but that's okay, All is well here in beautiful Mongolia! (:

Sister Bennett

Me, my trainer and my companion for two weeks Sister Peterson.

There's NEVER a DULL week in Mongolia.

There's NEVER a DULL week in Mongolia. (: but I am grateful for those weeks that seem more normal than others! I'm not sure this week would be considered dull or normal but anyways let's get to the good stuff!

We picked up an investigator this week, we will name her Golden H and in our phone before we met her we decided to put a golden star by her name, in hopes she would be golden! and then we are teaching her the first lesson and she tells us ever since she was little she has always known that God was there, so that was awesome start and then we invite her to be baptized and when my companion did she said I was hoping you would invite me, cause I really want to get baptized! WHAT?! soo cool! She was definitely prepared and maybe the gold star help a little bit :P

Taught my first restoration lesson as a senior companion (but don't be fooled I still do NOT know Mongolian) I'm greatful that Golden H is so golden I couldn't really have done too much wrong, all you got to do is help them feel the spirit and HAVE LOTS OF FAITH! #faithforthewin!

We taught FHE this week and we were teaching the tree of life story and so we were talking about mist of darkness came on the people and so we asked the 5 year old if he liked the dark. He thought for a second and said then I would turn on the lights, so his parents exaplain what if the lights didn't work so he pondered for a few minutes then gets up and points the orange street lights outside and say he would go to those, so we said what if those were gone? and then lastly this smart little boy said okay then the car!! hahah! obviously he doesn't like the dark and would try to find whatever light is possible! I'm grateful for the light this gospel brings and that no matter how dark it may seem the light always overcomes the darkness (:

Mongolia is keeping me on my toes, I called 41+ less actives on Tuesday and got a total of five lessons with people we called! Wooo! It's a miracle they could understand me in the first place! (:

So you know the idiom cat got you tongue in English, they have one for that in Mongolian, so it's you do not want to drop Gold out of your mouth? #ilikegoldbetterthanacat (:

My ponderize scripture this week was D&C 76:22 "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!"

Mongolia is tab bit chilly (-22 F at one point this week) but we are keeping warm and working hard! Life is Good. (:

 Sister Petersen and I with Sister Marriott of the General YW Presidency

Sister Bennett

ONE SMALL STEP OF FAITH AND ONE GIANT LEAP INTO OUTER SPACE!!!

The transfers are out!... and I was called to serve in a branch in OUTER SPACE!!!! well it's still in Mongolia but the name of our branch is Sansar which translates to outer space! My companion is Sister Petersen. I also have a part time companion, Sister Kofoed who is a new sister that came with the group of 14 americans that came a week ago!! 

So let's back up to last week I literally went from being a Mongolian's quiet companion to being a part time trainer! WHOA! can you say I STILL DONT KNOW MONGOLIAN?! haha (:

The reason why Sister Kofoed and I are part time companions is because our companions teach English together 14 hours a week so while they are teaching we are going be preaching the gospel together and finding miracles! Here's a good mental image of Sister Kofoed and I wandering through Mongolia speaking English with a bunch of papers with less active's addresses and trying to ask people for directions to the apartment buildings because even though they go up in number they are not in numerical order. So I learned how to ask people where buildings are this week and I am grateful people always point when they go to give directions or maybe they can tell I will only be able to understand if they point haha! but hey WE FOUND PEOPLE'S APARTMENTS, so that was a miracle in itself! (: 

This one door we knock on and this cute little old lady neighbor opens the door, and we ask if she knows if (random name) lives next door to her? and she said she didn't know, and then she asked us if we were were religious people? and we said yes and we asked her the same question, are you religious and then this little old lady whips out the sass on us and says, "Yes I'm Mongolian therefore I'm Buddhist, duh!!" oops!! She was just too funny (:

Lastly, this week I was asked to translate Monday night, by Sister Francom for the senior couples and I told Sister Francom NO WAY JOSE! I DON'T KNOW MONGOLIAN! and that someone else could definitely do a better job! but she had faith in me, and she said you can do it, you know more Mongolian than any of us senior couples do. I was with Sister Kofoed at this time and was terrified because if I didn't know something there wasn't a backup! but I accepted the challenge and took it on head first and I made sure to bring my dictionary just in case! I was able to tell the taxis where to go and got us all there safely and we had a lovely little family home evening and there was only one sentence I was unable to translate but everything else I was! I was shocked! I have been so blessed to come this far with my Mongolian and I'm so grateful Sister Francom had faith in me! cause it was a great learning experience! and can we acknowledge I didn't use my dictionary hola! (:

My translating adventure!

So I'm learning lots and growing even more here in Mongolia! and every day is a new adventure that's for sure! and I am choosing to take every step forward in faith! and God will help with the rest!

Sister Bennett (:

Sister Petersen and I rocking the ponytails!

Sister Kofoed and I.

GRASPING THE GOOD

This past little bit I felt like the spirit has been prompting me to be more grateful, SO THAT WAS MY GOAL THIS WEEK! So then began a search for a "ponderizing" scripture to remember throughout the week and I found, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21. My goal was to hold onto that which was good and let go of that which is bad, I think I realized it easy to hold on to the bad and that I did it far more than I would like to admit. But I was determined in those moments that I felt sad or was holding onto the bad that I could find the good and believe me I DID.

I'm not sure I would say this week was any better than any other week and in fact I was definitely sad but there was a difference. I knew all was okay and that there was good all around. Back to the sad moment, my companion and I received a call on Thursday and it was a number we didn't know but we answered and received the news that one of our investigators had passed away. We will call him BT, I had been teaching him since July, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have gotten to know him and his wife. They have influenced my life and  I was able to reflect on that this week. I know on the other side that missionaries are teaching him and I can just hear him say "tegey" or "of course" just like he always would when we would invite him to do something. (:

We were teaching Little O and Rainbow yesterday and the week before we taught prayer and I gave them a prayer chart I had made for them to mark with stickers everyday that they had prayed. Unfortunately it was only a weeks worth but I was even happier to see that Rainbow had created her own in her little school notebook, that every time she would pray she would draw a star in this bow that she had drawn! I'm pretty sure angels in heaven have books full of stars and prayers that were heard. (:#did you think to pray? #GiveYourselfAStar

I'm grateful for a family who offered to buy me winter boots cause I was unable to find some last week.

I'm grateful for my Mongolian grandma who gave me gloves this week cause she knew I was from a warm city.

I'm grateful for Little B and the example he is to many of our investigators and that he worries about me being sad.

I am grateful I held on to the good this week and that I really felt that the blessings from on high this week were here and have been here all along I just noticed them more this week because I chose to notice them. Grasp the good. Let go of the bad and find those blessings from on high, they are more plentiful when you are searching for them.

Sister Bennett