First Transfer To Stafford, VA...

September 2, 2013

Family,
Sorry I didn't write yesterday, it was labor day! I have some news. . . So last week i decided not to tell you that transfers were on thursday cause i didn't think i would be transferred, but i was haha so all the stuff you sent me went to my old address,. . so sorry. But I am now in Stafford, Va in the Aquia (sounds like a gangster saying "a Choir") ward. My companion was in my mtc district haha her name is Sister Thuerer (pronounced like tire). We both have only been out for six weeks, so we are training each other haha. SHe is from orem and is very musically talented. She plays the sax and piano. We are doing pretty well though. I really like my new area. It's a car area, so my bike is just sitting sadly in our living room. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty nice having a car. Besides worrying about miles and stuff. And whenever the car is in reverse, i have to stand behind it and look like an idiot directing Sister Thuerer so she doesnt run into anything, but i guess that probably doesn't look as stupid as me on a bike haha. The area i'm in has a lot of variety, cause it's really big!! Like 3 or 4 times bigger than my last area. There is a really ghetto area haha like really. And i just got an email telling me that you sent caramel brownies to my old address:( They might be bad by the time i get them:( anyways. . . Last night we were in that area with a less active, sis bandy, she was telling us how she is going to marry mathew mauchonhey, however you spell that haha and she has this crazy laid out plan, but anyways, we heard like gunshots and she told us that we were in the ghetto, so we'll have to be safe around there. There is also a place where there is like hillbillys haha and no one takes care of their lawns at all and the houses look abandoned and it's crazy. and then there are the normal areas haha. there are a lot of military here cause the training place is in stafford. Everyone we've met so far is in the military or their husband is in the military.

Well, mission work wise, I taught my real first lesson this week to an investigator! it was really cool! I am teaching a lot more lately cause i'm not opening up an area anymore. I will try to write a letter on the investigators, but two of them came to church this week! One is tricia. She really wants to join the church and is ready to be baptized, but her husband told her he would divorce her if she did, so we are trying to help her as much as we can! She comes to church every week, but usually only stays for sacrament cause her husband doesn't like her to be away for too long. She is really great and I think she will get baptized eventually! I don't have enough time to talk about the others, but I willl rwrite a letter! I'm doing a lot better and getting a little more used to missionary life!

I love you all!
Love, sis Bennett

Mission Life in Woodbridge VA

July 29, 2013


Dear family,
I am doing great! I love my area and the people in it! We are actually about 25 minutes from DC in good traffic. The area i'm in actually just got moved to the richmond mission in july. It was in the washington dc south mission. It really sucks cause we can't go to the temple and it's so close! when it was in the dc mission the elder's would "slug" to dc. I'm sure you know what slugging is, but just in case you don't, it's what the people use to get to dc. They go get in a line somewhere and get in random people's car's and carpool in groups of 3. They aren't allowed to talk to each other haha it sounds awkward. But yeah a couple of the ward members are wanting to sneak us up to dc during dinner haha. But yeah, everything is great! It's been raining a lot lately! And it's rains like i've never seen before haha it's crazy! It started raining when we were riding our bikes to a house and i could not see anything! THere was a garage open and we went in it and ended up talking to a guy for quite a while. He wasn't interested in our message, but it was good to talk to him. Yesterday we visited members and we had a lady named Sudha Gupta come with us. She is from India and joined the church like 7 years ago. We visited people from the ward that could need help. We went over to the Bringhursts, who's son, who is like 3, has leukemia. He was the cutest little boy i've ever seen. He had so much energy cause he isn't allowed to go really anywhere because of germs. He was hilarious! He said the closing prayer and it was the best prayer i've ever heard. I was trying so hard not to cry! He was praying to be brave. And to not be scared of the doctors. The spirit was so strong and you could just feel heavenly father's love for him. His name is Mark by the way. THey caught the cancer pretty soon, so he has a pretty good chance! Pray for him though!

So there is a lot of diversity here and a lot of the people here are Ghanain. I'm not sue how to spell it, but they're from Ghana. there is some kind of deal that they have to live here. I don't understand it so im not going to try to explain it. Like i said before, almost everyone in our ward works in dc and are very secretive about what they do. A lot of them can't have people from other countries over for dinner, because of their jobs-so it's kind of hard.

Sister Stowell and I have been tracting a lot becasue we are opening a new area. Tracting sucks. We are actually not supposed to tract. we are now supposed to teach members the lessons too. we are supposed to be teaching all day, so the ward is reallly helping us out a lot. I know you were worried about this, but i really do want to move here haha. I think you guys would love it here! Oh and about the bike situation, i am borrowing the watson's daughter's bike haha she is like 13. It's the only bike that i would fit on cause i'm so short haha. Well i will write and send letters today! Forward me shae's emails she sends you! Oh and I loved the letters i got from grandma's house haha thanks!
Love you all!
Sister Bennett

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August 5, 2013

I don't have that much to say this week haha so sorry about that. I like my companion. I don't know if i told you but, she played rugby at utah state. she loves playing sports and i.. . dont haha. I really like riding a bike, i just bought one a few days ago and i love it. If people want to hear about me, they can write me haha. I sent a letter to grandparents and kimmy and julie this week, so they should be okay. I will figure out what scripture i want on this week and let you know next week. I've been a little homesick and stressed. it's kind of hard to deal with stress and anxiety cause i don't have you or mom to talk to but, it will be okay. I really like my area and stuff. I havent really had the opportunity to teach a nonmember yet so hopefully i will soon!

I bought a bike. I love my bike. it has a little bell on it that has a sticker that says "i the kiddy bike wasn't cutting it for all the hills around here. My legs feel like jello all the time, but i still eat horrible so it will probably even out somehow.

This week was kind of slow. . . lots of meetings. We have been going to members homes and teaching them lessons from pmg and trying to get referalls. I'm really enjoying riding a bike though! Hopefully my bike doesn't get stolen or something so i can take it home with me! Also, we are vistiting a lot of less actives. I am really upset that we don't get to go to washington dc though. We are so close to it! people that live here say that woodbridge is considered a part of dc. All the members have pictures of the dc temple in their houses so it's kind of a bummer that we can't go to it cause it's so pretty. Sorry that this letter is so boring haha i will write a letter throughout the week if anything happens! Write me!


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August 12, 2013


Hello family!
So i've almost been in va for a month! It's gone by really fast! Things are still going pretty slow investigator wise, but we are teaching a lot more! To members, but it's still practice and our president has asked us to be teaching all of the time and have the members do most of the finding. I love the members in our ward still they are great! We are going to a baseball game tonight with some families in our ward who invited some nonmembers and asked us to go with them for fhe! It's the Potomac nationals or finals or something haha but there is a baseball field in our ward boundaries so we can go! About the temple, we all want us to go, including Pres Wilson, but the first presidency doesnt want us to. I guess they've been trying for quite a while!  it is hard though cause we are so close! So right by our apartment there is a marina that we run by in the mornings. people are always kayaking and fishing and we can't so it kind of sucks haha. I am going to try and send some pictures with a letter this week. I really like my bike. I'll take a picture of it so you can see how cool it is. So this week, we have been visiting a lot of referrals and less actives and been teaching a lot of members in their homes. We're really working with the ward to find people to teach and i just realized that i have already said that in this letter haha awkward. So i hear shae is doing great! i wish i could send letters to her! Like her, i am also fed quite a bit. but i have the excercise on the bike to even it out. So you know how i told you how everyone here is very secretive about their jobs cause they work for the cia and stuff? well there is this guy in our ward who is always gone and we all know he is a spy. His name is Behrad and he is awesome. We went over to their house for dinner last night and started teaching their daughter the lessons because she is getting baptized in october. Their last name is the Tabatabaie's btw haha. Well, we asked him and his wife how they met and they said that he was her mtc teacher when she was on her mission haha i can't imagine marrying one of my mtc teachers! so weird! Well, this week for training, we are practicing the plan of salvation. I love it more and more every time i learn or teach it! there is so much to learn and i thought i understood it all, but i never will! I can't imagine what life would be like without knowing where i'm from or where i'm going! Dad will be happy to know that i have been listening to the truman madsen lectures during study time. I actually really like them. I've been listening to the ones about joseph smith and there was a quote from him that i really liked. it went something like, "if you can't endure persecution, you won't be able to endure celestial glory." I really liked that cause being a missionary is hard! I know that i am learning a lot though. A lot more than i ever would if i wouldn't have gone! Well, times about up! I would love to get letters! I'll write you guys some today! Love you all!
Sis Bennett

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August 19, 2013

I don't have time to write separate emails for everyone so this is for the family. Okay, so i got two packages i think. I was expecting something fun, but it was just medicine haha. I really never know what to say on these emails so i guess i'll just tell you what I did last week. I don't remember monday or tuesday, but on wednesday, we went to the dentist for sister stowell and elder brian, who is one of the elder's in our ward. We have a dentist in our ward. his name is Dr. Fox. His office is out of our mission so we had to get special permission to go. The DC south mission office is right next to his office and one of the elders in our ward, elder brown, used to be in the dc south mission before the split, so we went and visited with the people in the office! Im jealous of the dc mission because they get to go to the temple! Later that day, we had dinner at the stanfords, who are my favorite family here haha. And i just remembered what i did on tuesday. We went over to dinner with the tulls, who have had a crazy life, and they're also one of my favorite families,and then we went out on splits with sister tull and her mother in law. Short story about the tulls: they're pretty young, both were married before and her husband died of cancer about 6 years ago and his wife died from a bladder infection about 3 years ago. They don't have any kids together,but they both had 3 kids from their previous marriages that were the same ages! they are like the brady bunch! their grandma lives with them too. anyways sis tull was telling me that after her husband died she had so many questions about where her husband was at and what he was doing so she wrote the 1st presidency and they answered her questions! She told me about some of them and it's really cool! i dont have time to write them though haha i will in a letter! oh and i just remembered what i did on monday! i went to a baseball game! it was really fun. there were a lot of people from our ward there and some investigators came! that's all i remember for monday, so let's skip to thursday haha. On thursday, we went down to Richmond, which is like a 2 and a half hour drive:/ so we met with all of the trainers and trainees and it was fun! Then we drove back. It seems like we were in the car all day long! the person who was driving us was crazy haha. If there wasnt missionaries in the car, he would be dead! VA has some crazy drivers and he is one of the worst! There is also terrible traffic. I'm sort of glad im on a bike! oh and on wed, we did exchanges i was with sis menchen, she is from germany! she was really cool and we got into a person's home! a nonmember! it was great! We have been having a lot more people to talk to lately! i'm running out of time cause i've been "texting" you all, but i will write a letter! love you all!

Sis Bennett

So far, the only picture we have from Sister Britton, but it's a good one

(she is going to kill me for putting it on here though)

First Letter From the VIRGINIA RICHMOND MISSION!

 

 

Click on image to enlarge:

 

Sister Britton Bennett Arrives in Virginia - Woodbridge VA!

I am SO excited for Britton. I have been to Woodbridge while working on the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle for the Marines a couple of years ago. It is SUCH a great place for her to start. She went into this bravely ready to face any crazy living circumstances she might encounter. She really deserves such a great place to start (and I do mean great - look at the google earth pics below of her first appartment - yes, it appears she has gone to the new VA Paradise Mission  (note the golf course at the border of her appartment complex)! And what INCREDIBLE people in her new ward. They could not have given her a better reception to her new life. If any of you are reading this THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for taking such great care of our precious Sister Bennett!! She is so lucky to have you. And Woodbridge is so lucky to have her. She will no doubt give everything she has for you. 

kb



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From Sister Bennett's email:

 

 

This is for mom and dad cause I don't have time to write both, but I'm doing fine! The ward is awesome and loves sister's because they have never had them before! The elders in our ward are getting kicked out of dinner appointments because we arent allowed to go together haha so they're not very excited to have us haha. The sister who called mom was sister watson, she is the ward mission leader's wife, not mission president's. The Watsons have had us over for dinner twice already and spent the day shopping with us. They are awesome. The whole ward is great. 90% of the people in our ward work in washington DC at the pentagon so they work for the CIA or the FBI haha it's a lot different than utah. Also, Gaulladet (a big deaf school) is in DC so there are A LOT of deaf people in our ward. The ward is teaching us sign language now haha i thought i could get away from it. . . Yesterday an investigator family who is deaf came to church and we went to a room with them to have class. the teacher is deaf and there was an interpreter. It was reallly cool and we're picking up on it pretty quick! My companion's name is sister stowell she's from orange county ca. She went to Utah State and was on the rugby team haha she is really funny and cool.

 

So when we first got to Virginia, they told us that they just opened a mission that sister's ride bikes and there was a 2% chance that we would be in that part. Well I am that 2%. We havent found bikes yet, the watson's are helping us look for some. The elders are always dripping with sweat when we see them after they rode their bikes, so I'm going to look disgusting. And yeah, i might need some new skirts. Sister stowell ripped one of her skirts when we were trying out bikes at the bike store haha. The worker thought we were crazy for trying to ride bikes with skirts haha. He let us go outside and ride around and he warned me not to pull the left brake, but i don't know how to ride a bike so i did and flew off haha. This probably isn't very comforting to you guys. Also, there are not very many sidewalks and there are a lot of windy roads haha. Me and Sister Stowell just try to laugh it off.

 

The weather was pretty bad last week. It was like 106 and 100% humidity on friday, but this week is like 80, so it's really nice. It's really pretty here. I love all of the houses. I feel like I'm in a southern movie or something. The sister's got to spend the night at the mission home the first night and it was my dream home. I loved it. If i had more time  I would send you all the  pictures I have taken. I hopefully will next week.

 

 

My address is

 12270 Creek View Cir

  #203

Woodbridge 22192

 

 

Oh don't worry, the ward knows about my allergy and most people here make everything from scratch, so I've been eating well! And some people in the ward bought us a bunch of groceries, so i'm good!


Love  you all! Write me!

Sister Bennett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Bennett's last email from the Provo MTC - leaves for VA next Wed!!

You guys should start using dear elder for me for the rest of the time that I am in the mtc cause that means i can hear from you every day! But I know you all are very busy, so if you don't, that's okay! Well we started teaching a woman named Belinda today. She is our TRC, so she could be a nonmember or a less active that is playing a role. She honestly scared me the first time we met her. She is from malasia and didn't believe in God at all and called me and Sister Clonts psychos for believing in him. Well we kept telling her that God is real and that he loves her and she told us she didn't care. It was really hard, but we invited her to read Alma 18 and pray to see if it is true. We went to see her againa couple days later and she was still the same blunt Belinda, but she told us that she read the entire Book of Mormon! We were in shock and she got mad at us for being so surprised but we invited her to be baptized and she said yes! And Stephen, the one I was about to teach when I sent you that letter, is doing better. The first time we visited him he wouldn't really open up to us and he is very sarcastic and a super genius, so he is kind of hard to teach. He knew more about Joseph Smith than I do, so he doesn't really need any more knowlegde, he just needed to feel the spirit. He sort of feels like he is worthless to Heavenly Father, so we went over God's love for him for probably 3 or 4 lessons. He decided that he wants to be baptized! So now we need to teach him all the other fun stuff!! Oh and I got my travel itinerary and it says that i have to be at the travel office in the MTC at 3:30 in the morning on Wednesday! And my flight is at 7 or something, so expect a call from around 5:30 or 6:00 AM on Wednesday. I think. I'll let you know otherwise.  Well, there's not that much more to say, but I will probably be writing you a letter later today! Love you!!

Second Letter From Sister Bennett

(Typed from handwritten original - along with the amazing self-portrait that was drawn on her original and HAD to be included as she sent it - kb)
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July 5, 3013

To My Family,

As you've read in my email, I have had no time to write in my journal or to you guys since I've been here. The first day I got here, we met our teachers and branch presidency. There are really some cool people here. Later that day, or actually earlier (the days are long and blurry) we had an activity that was really intimidating. The newcomers, which were about 840 missionaries that came the same day as me, split off into groups. They brought an “investigator” into the room and had some missionaries “knock on their door” and teach them and try to get to know them. Then, the investigators would go up to the missionaries in the audience and ask them questions. They weren’t easy questions either. Everyone would try not to make eye contact with them because we were all so scared to get picked ;).  Of course, there were a few that had to say something every time, but we were all silent. There was one ‘investigator’ named Jose and he was asking us why God loves us more because we grew up in America and are spoiled and don’t know how to work. He is from Guatemala and has been working all day ever since he was little. It was a really scary experience, but really eye-opening. The first night I was here, I couldn’t sleep for a little bit because I kept thinking about if I unplugged my hair straightener or not then I thought ‘what if the house burnt down’. But, I thought that if that happened, they would have told me or something. Yesterday was the 4^th of July and I honestly didn’t realize it until I saw a sign in the cafeteria. We had class and then at 7 we went to a huge auditorium with all of the Elders and Sisters. We sang like 10 patriotic hymns and the organ was so loud. We had a speaker talk about ware stories involved with the Gospel and then we watched 17 Miracles. That is probably the last movie I will see for a year and a half. Then we had ice cream and watched fireworks. I took a picture but I don’t know how to send it. On my first night, walking back to my room I saw Sara and John! I got a picture w/them too. I saw them again at lunch yesterday. I’m kind of having a hard time keeping all of my stuff together, so packing will be a nightmare. Also, when we wrote in my scripture bag w/silver sharpie, it bled onto my scriptures so there is a huge blur of my name in silver on the front of my scriptures. One of my teachers told me white vinegar would get it off though. As for eating, I get my food from an allergy place but today they had eggs in there so I didn’t eat it – haha. I don’t know how Shae eats so much because I hardly eat anything! It might because I’m nervous for my classes or something. Today me and my companion, Sister Clontz who is from LA are teaching someone named Steven. He is in his early 20’s, lives with w/his mother, is a student he has been going to church with his girlfriend who is a member. He has a Christian background and is really smart. He knows about the restoration but doesn’t have a testimony. We are just going to try to help him feel the Spirit by talking about Heavenly Father’s love for him personally. Maybe I won’t send this until tomorrow so I can write about how it goes which might not be so good, but it will be okay even though we don’t know what we’re doing.

Emailing is really kind of stressful here because we only have a half hour to read and write everyone. The only people I wrote were you guys, Shae and one sentence to Jessica. Oh, and today, is my Preparation Day – Fridays.
 
Everyone is really nice here. You’ll hear missionaries come up and talk to you in weird languages – so I don’t really know what they are saying to me – but it seems nice!

I really wish that you guys could meet my District. They are amazing!! I honestly think we have the best Elders in the whole MTC. Most of them are straight out of high school and they say things that blow my mind. They are such good missionaries and it’s only our 2^nd day here! They really are so different than the other Elders from the other Districts in our Branch, who act like teenage boys. I am with great people and am learning a lot! Also, I think one of my teachers was on one of those shows that are on after conference. Her name is Sister Barras. I think that is how it is spelled.

Well, I better go study and pray to teach Steven! Tell everyone to write me letters (or emails, but I don’t have much time to read them). 

Love,
Sister Bennett

I also need addresses of grandparents and stuff.

P.S. Send me some snacks and tic tacs – not being able to chew gum is rough!

-          And, I will write an email to put on the blog next Friday. I guess I will tell you about Steven in the next letter!

 

First email from Sister Britton Bennett at the Provo MTC!

I am doing good! Sometimes it's hard to be a missionary, especially when you would like to be alone, but it is also the best feeling ever wearing a nametag, representing Christ. The first day when you dropped me off I had literally hundreds of welcomes from elders and sisters in every language you can think of. Everyone is so happy here. Today me and my  companion are teaching our first lesson to an "investigator" named Steven. I am very nervous! Yesterday was the 4th of July and I didn't even remember that until about 7 when we had a program. All of the Elders and Sisters in the MTC went to an auditorium kind of thing and we sang a bunch of patriotic hymns then we watched 17 miracles and ate ice cream and watched fireworks! Our MTC president let us go to bed like an hour later than usual. When i was trying to sleep i could hear all the fireworks and screaming fans at stadium of fire. I feel like I have been here for weeks. I love all of the people here and my teachers are amazing. In my disrict, there are missionaries that are going to Richmond and others that are going somewhere in Jamaica! There is a lot more to say, but i dont have time! we were supposed to write you a letter the first day, but I haven't had a moment to do anything, so sorry! Send me a real letter please and maybe some snacks and mints cause we can't have gum! I am having a lot of fun and don't really have time to be sad or homesick! Love you all and tell my siblings to write me!

Love, Sister Bennett

 

[Britton and Family (minus Shae who is at the Peru MTC - we really need to get the cardboard cutouts for these pics) at Provo MTC minutes before she got dropped off! It was an AWESOME experience. There is no place on earth like the MTC. It made us feel so happy for Britton to see her face as the Sisters on the curb helped her with her HUGE luggage and walked to the MTC. Brother Nash made a fashion statement in his shorts and tie - he was so touched by the spirit he felt at the MTC that we had to stop and buy him a suit on the way out of Provo so he could feel like the missionaries he saw. kb]