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]

 

 

 

 

Sister sisters on missions!!

Sister Britton Bennett has a sister Sister, Sister Shae Bennett, who also just left on a mission - to the Peru Lima East Mission. She left June 29, just two weeks before Britton.  Shae went straight to the Peru MTC so they didn't get to be in the MTC togehter, but Britton says she already ran into her other friends, also a sibling pair, John and Sarah Erikson who are both on thier way to Russia.

Click on the link below to see Shae's Blog.

http://shaesmission.blogspot.com

Can you believe Britton didn't want to put on the hat for the second picture?

...And Hermana Bennett defended her opinion.

Shae already had her application for a mission planned for her 21st birthday when President Monson announced the age change. The announcement only resulted in her leaving about 3 months earlier than orignally planned, just before her 21st birthday. But Britton was one of the ones you heard about that was texting all of her friends seconds after the announcement - all excitedly making new, immediate plans. Thanks to the announcment, Britton is leaving about three months after her 19th birthday! Thinking of the moment of the announcement still has a very strong effect on all of us. I suspect that Britton must have already had thoughts of serving a mission (that she kept secret from us) because when President Monson made the announcment during conference, it only took seconds for her to begin texting her friends and making plans.

 

 

As a result of weekly sealings our ward has been doing as part of something we call 'The Elijah Project', as soon as they recieved thier endowments, some girls (and one young man - John, now Elder Erikson - the one mentioned above and now at the MTC with Britton and his sister Sarah) had a chance to do sealings with Sister Elaine Dalton (whose husband frequently performs the sealings). It was an incredible experience. She has explained how she had the privlege of being part of seeing the Lord create this movement in preparing young women for this incredible change that has so significantly affected the lives of so many sister missionaries, now going into the field. It is almost incomprehensible the change it will have on the lives of Heavenly Father's children, unknowingly waiting for the arrival of all these new missionaries all around the world.

With her final hug in the temple, Sister Dalton's final message was:

"Give them HEAVEN!!".

Go do it sisters...