Her name was Kimberly!!

Well hello everyone! Quit writing me and telling me that I am halfway done with my mission!!! Haha I am very well aware and reading the fact in email form does not make it any more acceptable!

This week has been a whirlwind to say the least, and I don't have a ton of time so I'll be quick! But I apologize in advance if none of this makes sense because my brain is mush. 

Miracles: 

Quite honestly we had one of the most incredible miracles of my mission this week. It is AMAZING! So here goes. I call it the miracle of Manuel! 

During our weekly planning session last week we had two revelatory experiences that led to this miracle. 1) We felt inspired to pray specifically for a family with a mother named Kimberly and 2) We felt inspired to see one of our less active members named Phyllis and share a message about missionary work coupled with the invitation for her to come on a team up with us! We made our plans to see Phyllis on Tuesday and then went on with our work. Tuesday came and Sister Collins and I prepared a very inspired lesson plan for Phyllis, which included a role play of her bearing testimony. The lesson went wonderful and Phyllis excitedly committed to come on a team up with us! As we were saying the closing prayer, a man named Manuel, who is living in her house for a time, walked in and listened. After we finished he began talking about religion and we had the opportunity to share the message of the Restoration with him. As we were finishing Phyllis piped in and began to share the most powerful and simple testimony of the Book of Mormon. Which is EXACTLY what we had committed her to do! Ahh the Lord absolutely prepared her, and she took a step of faith and followed the direction of the spirit.  With tears in his eyes Manuel committed to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and to pray. As we were gathering his information I asked him about his family and asked him what his wife's name was. 

Kimberly...her name was Kimberly...!

Sister Collins and I quietly gasped, and both received a witness that this was the family we had been specifically praying for. And we found him in the last place we thought we would!!! 

I know that​​​​​​ Heavenly Father has his hand in every phase of this work, and that He answers specific prayers. 

We were able to go back and see him on Saturday and teach him the full message of the Restoration with Phyllis present. It was one of the most powerful experiences thus far on my mission. We taught by the power of the Holy Ghost and he listened by the power of the Holy Ghost. His family is currently in Tennessee, but this weekend they are moving here to Omaha and are actually living in the same apartment complex as the Papillion Sisters. What a miracle! I know that their family is ready to make the changes they need in order to return to their Heavenly home, and I am so excited for them to continue to learn and progress! I love this work!!

              Sabrina saying goodbye to the Devasharayee's. This is the Young Women's president in her ward. The Husband in this picture must love Sabrina tons cause he is a Huge BYU fan but she gave him the hat as a goodbye gift. 

Funnies: 

So I was reading in 1 Nephi the other day and I swear the spirit brought the funniest joke to my mind. Seriously. He has a great sense of humor. 

Why did Laman and Lemuel murmur all the time? 

Because their life was "IN-TENTS"! 

Hahahaha! 

Funny ways to say goodbye so no tears before heading to Kearney!

Spiritual thought: 

This week I was thinking about the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:7 that explains how in this life we are to "walk by faith, not by sight." And as I was reading in 1 Nephi I thought about how Nephi was such a great example of that. He kept records for a wise purpose which he knew not, (1 Nephi 6:5) he trusted the spirit to guide him, even though he had no idea beforehand what he should do (1 Nephi 4:6) and he trusted that the Lord would prepare a way for him to accomplish any commandment he was given, even though he didn't know exactly how (1 Nephi 3:7). I was wondering how he was able to have such faith and as I was pondering upon that the scriptures provided me with an answer. 1 Nephi 11:17 "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things." Nephi understood the love of God, he did not understand all things, but he knew that God loved him and that lead him to have faith in Christ. As we come to know the true character of God and to understand the divine gift of His Son Jesus Christ,

 then we are able to walk by faith, rather than sight. We recognize that we are in good hands, we are in God's hands, and that He is bound to reward us with eternal joy and life if we do what he asks of us. We are His children. He loves us! 

"We come from the heavenly courts of the Lord our God. We are the literal spirit children of diving, immortal, and omnipotent Heavenly Parents! We are of the royal house of Elohim, the most High God. We walked with Him in our premortal life. We heard Him speak, witness His majesty, learned His ways." 

- President Uchtdorf

Don't forget that! You are a child of God, and He loves you.

I love you all! Have the best week! 

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen 

P.S. Transfer calls came and I am on my way to a town called Kearney, NE and I am SO excited! It will be an adventure. I will update you more next week. 

I am heartbroken to leave Chalco Hills, but I know they will be in good hands, and I guess the Lord just needs to give me more people to love! Ahh missions....goodbyes are the worst.