DEER!

Miracles:

So this week our investigator Stacey (who is 18) has been facing a ton of opposition from her parents and from her friends, even the other friend that has been taking the lessons with her! But she has been reading the Book of Mormon every single day and reading multiple chapters a day and she has found so much strength in doing so! She is so solid and I am seriously so in awe of how the Savior has been in every detail of her life, and how she has so readily allowed him in. She will be baptized on Saturday May 20th and she CANNOT wait! So please, please, please keep her in your prayers as she faces these next few weeks, because we know they are going to be brutal! But also wonderful.

Also this week we got a call from a member in Broken Bow (a little town about an hour from us) and one of the members in the branch out there had a friend that was prepared to be taught! We are the closest missionaries to Broken Bow, so we have been traveling out there and teaching this sweet girl! She is 20 and her name is Kenna, and her heart is just chalk full of the most fertile soil the world has ever known! (Wow I think Alma would appreciate that reference). We invited her to be baptized and she simply said "Well of course I will be baptized if the Lord tells me to, why would I do anything less?" Haha sometimes I think we make the gospel so complicated, but Kenna seems to get it! Just like Nephi taught, we must go and what the Lord has commanded! So keep her in your prayers too!

Funnies:

So the other night we were driving back to Kearney from Broken Bow and it was REAL dark, so we had our brights on. Sister Church was driving and all of the sudden she slammed on the breaks and yelled "DEER!!" We were on exchanges, so all 4 of us sisters about had a heart attack and began frantically searching for this deer we were about to hit. After a few seconds I realized there wasn't a deer on the road, so I looked at Sister Church and she was just staring out her side window. "Where is this deer?!?" I said. She looked at me like I was a moron and said, "it's over there in the grass." "Well why the heck did you stop then?!" "Because I wanted to look at it."

Hahahahahaha that girl. Apparently there aren't very many deer in Arizona, so this whole thing is a foreign concept to her. Moral of the story is that we are all alive...including the deer.

Spiritual thought:

I don't have a ton of time, but I just wanted to share with you a quick scripture that I really love and have been pondering upon this week!

1 Nephi 1:1-Moroni 10:34

Just kidding! That's the whole Book of Mormon! Hahaha I kill myself. And Sister Church thinks I am funny too.

Love you all. Have the best week.

xoxo,

April snow showers bring FROZEN grass and flowers!

Miracles: 

Speaking of Heavenly Father being in the details of our lives....we had the coolest miracle this week! And I really do KNOW that Heavenly Father is in the details of the lives of His children here in Kearney. So I went on an exchange with Sister Farmer this week (who is from Kamas by the way, and appreciates Oakley ALMOST as much as I do) and I felt prompted to go see a potential who lives a wee bit outta town, so we did, and she dropped us. :( But we were determined to find out why God had sent us there, so we started talking to everyone. There was this guy outside working on his car, so naturally we went and talked to him. It turns out he is a less active member! And his wife isn't a member. His less active parents (Jack and Marilyn) were also there visiting, so we were able to go inside and talk with them. It turns out this couple were converts to the church, and were SEALED. They had a falling out with some members in a nearby ward and haven't been to church since. And here's the craziest part of the miracle! Jack and Marilyn just barely moved to Central City, and live just a few blocks away from where Sister Farmer and Sister Robertson live! The Lord is so aware of His children! As we were talking to Jack and Marilyn we found out Jack was going in for hip surgery in the morning, and that's why he was in Kearney. We felt prompted to ask him if he wanted a priesthood blessing and he gladly accepted the invitation! So Friday night we were able to go to his hotel and give him a priesthood blessing with two members of our ward, and it was such a sweet, spirit filled experience. Sister Farmer got all of his information and they are going to try and see him hopefully this week. What a miracle! 

Also because of Stake Conference President and Sister Gardner were here for the weekend! And they got to go out teaching with us. This is what he said about it in his email to us missionaries: 

"This last week I was able to go on a few teaching appointments with our missionaries. In one of those lessons, we were teaching two teenage youth [Kiara and Stacey] that are progressing but are still looking to receive an answer to their prayers. The missionaries taught a beautiful lesson on the apostasy in a members home. At the perfect point in the lesson, the member bore a powerful testimony of the feelings he had when he was investigating the Church. The Spirit filled the room. I asked these two youth, "What did you feel while he was telling you his experience?" Both immediately shared they felt a peaceful feeling come over them that they said was powerful. I helped them identify that feeling as the Holy Ghost, witnessing to them that this was true.
The missionaries invited them to pray and ask Heavenly Father if this was true and they both agreed. Not wanting them to forget the feelings of the Spirit that they were feeling, I asked them if they would get down on their knees right then and ask Heavenly Father if it was true. All of us knelt down and both of these sweet young woman prayed in succession and asked God if it was true."

 And holy smokes the spirit was so strong! Both Kiara and Stacey prayed and it was such a cool experience to visibly see their faith grow. I know they will receive answers, and I am so grateful for the guidance of President Gardner.

He went on to say:

" In the second lesson, we visited a couple in their 60's.[Our investigators Terri and Lee]

Unfortunately, they had not read any of the Book of Mormon since the missionaries had last taught them. These great missionaries went right on with their plan to read the Book of Mormon with them. As we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon together, I noticed that this good brother had a very difficult time reading. Even with his reading glasses on, he could hardly read the fine print of our small copies of the Book of Mormon.

Following our reading, the missionaries asked again, if they would read the Book of Mormon. They said yes, but i was not convinced because it was difficult for this man to see. I asked them if they had a smart phone or IPAD. We loaded the Book of Mormon App on the IPAD and showed him how he could let it read to him. The expression on his face was like a young child on Christmas morning. He could not only see the larger print but could have it read to him. I am confident that he will read/listen to the Book of Mormon before the missionaries next visit."

 Ahh I wish you could have all seen Lee's face, it was so sweet! I really do believe, along with President, that they will read the Book of Mormon and pray!

What a treat it was for them to spend a few nights with us, and how grateful I am for their guidance and love! 

Funnies: 

IT SNOWED yesterday! Not cool. Actually it was terribly cool, that was the issue! Haha but nevertheless we saw miracles and it was kind of a fun, unexpected surprise. 

Also I tried to tell a joke in my Zone Training Meeting this week and NO BODY LAUGHED! Hahaha but it's OK because I laughed at myself and still thought it was funny, so my pride wasn't that wounded. 

 Spiritual thought: 

Alright so the BEST part about Stake Conference (besides the Gardner's of course) was Elder Robert C. Gay of the Seventy! He came to speak to the good ole' Kearney Stake and my heavens, he is an incredible man that has been through so much. All the experiences and thoughts he shared were impactful, but there was one quote I loved the most. He said, "There is never a convenient time to serve, you either live by convenience, or by covenant." I really do believe that is true. The Lord asks us to put his priorities first, not our own, and that can be so difficult. But the promised blessings are never ending. Literally. I think about what the Savior said to his apostles as he ministered in Jerusalem. "Lovest thou me, more than these?" Do we love the Savior more than we love our time, our to do list, OUR priorities? He puts us first, always has, and always will. We are His work and His glory. So shouldn't we strive to put Him first as well? I urge each of you to do that this week. To refocus your lives on the Savior and on His gospel, and I promise great blessings will come. Choose to live by covenant, not convenience. 

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen 

P.S. Enjoy the pictures of the snow

She Drove Away!

Miracles: 

 Me with a Big Red Nose

So I got to go on exchanges with the cutest sister ON EARTH this week. Her name is Sister Sekona and she is from Cali, but her family is originally Tongan. Holla! She says I'd fit right in, so I am claiming it. Anywho, we saw miracle after miracle after miracle on exchanges and I am so excited about it!!!!!!!!!! Because of all the finding we did that day we are now teaching two families!

 Sabrina and Sister Sekona

The first family is Justin and Justine and their one year old daughter Mia. We met Justin outside his apartment complex and he wasn't all that interested, so after he left for work we went and knocked on his door and met his girlfriend. We taught her and she recognized us as representatives almost automatically! Which was so cool because we prayed for that! Anywho, we asked what it would mean to her to know this was true and she told us that she believed us...but that receiving the answer from God would change her life! We got to go back and teach both her and Justin and Justin opened up SO much. We have an appointment with them tonight and we are so thrilled! A little family!

The other family is Alex and Andy and their two year old son Shane. We haven't been able to teach Andy yet, but Alex is awesome. We taught her the Restoration and invited her to read and pray and SHE DID! We went back and her poor son had just woken up from his nap and he was so grumpy. She just held him and cradled him and it was the cutest thing in the world to see this sweet mom try and do her best. This was about halfway through the lesson, but the little boy just wasn't calming down, so we asked her if we could say a prayer and get out of her hair. We prayed for this sweet little Shane to be comforted by the Savior and before the prayer was over he stopped crying. It was such a special moment and the spirit in the room was undeniable. We haven't been able to contact her for a few days, but we are hopefully going to see her tonight as well. 

Also Stacey is on fire! She went to the stake pre-trek activity and she loved it! We are going to set her for baptism this week so keep your fingers crossed! She was reading the Book of Mormon the other day and she really wanted to get all she could out of it, so she sat her father and her brother in the living room and read to them! She wanted them to feel the same feelings she had and so she just went right ahead and shared the gospel. No fears, no doubts, no worries. Man she could be the most amazing missionary, and she will be! Someday. Plus she gave us her graduation announcement and I just felt so loved. Haha 

ONION RINGS!

Funnies: 

So we had an appointment with a potential this week and we were sitting in the apartment parking lot getting ready to pray when she drove in. We saw her, but she didn't see us, so she went ahead and parked and we got out of our car. As we were walking past her parked car we felt awkward, so we just acted like we didn't see her and kept walking to her home. Well she definitely saw us, so she stayed in her car until we were around the corner and then she backed up and drove away. SHE DROVE AWAY! Haha, I love being a missionary...but sometimes it is rough. People kill me. 

Triple companionship

Spiritual thought: 

So this week I have been reading in 2 Nephi 2 and my gracious that is a HEAVY chapter! Anywho, I was reading all about how this life is an opportunity for us to come to KNOW good and evil. I was thinking about what it means to KNOWsomething and I was taken to 3 Nephi 14;20. "Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall KNOW them..." Adam and Eve partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and because of that we are here. And because we are here, we KNOW the fruits of sin, mortality, and temptation. But because of Christ we have the opportunity to partake of the tree of life and KNOW the fruits of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I KNOW (hehe get it?) that this is a simple truth...but it's profound. There really is a purpose and a plan, and I am so grateful to share that with everyone that I can. 

I love you all and I hope you have the best week! 

Keep on keeping on :)

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen 

Are you hungry for the truth?

Wow! Ok! Time flies. I cannot believe it has been another week, and Easter at that! I hope you all enjoyed Easter Sunday as much as I did. It was so incredible to sit in the House of the Lord and just have a sure knowledge that we are going to be together forever. I thought a lot about Grandpa Bengtzen and Aunt Mona and all those others that we love that have passed on, and I am sure they celebrated with us. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed being so far from all of you, and my heart hurts a little bit. Yesterday was one of those days, but I recognize that this is such a small sacrifice to give to a Savior that has given us everything. I just hope you all know how much I love you and miss you. I think about you often and pray for you always! I am so grateful to know that the Savior lives. That He is risen, and that He is constantly there for each of us every single minute of every day. I am grateful for His patience, His persistence, His mercy, and His unfailing love. I am grateful to know Him, and to have the opportunity to spend the rest of eternity coming to know Him and emulate Him. Thanks for all the Easter cards and the birthday wishes and the candy and the love. I feel all of your hugs way out here in Kearney! 

Miracles: 

So we are teaching this incredible girl! She is 18 and her name is Stacy. Her boyfriend is a member of the church and has been a remarkable missionary the past few weeks. Stacy has such genuine interest and is so excited to learn more about her Savior. The youth took a trip to the temple this last weekend and Stacy went along for the ride! The whole three hour ride! (I imagine Dad turning to Max as he is reading this story and saying "A three hour tour.." Haha I love you Daddy!) Anyway, she sat at the visitor's center while they were in the temple and just soaked it all in. She is working towards baptism and she is such a remarkable edition to the youth of the ward. I can hardly explain it...but she has this way of earnestly seeking after light and goodness...and I think she is beginning to recognize she has found a fullness of it. So PLEASE keep her in your prayers!

Sherletha

Also this week we were walking out of this lesson with a potential that TOTALLY tanked and we saw this cute lady sitting on the sidewalk. We went up to talk to her and it turns out she had ordered a Bible from Mormon.org that morning! We hadn't even received the referral yet! She praised Jesus and threw in some Hallelujahs and Amens and the whole shebang! It was awesome. We prayed with her and she did some singing and we gave her a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment! Haha her name is Sherletha and she said she met with missionaries before. She was the sweetest thing I had ever seen and you would've thought we'd have given her a million dollars when we handed her the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Her face was priceless! We are seeing her tomorrow and I sure hope she pauses between praises long enough for us to teach her! Haha ;) I will attach a picture.

Funnies: 

Easter Candy Coma

I forgot to tell you this one...so it is from a few weeks back, but it still kills me! For the record I have permission to tell this story, so do not worry. 

So back when Sister Church was slowly dying because of her knee, we spent the night in Omaha and she texted all the sisters in our stewardship to see if any of them had baptisms set for the following day. One of the companionships sent back "Nada Pinata" and Sister Church, all hyped up on Ibuprofen and no sleep got all excited and responded "Is that one of your investigators?!" Haha she kills me.... 

Spiritual thought:

So I have been thinking a lot this week about this life and the temptations and hardships we face. It is a constant battle that we MUST fight...but I read a verse this week that put it into perspective for me. "Fear ye not...the Lord shall fight for you." (Exodus 14;13-14) I think so often I find myself wearied by the fight and not sure of myself, or my ability to fight, but I forget that I am not the one who is really fighting. Christ has already won the battle, I just have to let him help me through to safety! I make things so complicated...we all do...but the simple truth is that Christ has won the victory. HE IS RISEN. How grateful I am for that knowledge. This week I urge all of you to bury your weapons of war and allow the Savior to fight for you. 

Oh and also...I forgot about this...but we are now in a trio! Sister Church, myself, and sweet lil Sister Stocking from Washington state! Her companion had to go home all of a sudden so we are lucky enough to spend the rest of the transfer with her! She is a doll! Also Sister Church is doing much better and her knee is healing up real nice! 

ALL IS WELL!

This week was a whirlwind! 

I am so blessed to be Her comp!

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes again, and just all of the love. Really, I feel so loved and so blessed! I felt like Heavenly Father was giving me a giant bear hug all day yesterday! I really don't have any time at all, so I am just going to send a quick update.

Sabrina and the family whose basement she lives in.

Sister Church is OKIE DOKIE! She got a cortisone shot this morning and we are on the mend! Thank heavens for modern medicine! 

We are trying so so so hard to find, so please keep these people of Kearney in your prayers! It's hard not to get down on ourselves sometimes, but we know that this is the Lord's work and not ours, so we are pushing through!

Streamers

But here is a miracle! 

We stopped by to see one of our investigators the other day and her name is Staysha Redfield. She told us that she had started to read the Book of Mormon and that she really loved it, she pulled out her copy and we saw that she highlighted 1 Nephi 1:12. We asked her about it and she told us that she felt the same way Lehi did (as he described in that verse) filled with the spirit of the Lord! We were thrilled! And it was so evident that she had heard the whispering of the Holy Ghost. She even told us that she read the Book of Mormon her entire lunch break at work because she felt so good when she did. But what broke my heart was that last night she texted us and told us she was no longer interested in learning. But at least a seed was planted!

She got lots of cards from her family!

Love you all! 

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen 

Hay is for Horses

First things first. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes and love! My heavens I have the best team in the tournament! Seriously you are all my favorite. Can't believe I will be 20...woooooooot! Look out adulthood...here I come!  

Second things second. SISTER CHURCH AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER FOR 6 MORE WEEKS!!!!! Best birthday gift I could have asked for! So all of y'all better get excited to meet her on Mother's Day because she is excited to meet you! 

Third things third. Sister Church most likely tore her meniscus...so we are hobbling along on crutches and trying to keep her from hurting it worse! She is a trooper. 

Miracles: 

This week I went on an exchange with Sister Poulson and that girl is incredible! The gospel has sunk deep into her heart and she has this incredible ability to share it in a way that is 100% Sister Poulson! She is genuine in all that she says and you can tell that she practices what she preaches. Man I have so much to learn. Anyway! While on exchanges we went to see this less active member and it turns out his less active daughter was there as well. Her name is Arianna and she has a 15 month old son and one on the way. She told us how she has been thinking so much about the church and that she has recently had the strongest desires to come back again. She told us that she wants to raise her sons to know the Savior, and she knows in her heart that she needs to raise them in the LDS church. Sister Poulson and I were speechless. She clearly has poignant feelings connected with the church, but she isn't quite sure of her testimony yet. We committed her to watch General Conference and approach it with a question, and she was so excited about it! So we get to follow up with her about that tomorrow. WOOT! 

Also, we watched General Conference with Pam and another recent convert named Jo Lind and it was SO cool to see them receive revelation live! And get answers to their questions. Seriously conference is incredible! 

Oh! And we started teaching the sweetest new family of 6! They are the Rodriquez family and we found them a few weeks ago. They are on the path to progressing, they are just super busy, so keep them in your prayers. Teaching families is the best thing! It just makes the work so exciting. 

Funnies: 

Sister Church borrowed some rusty crutches from a ward member and as she was waddling along yesterday they broke and she fell...haha it was SO funny! I made that sound way worse than it was...she was laughing too! I promise!! And she didn't get hurt at all! 

Spiritual thought: 

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did! Seriously we are so blessed to have a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to send us a prophet to lead us and to guide us and to walk beside us. As I was watching General Conference this weekend so many things stuck out to me, but there is one in particular I want to share. Towards the end of his talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said something that just pierced my heart. "Come as you are, but don't plan to stay as you are." Our Heavenly Father loves each of us infinitely and perfectly. He will always take us as we are, but he strives to help us be better, to improve, to change. We all came to conference as we are, but I want to urge each of you not to stay as you are! Take the things you were taught by the spirit and APPLY them! Make changes, even if they are small. And recognize the glorious blessings that come from doing so. The Savior promise us time and time again that by small and simple things, or small and simple changes, GREAT things come to pass. I testify that his promises are sure and He is bound when we do what he asks of us. This church is true. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer lives. And I say these things in his name. Amen.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

Keep on keeping on :) 

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen 

MARCH MADNESS

Y'all probably think the NCAA tournament is entertaining, but lemme tell you, watching Sister Church, myself, and President Gardner shoot free throws would've blown college basketball out of the water! We had the Nebraska Omaha Mission (N.O.M.) Olympics this week and Sister Church and I killed it! We took the gold! And had way too much fun doing it. So there's a lil' update. In other news we ran out of money this month so today we went to the store and bought a total of 8 bananas for the week. Mom don't freak out! I promise that the Cammacks let us have some of their food and we won't starve! Ya know what they say..."Man cannot live on bananas alone..." 

Miracles: 

So this week there was a baptism in a nearby branch and it was so happy! The girl's name was Mila Gonzalez and she is 19. She was baptized into the small family branch in Holdrege, NE, but the YSA was there to fellowship her at her baptism, so Sister Church and I got to attend as well. One of the best things about a mission is that you get to just see how aware of each of us Heavenly Father is. One of the recent converts from the YSA attended the baptism and her name is Natasha. (I LOVE HER.) Anyway, Mila got up to bear her testimony and just poured her heart out about how her family was not supportive, but she was so grateful that she made the decision to be baptized regardless. Natasha's family was not supportive AT ALL when she was baptized and as Mila bore her testimony tears filled Natasha's eyes. The moment the closing prayer was finished Natasha ran to Mila and told her her story. They both started to cry and just held each other. It was like they had known each other for years. Now Mila has a new friend, and an entire YSA branch eager and excited to get to know her. And they never would've crossed paths had it not been for the Lord and his hand in their lives. 

I got to go on exchanges this week with Sister Gershin and OH MY GRACIOUS! That girl. She is an incredible missionary, and she truly has given her whole heart to God over the course of the last 18 months. I had the incredible blessing of being her last exchange ever and we had loads of fun! But during our last chat of the night she said something so profound and it hit my heart hard. She told me that she didn't serve the mission she wanted to serve, but she served the mission the Lord wanted her to serve.

 My heavens these sisters teach me so much more than I could ever hope of teaching them. I am so blessed to be a missionary! 

Also this week is GENERAL CONFERENCE! If that is not a miracle than I don't know what is! Prophets and Apostles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are going to be speaking directly to us. And I CANNOT wait! I CANNOT WAIT! I urge all of you to approach conference with a question...because when we ask we receive answers. 

Funnies: 

This morning I woke up at 4:11 am absolutely freezing cold, so I slowly slid off my bed head first and grabbed my blanket that fell on the floor. As I was doing this Sister Church sat up out of nowhere and looked at me and this is the conversation that followed: 

Sister Church: "You good??"

Me: "Yeah I'm good..." 

"What time is it?" 

"4:11"

"YESSSS.....(she leaps out of her bed) I need to go the bathroom so bad, I am about to explode!"

Next thing I knew it was 6:30...haha

Spiritual thought: 

I guess these past few weeks I have been struggling quite a bit with finding. We are finding all the time! We are being obedient, our efforts are diligent, and we are studying hard, but people don't seem to be willing to make commitments or have a desire to continue to learn more. I have been in a little bit of a rut, so I have been seeking answers through fervent prayer and scripture study, and I read a verse the other day that just filled my soul with assurance and increased faith. 1 Nephi 21:5 reads "And now, saith the Lord - that formed me from the womb that I should be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him - though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." As I read this, the spirit replaced two words of this verse to teach me something crucial. "And now, saith the Lord - that formed me from the womb that I (myself) should be his servant, to bring [Sister Bengtzen] again to him - though [Nebraska] be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." The Lord has placed me upon this earth to learn and to grow, and ultimately my job is to bring Sister Bengtzen (myself) again to him. Although the entire state of Nebraska may not be baptized, and although others may not listen or commit, the Lord is still proud of me and I will rely on God to carry me through. How grateful I am for the scriptures and for my relationship with my Savior. How grateful I am to know that numbers do not determine success, that the Lord does not look upon the outward appearance of things, but the Lord looks upon my heart. (1 Sam 16:7) Sometimes it seems like we just aren't having success, that our lives don't look the way they should or that things aren't going the way they should, and it's hard. But Heavenly Father knows that we are trying. He is aware of the efforts that we make and above all he knows our hearts. So even if life seems to be a mess, keep going, keep trying. The Lord is with you and he will lead you along. 

I love you all! Even when you go to Cancun and tour Book of Mormon ruins without me. I will forgive you! Maybe! 

xoxo, 

Sister Bengtzen