Freezing Rain in DC

Elder Bentley, Betsy, Alex, Elder Woodis

Eating dinner at Lulu's house

 

 

Dear Everyone!

Well this has been another one of our fun filled weeks. We are still trying to work on our investigator pool, but other than that we are rocking it up! 

Monday we had a storm warning so we were stuck inside our apartments. We were allowed to leave by foot, but we couldn't drive and members couldn't drive us. We got bored and bused to Chick fil a for lunch and then bused home. We had an appointment with Betsy Monday night so we bused to the nearest station and walked to her house. The only problem was we had had freezing rain so everything was icy to walk on! We made it to her home, talked about family history, and bused home.

Tuesday we had our zone district meeting, but we weren't able to go to the farm. We did however spend the day contacting less active members and ran into a member who wants to get sealed so it looks like we will be working with them. They fed us because Elder Woodis said we hadn't eaten since lunch so she fed us. We also got yelled at by some in active members who don't want the missionaries to come over, but it was a great situation because they don't want their names removed, but don't want anyone stopping by. 

Thursday we were out checking on less actives again and stopped by Sister Moss' home. She is an older Philippino  lady  who thought we were her grandson so we knocked and she told us to come in. To her surprise it was the missionaries. She decided since we were already in she would talk with us. We had to leave for an appointment but she invited us back for lunch on Saturday next week. We are excited to go to that because we've heard she makes great food!

Saturday we had interviews with President Cooke. My interview with him was pretty great, he told me to take off my tie, he then retied it the way he likes it and told me I should keep it like that. He's a pretty funny guy. We got out of our interviews and Betsy called us saying her mother in law was in the hospital so we drove down there to give her a blessing. After the fact, we talked with her Sister in laws about missions and such. We had dinner that night at Ledo's pizza, I only bring that up because it was pretty good pizza.

Sunday night we had Why I Believe, Betsy drove us down there with Alex, so we could talk about missions with him. The speaker was Fiona Givens, she gave a great talk and mentioned some things we hadn't covered with Betsy, so on the car ride home we tried our best to explain those concepts to her. As we were leaving she said she was excited to go to the temple some day, so all that means is we need to get her husband to church!

I hope everything goes well for everyone this coming week!

Love, Elder Bentley

Happy President's Day

On a tour of the capital.

Dear everyone! 

Well this week we haven't really had too much happen. It's been a week full of trying to find new investigators and of  cold weather. We are going to try and work with the less active members and hopefully find new investigators through that kind of work.

Tuesday night we had the opportunity to go and help teach Activity days for the girls ages 8-11. This year the ward is really having a big push on the Book of Mormon so they are even asking that the primary kids buckle down and read the Book of Mormon. Because of that Sister Virginia Wills asked us to go and help her teach about the BOM and to help the girls under stand why it's important. We had a nice little discussions with them, and after that they seemed pretty excited to read the Book.

Thursday we spent a good chunk of time trying to find people to teach, but just like how it's been all week we haven't had any success. We did have the chance to go through our former list and we picked out some names that we felt like we should check on and such. Elder Woodis is really great at keeping my mind focused and on always keeping a great conversation going between us. Thursday night we got a call from President Cooke saying that he wanted to come out with us for the remainder of the night. We were in the same complex that Betsy lives in checking on a couple of Less actives. We knocked on one of their doors and had the opportunity to give her a blessing for her leg. Following that we had a lesson with Betsy and president Cooke again. It went well for our first time teaching that lesson together.

Friday night we had the opportunity to take out one of the kids who is preparing for a mission. He is super shy so bishop Lewis wants us to get him familiarized with the work. We were able to catch some of our potentials at home, but they just told us to leave because they weren't interested. It was a great experience for him and I believe that the bishop is wanting us to take him three nights a week. 

Saturday we went out to go tract and it was freezing outside. We were hoping that someone would take pity and let us in to listen to what we had to hear but they just didn't want to hear from us. We would spend a bit outside then go back to our car to warm up and then we would go right back out. Elder Woodis knows some Spanish and he is really great at contacting those people who don't speak English trying to get away from us. That night we had dinner with the Fuller family, they have been wanting us over for a while, but it never worked out until tonight.

Sunday was a great church filled day. The great thing that happened this Sunday was that Betsy got a calling in the relief society and her son Alex got ordained a priest. We are super excited for him because Betsy wants him to serve a mission but he doesn't really like the idea. Needless to say, we will be working with him on that decision.

A spiritual thought for the week. Ether 12:4 

4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Everyday we are given a chance to help better this world. As members of the church it is our responsibility to help other not of this faith find hope. There are people out in this world who are pleading to find a better world, they could be our next door neighbors. I want to challenge you to reach out to those you know, let them know that there is hope for them to be at the right hand of God. I know that as we do that, we will be able to help other a come into Christ and help them gain that hope.

Much love,

Elder Bentley

6 Months Down!

Us with Sheryl

My A Card

Me and Elder Woodis

                         
Dear Family!
This last was transfers so that means I have received a new
companion! But you'll have to wait and see who that is because I don't
want to spoil any surprises. But it is my 6 month mark which is pretty
cool.

Monday for our zone activity we went ice skating which was tons of
fun! I wasn't really the best at it, but we had such a blast! Monday
night we went over to Betsy's so Elder Johnson could say goodbye to
the Perez Family. It was awesome because they prepared him a little
gift basket as a going away present. Her kids were super awesome and
her husband is starting to talk with us more so that is very nice. We
are thinking that he will be reactivated through his wife Betsy.

Tuesday we had our typical meetings. We did go to chick fil a again to
say goodbye to Sheryl, she gives us little cards for free food! She
invited us to join their A-list team which I think is a really cool
thing that she did for us. She also said that one day here in March she
wants to have us over to her home for some Philippino food. We then
spent the rest of the night over at the Lacsamanas and the Landriths.
They are members in the Gathiersburg ward who Elder Johnson wanted to
go see, I was okay with it because I love going over to their houses
anyway!

Wednesday morning we finished packing Elder Johnson's stuff up and
drove down to the visitor center so we could exchange companions and
such. My newest companion is now Elder Woodis. He is a pretty great
guy, he is really great at asking questions to get to know me, and he
is pretty funny. We got back, got him settled in, and were off to try
and contact some of our potential investigators so we will have
someone to be able to work with this next transfer! I feel a big
reason that why I'm still in the area is so that I can help work with
Giovanni to get the Perez family to the temple.

Thursday we spent the day finding people to teach, we didn't have any
luck that we have seen so far. It's been fun though because we are
able to hold a pretty good conversation. We had ward correlation
meeting that night and spent most of the time letting Brother Matsen
get to know Elder Woodis. Brother Matsen is such a great ward mission
leader. He has offered up his home to us to have a lesson with Betsy
there!

Friday we had a lesson with a potential investigator named Fergie, it
went pretty well for the first time of us teaching together. It was
awesome because after The lesson I was able to ask Elder Woodis what
he thought went well and what we could improve on. He has been out for
3 months so that's two of us under a year! We are working pretty well
together though. We had a lesson with Betsy this night and it was
mostly so she could get to know Elder Woodis. We talked with her
husband about regular things trying to just get him to open up a
little more. He is a very hilarious guy though!

Saturday morning we went out and contacted in some of the close by
Neighborhoods. We had a late lunch with Betsy and her family because
it's her oldest son's birthday! He turned 18 on the 4th. Most of her
family was there, we got to meet her father and his new wife. There
was 18 of us there because she also invited Elder Johnson and his new
companion up to lunch as well! We had lunch at Red Robin, and let's
just say they are not that well at accommodating larger groups like
Utah. It took them a good 45 minutes to set up our table. We had a
blast though and got to talk and get to know Betsy even more which we
loved! That night we went over to Lulu's because she invited us over
for cookies! She is very great at making sure we get fed!

Sunday was pretty great. We went to church a little early so I could
show Elder Woodis the chapel and such. Betsy went to a baby blessing
in another ward today so we were not expecting her to come. After
sacrament meeting though we went and talked with Brother Ballam (the
ward clerk) and he said she was sitting there with Alex and GG! We
talked with her and she went to both churches today! She is so
amazing! We spent that night contacting and at Sister Mabry's home!
She invited a couple of her non member friends over to dinner, they
aren't really interested, but we had a great time talking about the
church!

Love,
Elder Bentley

Ending January WIth A Bang!

Saying goodbye to Igor

Classy Baptism Photo

Bridger with Aiden and GG

The cute Perez Family

 

 

Dear Everyone!

Well this week has been such a bitter sweet week. Read the entire email and you will see why. 

Monday we were allowed to drive for 3 hours 3-6 to go get supplies for p-day and then after that we had to have our cars in for the rest of the night. We had set up an appointment with Betsy and a member So the member came and picked us up. Traffic was horrible and we missed he lesson with Betsy but rescheduled for Tuesday morning. We had a great time at the members home, the Wilsons fed us very well and we had a great time at their house.

Tuesday we invited the Zone Leaders to come to our appointment with Betsy to interview her for baptism. Needless to say she passed and was all ready for Saturday! We didn't have any of our meetings because the church parking lots were full of snow. We helped shovel people out of their parking lots though for service all day Tuesday. We had a district shoveling get together and it went pretty well.

Wednesday was our temple trip, and the spirit was super strong there! We had a great time with the mission and are super excited for the next transfer! We ate at Continental, it's a pizza and sub shop in Kensington. We went to Harold's, that's all we will say about that. We had dinner with Brother Matsen and his family! It was a great dinner appointment, showing his kids friend that we are normal people as well. That night was training call outs, and Elder Johnson was told he is training so that means one of us will leave....

Well Thursday we shoveled snow all day, so yay for snow and service! We finished the night off with the Chaneys.  

Friday Elder Johnson and I wanted to get something nice for Betsy's baptism for her. We drove down to this is the place and got her a quad scripture set with her name on it. It was a very nice set of scriptures, genuine leather and gold leaf. We wrote our testimonies in it and let the sisters who helped do so as well. We had a few other appointments with random members the rest of the day. We had dinner with the Ballams and headed down to Igor's basement apartment in Silver Spring. We had a handoff lesson with him and it was very hard to say goodbye to him. He is getting baptized March 6th for real this time.

Saturday was Betsy's baptism! We got there early to prepare the church/font for the service. Betsy's sister in law Brenda set up tons of decorations for afterwards. It was a very nice set up for a baptism. We took pictures and started the service when Bishop Lewis finally arrived. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and a member complimented on it which was great! Betsy was baptized and the spirit was very strong! Her mother in law gave a great testimony on how they had been praying for G and Betsy to go to church and for her to be baptized. Now she was baptized and all that was left was to get G to go back to church. But Betsy is such a great lady! Her husband is less active and came which was great! We had a great time with her and her family, the ward was super supportive with it as well. We shoveled snow for the rest of the day afterwards and had dinner at Lulu's home. We got the transfer call outs and I am staying in Derwood, Elder Johnson is leaving and he isn't happy about that. 

Sunday was ward conference. Betsy was confirmed and the Spirit was so very strong there. We could defiantly tell that she loved the church and how much it feels like home. She even beat us to church and saved us a spot! Like talk about what a great new member. Brother Andersen confirmed her, he works for the temple and is second counselor in the bishopric. We had a long ward council meeting afterwards and talked about missionary work. We had dinner with the Clawson family, they invited other families over as well and it was a big dinner party kind of thing.

Overall it's been a big bitter sweet week because we had to say bye to Igor, Betsy was baptized, and Elder Johnson is leaving.

Spiritual thought for the week. President Arnold ( stake president) talked about how in  the next 7 years he wants the equivalent of 2 more wards in the stake. And as he talked about this it reminded me of the talk the President Nelson to the young Adults about becoming true Millennials. In the talk he mentioned we need to prepare to accomplish the impossible, we need to pray to do so. As we pray for strength and courage to act on the feelings the Holy Ghost gives us we will be able to do so. I know that as we pray to accomplish the impossible we will be able to do so. Example in my life, our investigator Betsy, Elder Johnson and I were praying to find someone while we were together. We taught Betsy on December 30th for the first time and she was baptized on January 30th. We can do hard things!

Much love,

Elder Bentley

Home Bound during the Blizzard!

Fun in the blizzard!

 

 

Dear Everyone!

Well needless to say this has been a great week with the time that we did have to do missionary work! Well see this blizzard came into the East Coast, and basically shut down everything because everyone here is so unequipped with the things they need for it to function when there is any kind of snow, but we will get to that in a bit.

Monday night we had a lesson with Betsy, needless to say it went amazing like they usually do. She just takes everything we teach into her heart and actually acts on it. We finished teaching her the Commandments with some youth there for her less active son. Everything went well and we scheduled a return appointment for Friday.

Wednesday we had the missionary world wide broadcast. We got together as a zone and watched that live. It was good, but seemed to go downhill as it went on. We had our Wednesday Harold trip and were out of there in time for dinner at the Padilla's. As we got out of their home there was snow on the ground finally!!! We carefully drove to our last appointment of the night with our investigator Millie. She was a referral from some other investigators in a different area, but she still was super interested. She was describing what she wanted for her kids, and it was the church she was describing without even knowing it. We filled up with gas, which was very great.

Thursday we spent the day basically trying to prepare for this winter storm that everyone was talking about. We still were able to go out on exchanges with Brother Lewis. We were with him and finally got in contact with Igor again! He is doing very well and he committed to live he Word of Wisdom, which is big because he loves coffee. We also got an appointment with some Ethiopians who wanted to learn about the Book of Mormon. 

Friday morning came, we picked up a few last supplies and went to our appointment with the Ethiopians. They want to learn more and it went very well. We returned home and stayed in for the rest of the day. President Cooke made it mandatory for everyone to be in by noon. The snow started at about 1:30 and continued all day. We just tried to hang around the apartment and read some scriptures and other stuff. That night we had a Skype lesson with Betsy and Brother& Sister Scardena. We finished the lessons with her and she is ready for baptism! It is such a blessing we have the technology as missionaries to do this.

Saturday we woke up with a good 2ish feet of snow and it was still snowing. We got ready for the day and walked over to the Zone Leader's apartment to do something with them. Outside was deserted which was amazing because it is always busy. We got there, played games, and had a merry time. We returned home for dinner and it was still snowing lightly now. We played in the snow! Yes we had a blast, and we jumped from the fence into a pile of snow.

Sunday church was cancelled because of the snow storm. There was a total of 32 inches. We did the same thing as the last few days, hung around the apartment, talked, and read doctrine. Our investigator Betsy needed to go to church today to be baptized this Saturday, but President Cooke said at she was good and could be baptized anyway. We played settlers of Cattan and Elder Timmerman won. We did our call in reports and that's it for the week!

Love,

~Elder Bentley

Skyping with an investigator for a lesson during the blizzard!

Another Great Week in the Mission Field!

I got this picture from a member in Bridger's Mission
She said "The Piano Lessons Paid off!"

      Elder Bentley played for "Why I Believe."  He did beautifully and he gives you credit.What a super missionary.

Dear Family! 

This last week has been a refreshing one. We have been trying to make contact with the less actives of the ward this last week. We were able to get an appointment with one of them. 

Monday night we had dinner with Sister Wills, she likes to have us over to talk with her grand kid about serving a mission. His name is Noah and he's 12. He has tons of questions about serving a mission so it is nice that we can help her answer his questions. We helped her carry boxes around her house be used she needed to take down all of her decorations from Christmas. She had knee surgery and wanted some help before she had the surgery done. 

Tuesday we had our typical meetings, which went pretty well. That night we were at the farm helping with the riding when it started to snow! It wasn't really that much snow and it didn't stick, but it was snowing! It is really a great opportunity that we have to work with the kids, and especially to work with horses! We also got to play with Peter, he is a miniature horse, they are still working with him to be more child friendly though because he still likes to bite fingers. We also had to say goodbye to Rusty, he was helping running the farm, and he is headed home to Idaho. 

Wednesday we tried to pack full with appointments. We had an appointment with a returning member and tried to help her recognize the importance of the Book of Mormon. We then went over to Harold's house so he could chat away with us about the dinner calendar. We had dinner that night with the McAllisters and it was a simple but quick appointment because we had to get to Betsy's home by 7. Betsy is doing great! She read the Young Adult devotional "What is the blueprint of Christ's Church?" And we were able to relate to that as we taught her the Word of Wisdom and Ten Commandments. Her kids are so hilarious and it was quite the appointment. Elder Johnson butt dialed 911 so in the middle of talking with her we heard, "This is the Montgomery County Police, what's your Emergency?" And we all started busting up! Her son Aiden asked if next time we came if we could have a Pokemon battle. That was so very cute!

We visited an in-active member who told us he has no desire to return to church, but he respects missionaries and opened his home to us whenever we were in the neighborhood. He was a member in the 80's until he had some complications in his family that led him off of the path. He really wanted to talk politics which was hilarious because his wife was getting mad at him for doing so! 

Saturday we knocked on every referrals' door that we had to get drop them if they weren't answering. We did that for most of the day until our dinner appointment with the Washington Family. Sister Washington invited tons of people over to her home for a football night and fried Chicken. She wanted us to teach everyone that was there but we felt like it was better to just keep it simply on Christ. We spent most of the time taking about missionaries, what we do and how we live. 

Sunday was killer! Betsy came to church With her three kids again! She is super excited to be baptized and her little son Aiden who is 7 said, "when I turn 8 I want to be baptized!" She has been such a golden investigator! We had dinner with the Lewis family and they let me play their piano which is a forte! Why I Believe was that night as well, Terryl Givens spoke at it. He is the author of The Crucible of Doubt, The God who Weeps, and Wrestling with Angels. He had such a great talk prepared and it was so amazing! I also got to play the opening hymn and closing hymns there so that was fun! Mima Kearl is the wife of the mission doctor and she talked to me after the Why I Believe fireside!

This week was amazing and I hope all of you had a great one as well!

Love,
~Elder Bentley 

Missionary Greetings

Re: Greetings from

Dear Family!

This has been another one of those great weeks! The temperature has been around the 35-50's since it rained this weekend, but it's been slowly getting colder! We have definitely had a very crazy week with appointments, but it has been so great because the spirit has been there!

Monday night we had dinner at the Tanguilig's home. Sister Tang is from the Philippines and their culture has been so much fun to see! They usually have one of their parents living with them and her mom cracks me up! As we eat over at their home, her mom would offer us food, then more food, and then even more! She just kept giving us food until her grandson told her that she should probably stop before she kills us. We had a blast over at their home!

Wednesday was such a great day. We started off the day by trying to contact referrals that we had, but they didn't answer their phones or their doors. Harold wanted us to come over so we did. It was they typical visit where he just tells us how lonely he is, and about his disease he has. Following that we had dinner with Natalie, she is a recently returned missionary and her mom loves to feed the missionaries! But following that she came with us to an appointment we had with Betsy. We put Betsy on date for the 31st of January, and had a great lesson with her. She has three kids, the oldest Alex is already baptized but he is inactive so we have been teaching him as well. Then there is Aiden, he is 7 and he reminds me so much of Gabe, he loves Pokemon cards and he loves to come talk to me about them! Then there is GG, she's this cute little three year old that just makes your heart melt! Anyway we have been teaching them and the lessons have gone well!

Thursday we had an appointment with a less active member who had been offended by one of the members a few years back. He is from Turkey and he was telling us about these dreams he has that have foretold the future, that was weird to listen to him about that. We still had a great time over at his house and hope to see him at Church when he retires. We had dinner at the Chaney's and it was a great visit! Following that we went to a recent converts home to teach him the rest of the commandments. He is doing well and him and his older brother are reading the Book of Mormon!   

Friday we went on exchanges with President Cooke! We had the night all planned out, we had an appointment with Igor and the with Betsy. We had confirmed both of them before we went to dinner at cafe rio. As we were driving back for the appointments we get a call that Igor had to cancel on us because of him mom. We didn't expect that because we had confirmed with him just a few hours earlier. We called President Cooke and told him the situation and told him to meet us at the metro so we could contact. Our appointment with Betsy was at 8, and president said he was gonna have to get going soon (this was around 7:45) but then I told him we had an appointment with an investigator who was a Festival of Lights referral and on date! He said that he would like to sit in on the lesson so we drove up and taught her again! The lesson went great and we were able to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Saturday we went to a funeral for a member of a different ward whom we gave a blessing to last week. It was a great service and the spirit was there! We then came home and went to the temple where we were going to meet Isaiah, but his mom was sick and didnt tell us. We were there already but left to a member in the Gaithersburg ward. We had a great time at the Lacsamanas, and while we were there the French Elders called and asked if we wanted to go to the Landerith's. We went and had a great time talking with them.

Sunday was a great day, we had an early meeting at 8:30 at the church. The only problem with that was our church is 25 mile round trip and we can't afford to make that trip twice in a day so we had to stay there until our church started at 1. As we were walking the halls at 12, I remembered that I was playing a piece for sacrament meeting! Ha that was really frightening to just remember an hour before Church but I felt like I did a great job! Betsy and her family came to church which was amazing!! They weren't there when church started which made us worried but she told us and Natalie that morning she would be there so we waited for them. They came and it was just in time for the sacrament! I told Aiden earlier that week that he would love primary and sure enough he had a blast he said! When they first got to church he had his new Pokemon cards in his pocket because he knew he would see me and he wanted to show them to me! We finished off the night at the Bozzo home. Sister Bozzo just got engaged to Brother Roy, both in their late 30's but have kids, and it was a great appointment. Their boys wanted to have a nerf gun war with us which was fun to do with them! Following that we just talked with them about their marriage which is coming up and such!

It was a great week and I am very excited for this next week! I hope everyone has been doing well!

Love, 

Elder Bentley