One Year Mark!

We went to noodles and company and had a good meal, then

went and burned the one year shirt!

2

Elder Mellen and I at the old apartment by the fence we were told not to cross

A cute little kitten at a members home.

Dear Family!

Well it's was another week filled with surprises one could say! Well after our preparation day, we went over to Sister Harmon's for dinner. She wants to change, but she doesn't have any desire to do so- so it has been hard to work with her on that. We try to go to help out the kids and that situation. Anyway, it was a good meal and we talked to them more about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless our lives.

Tuesday we had a day filled with finding. That typically entails us walking around the Brooklyn Park area talking to whoever we can and trying to share the gospel. We did go visit a less active family and she wants me to go back to help her set up her DVD player and her new tablet. That night we went the the Hobbes who are a couple that are investigating in a way. Sister Hobbes loves to talk to us and throughout our discussion we talked about church principles and how they applie to every situation. It was much like talking to someone who was family, so it was great.

Thursday was the big surprising day. After we had had our studies and our weekly planning, Elder Flandro and I went out to try to street contact. When we got to the church to get our bottles refilled after some contacting, we headed to a member Brother Stausik who does our laundry for us! He is a great guy and he loves to talk, he can talk about just about anything! We got a call from the Assistants but were with him so they said to call back after we got out. When we did get out we gave them a call and they said that Elder Flandro was getting a Emergency Transferre to the White Plains Ward. The Elders down there broke some rules and so President Johnson had to do an ET. Elder Flandro wasn't happy at all about the situation, but went home and packed. I said goodbye to him and got my new companion Elder Mellen.

After some talking to Elder Mellen I got a grasp on why they got transferred and let's just say President Johnson chose me to keep a good eye on him! We have been getting along very well so it really hasn't been to bad at all. Over the last few days we have had some appointments that have gone well, but mostly just walking around talking to one another and to everyone we see.

We visited Sister Missouri because she said she had some things she wanted to talk about because her cousin who is living with her has been giving her tons of grief. We visited with her, taught her and a few others some lessons and it was great to see how she is trying to rely on the Lord to help her out with her situation.

Sunday was a pretty great day, it was Elder Mellen's first Sunday in the small Branch. It's hard to see not too many people there, but that's up to us to fill the seats. The building doesn't have pews, it's just a bunch of folding chairs so we can add more if needed! After church, Elder Mellen and I walked around Cherry Hill. It's a very bad area so we figured Sunday would be the best day to be there so we would be safe. Across the bay we could see Baltimore and we had a feeling we needed to cross the bridge, there is a small portion of area in South Baltimore that's all industrial that is technically in our branch. We had the prompting to walk to it so we did! We talked to a few people on our way, but we got to the big Under Armour building where they film all their commercials and design the new clothing line. I took my iPad out to take a photo and thought nothing of it. A security guard came around and got out of his car. For a minute we thought we couldn't take photos but it ended up he was a member of a different ward! That's why we needed to go there because he was working on a Sunday and needed the spirit! It was a win win situation!

Anyway I hope all of us can follow the spirit to help us in our everyday lives wether it be school, church, work, or athletics. If we follow the spirit we will be blessed!

Much love,

Elder Bentley!

I Can't Believe it's August!

Palomo Family

Perez Family

Brother Matsen

 

Dear Family!

Well this week has been quite an emotional week. As some of you may have already known, I got transferred out of Derwood and ended my 9 month reign in that ward. Since I was there for so long I have gotten close to tons of people and it was like leaving home again for the first time.

The three families I had to go see were the Matsens, Palomos, and the Perez families. Brother and Sister Matsen became my mother and my father in the Derwood ward, if there was anything we needed we knew we could go to them and they would help us. It started when Brother Matsen was our ward mission leader, and kept on after he got released to be put on the bishopric. The Palomo Family reminded me of my siblings, Alfonso was like an older Brother and Carmen like a sister-in-law. Every time we got to go over there it was like being with my siblings. And last but not least, the Perez family. Over the last months of my knowing them, I have come to love each member of that family. When I was able to spend time with them I was at home. Their kids were so cute and the adults were great to be around. I am so so sad to be leaving them.

Wednesday I packed my bags and went to the DC stake center for transfers. Elder Bailey received Elder Edwards and I got transferred to Brooklyn Park with Elder Flandro. So basically to wrap up my area in a strap would to say that it is southern Baltimore, the projects where a lot of no good happens. It was a total change of spectrum coming up here. There is this fence by our apartment that I've been told by the member across our street not to cross because it'll result in something dangerous. The apartment was trashed, it is an old Maryland Baltimore Mission (MBM). All of their apartments are two man, the bathtub is past repair and the AC is broken so the apartment stayed at about 85 degrees all the time. And it's not even in the Washington DC North mission.

But good news, after talking with President Johnson and the other office people we got moved to a very nice senior couple apartment that was vacant. They are also giving us a car because I convinced them it would be an asset to the area. Even though the area is dangerous, we take extra precautions, the members drive us after dark so we can stay safe. The Branch here is struggling, so that's why I think I got sent here. There are tons of crazy people here so it has been a great few days. I thought it was going to be a long transfer, but since we got moved to the new flat I don't mind staying here.

Other than the transfer, the only other thing that has happened is that President Johnson stepped his foot down at leadership meeting and this mission is now 100% white handbook mission and PMG. If it's not in that we can't do it. President Cooke was very light on the rules and changed a lot of them. I feel like it'll take some time to make this change so it doesn't feel bad. But luckily for me Elder Flandro is an old MBM missionary that moved missions with the Annapolis stake so he is already like what the change will be. He is helping me become better and we are working hard up here.

It's been sad to see the poverty here, we were teaching a lesson to a less active family that let a lot of stray children stay at during the day. There was this 9 year old who listened so intently to our message and asked for a Book of Mormon. He told me he wanted to come to church, so I asked Sister Harmon to help him get there, but his mom won't let him go. It brakes my heart to see this, there isn't anything we can do to help him. The only one who was intently listening to our message can't do anything for him self.

I do know however that the Lord has all power; that he can soften the hearts of all people. I know that as we believe that he is, that he has all wisdom and all power both here on earth and in heaven. He can do the impossible. All we are as missionaries are ordinary people called to do extraordinary things. The Lord can help those who need help as we lean on him and even on others. We all go through hard times and when the going gets rough, he is there to make the rough bearable. 

Love,

Elder Bentley

Happy Pioneer Day!

 

Fishers of Men

 

Dear Family!

Well needless to say this week has been quite the interesting last week here in the Derwood ward. Yes you heard that right, after 9 months of laboring here I will be moving on. The next question, as to where I am going. Your guess is good as my guess, I have no idea, all I know is ill find out tonight! It is such a bitter sweet because I have come to love the members here in the ward.

Wednesday we got to go to the temple for an endowment session. It was our first one with the Johnsons so that made it fun and exciting! We were pushed on time because we had appointments after but we wanted to take our time saying goodbye to the 30 missionaries who are leaving. Our appointment after the temple got cancelled so we had the chance to change out of our suits and get into lighter less hot clothes. The temperature the last few days has been high 90's and low 100's plus the humidity. So it was nice to get the suits off.

Friday I got to go to my last day at the farm. The zone leaders wanted to go on exchanges and waited till the end to do it. That meant I got to go to the farm twice this week! Both days we just spent cleaning but it was fun to double dip on my last week. Elder Mayta and I stayed in the Spanish area and helped some investigators with some things. I learned that I know a little more carpentry than I thought and that putting things together takes a lot of patience.

Saturday morning the Olney Elders invited us to their member's home for crepes! Brother Cobb had us over for a fantastic breakfast where we got to have a nice conversation with him. He had us move some things before taking us to a ward party where it was at a park. We fished a little and learned that we should stick to being fishers of men because fishers of fish didn't turn out with any luck. Brother Cobb took this time to get to know Bailey and I and by the time he drove us all back he had invited me back because he loves that I play the Piano.

Sunday was a sad day because it was my last sabbath this transfer. I've gotten to know the ward so well I can take attendance from the back of the chapel looking at the back of the heads. Most people would say I've been here too long but it was a good length of time because I grew close to most of the members and knew them all on an individual basis. I am sad I don't get to meet and greet these new members moving in and get to know them more, but that'll be Bailey's job! I got my fair share of piano playing in because when we went and visited Brother Cobb he had me just sit down and play until I felt like I didn't need to any more! 

Overall it has been a great week! I hope that Bailey can pick the work up without me and that this next transfer yields fruit!

Love,

Elder Bentley

It's crazy to think that victor is already 1! That means that in a week and a half I will hit my year mark! I have a few pages left in my journal and my calendar is almost expired. The time out here just flies and especially with this area change it'll make things go even quicker.

July 18th

Dear Family!

Well this week we have had a couple of great missionary finding moments, so that is helping our area a ton. We spent most of our finding time this week Tracting even though it's been close to 100. 

Wednesday while we were Tracting this barren town home area where you would have thought no one lived. Granted it was 2 in the afternoon the dead hours, but we were far away from home and had an appointment at 3 so we knocked doors. We knocked the door of Jose who after some conversation told us he was interested in learning more. He said that about 5 minutes before we knocked on his door he was looking at photos of the temple! Coincidence.... I think not! We will be meeting him down at the visitor center this weekend so we hope everything goes well with him!

Wednesday night we got to go out with the priest quorum for exchanges. I went with the older two boys to go and teach Shaka. When we arrived there he wasn't home, but we had the back up plan to go visit Brother Coberly. We taught him about the atonement, more for the priests to have the experience. One of the priests has his call and so it was a great opportunity for him to learn.

Thursday we got to go have our first interviews with President Johnson. They were 20 minutes interviews which were long since there are 190 missionaries in this mission. He asked about the work, the ward and about a couple of little cultural things in Maryland. He had me discuss the music rule with him and he is going to be changing this mission's music to more spirit inviting music. He is still a little timid to make changes just because he wants to be the nice guy. This mission loves and respects him so if he makes a rule, we will all follow it.

Friday while I was on exchange with Elder Wilsher we were out Tracting apartments. We knocked a few sets of buildings with no luck, but were determined to talk to some people. We knocked on the door of James who was at home watching his kid. After a 30 minute conversation we got a return appointment with him. He started off the conversation saying he wasn't ready for religion, and ended off with him contemplating the atonement and how to repent. We were able to show him the Mormon message "Reclaimed" and that really touched his heart. Thank goodness for iPads!

Friday night and Saturday Morning we were over at Lulu's home for dinner and then for service. She had Elder Bailey mow her lawn and I cleared out a patch of weeds for some of her new flowers to grow next year. It was great because after her son took us out to an all you can eat restaurant. He is less active so it was a great opportunity for us to build a relationship with him. Having been here the last 9 months it hasn't been since the last month that we have been able to talk and meet with him.

Church miracle! We were just about to start sacrament meeting when lo and behold Betsy and her family walked in! But it just wasn't her and her kids, she brought her husband! It was awesome to see Gio come to church! Baby steps with him she said so that will hopefully bring him back to church. 

Sunday President and Sister Johnson spoke at Why I Believe. They were super nervous but did a great job. You can still tell they are getting used to everything but here in a little they will be delivering powerful messages. At Why I Believe you could really see how much of a goof ball President is. 

It's been a pretty great week and the work is picking up!

Love,

Elder Bentley

Eleventh Month!

Seneca Zone Mission Tour with President Johnson

Us WIth the Chaneys

Dear Family!

This week has been super week because we had the opportunity to have a little mission tour where everyone got to meet President Johnson. He and his wife came with the assistants and introduced themselves to us. They had their kids put together a little video where they talked about their feelings of the Johnsons coming on a mission. We got a little moment with both Sister and President Johnson where they asked where we were from and about our family. They are going to rock in this mission and we are super excited because President Johnson is a funny guy.

The whole weeks scheduling has been very messed up because we planned for it last week and found out the night before that the mission tour and interviews where changing days so we had to juggle our days a bit. The plus side to that was we got to go to an all day farm shift. We got to the farm, sun screened up and started to fill ditches with old moldy hay. That took about four hours to complete, it was great because Maryland has different bugs than Utah so we say a ton of them in the moldy hay. We then trimmed trees and had a jolly old time.

The night of July 4th we got to go with the Bearman family to the National Cathedral in DC. We were allowed to stay out longer since it was the 4th, we tried to watch the DC fireworks but the could a were blocking it so we walked around the cathedral at night and it was pretty cool.

We got dropped by two of our investigators this week. Anna told us that she wasn't really interested in being a Mormon and that she was fine being a non-denominational Christian.  We also got a new investigator from the sisters who was on date and was excited to meet with us. Then the day before our appointment with her she called and told us off practically. It was sad because our investigator pool was just picking up, then halfway through the week it dropped again. We will start working on building that again. 

We got to go visit some of the less actives of the ward. We went and visited Brother Comeford, he has a mental illness but he is a very smart guy. We sat there silently on his chairs while he did some things, it was very cool because we saw him call himself to repentance so it was awesome to see that. He has been returning to church and is doing great! We saw Brother Coberly who is a crazy cat guy. His home is stuffy with the smell of cat urine and all that cat hair so our visits are pretty short. He came to church this week though so that was awesome! 

We were able to teach a Muslim man who we tracted into more about our religion. He was pretty closed off towards Christians until our conversation so that was good. He asked tons of great questions that were showing his desire to learn and to find out the truth. We probably won't be visiting him at all or anything but it was a great run into that we had with him.

Love,

Happy Independence Day!

Playing Football at the National Mall

Playing basketball with a member and some friends

Happy Fourth of July!

Well this has been quite the exciting week for Elder Bailey and I. The week started off pretty great. Monday morning some of us missionaries met at the National mall to play football. It was pretty exciting, except for the fact that it was pretty hot outside.  We had a great time playing so it was worth it. We walked up to the Good Stuff a Eatery afterwards and got some killer burgers. That was the part I was super excited for. They have these fries that they put herbs on and they are surprisingly super good!

Monday night we had a lesson with Shaka. Jacob came on exchanges with us. He is in the priest quorum and his dad really wants him to hang around good influences that'll make him want to serve a mission. Anyway, we had a great lesson with Shaka. The real miracle was at the beginning of the lesson a referral that we received from the Baltimore mission walked into the lesson. We didn't have an address for her so it was a huge miracle! The spirit was in the lesson and you could definitely tell that both of their hearts were softened. 

Tuesday at the farm we didn't have any riders show up so we got to spend the day herding horses into different pastures to eat. That was great because we got to chase after horses trying to catch them it was a lot easier to catch them after we had some caught before hand. We could walk up with the horse and it was as if they couldn't see us which was super strange. 

Our investigator Jacklyn we were able to visit twice this week. The first visit was to see when we could visit her again within the week. We taught her quickly a little review lesson on the Plan of Salvation because it was apparent that she had forgotten the little bit that we had taught her. Our actual appointment with her we talked about prayer and the importance of finding for our selves the truthfulness of our message. She is a bit sarcastic so it's really tons of fun to teach her.

Thursday morning we had the privilege to go and help President and Sister Cooke finish moving things around the mission home for the new Mission President. It was a simple little thing that we got to go do but it was treasured because we were the last ordinary missionaries in person to say goodbye to them. President Cooke out his arm around me and said goodbye which was really sad. He has been a great leader for this mission. We will miss him tons.

Saturday we got to spend time playing basketball with members and their friends. They had a tournament for the whole thing and Bailey and I won the whole tournament. The member thought we were joking when we said we would win. We found out that the new mission President President Johnson wanted to come out on exchanges with us. It was his second day and he was already coming out us. We were the first missionaries that he went on an exchange with so that was awesome. He is still a little washy on the rules, but he was asking questions and I was helping him answer the questions about rules he had.

This mission even though we have had a change of leadership is still directed by the Lord. I know that President Johnson has been called by God to serve and direct the missionaries in this area at this time. He is everything that this mission needs, funny, hard working, and most importantly very spiritual. We will miss President Cooke, but President Johnson will take this mission further than we think we can go. He will push our limits, help us become better disciples of Christ, and better men and women for this rising generation.

Love,

Elder Bentley 

Last week of June

Us at Lulu's

The Sock Game

Dear Family!

Well this week has been quite the different week for Elder Bailey and I, the week flew by time wise, but we weren't able to really have too many lessons so the days felt like they were dragging on. 

Tuesday was a pretty interesting day. We had our typical district meetings, but I got another district that sat in because their DL was at a training meeting. There were like 7 companionships in the meeting so that was pretty enjoyable because we had participation from tons of people. It started to pour down water through out the meeting but farm was still on. As we were at the farm we were weeding between rain storms and helping with the Riding. Cool thing that happened, McKenna Erasmus is in this mission. She used to live in our ward like 10 years ago.

Wednesday we got to go help a member mow her lawn. She is getting old so she had a riding lawn mower. Of course I offered to use that because it was just an enjoyable two hours of service. She is the member that orders us pizza every other Saturday. We got to go visit Harold today, hurrah.... He got mad at us last week and we had no idea why. But we called him to see if we could visit this week and he got mad at me for making eye contact with him and looking away last week or something. Just causing contention and what not. We got to go visit the Cabanban family that night and set up an appointment to go play basketball with Brother Cabanban and some of his friends, but that fell through. 

Thursday was my birthday! We had our last interview with President and Sister Cooke. They made everyone sing to me so that was exciting. He forgot until we were about to leave and I thought it would have been funny if we had left because he was running through the church looking for me. We went to Betsy's afterwards and they fed us lunch and her kids were excited because we were having our birthdays. Other than that not much happened. We did a lot of contacting and planning for the rest of the day.

Saturday we spent the entire day doing service. We helped out Lulu mow her lawn and take care of the sticks and branches in her yard. We put all the wood in a pile and she gave us this sweet saw to cut the branches into small pieces and so we had a great time with that. While Bailey mowed, I power washed the deck and the Patio for her. We took care of the Matsen's chicken because they were both out town for the weekend. That was quite enjoyable. To finish the night we helped a new family move into the ward. They have a few kids so that meant tons of stuff to move. Luckily tons of helped showed up so we got it done surprisingly very quick.

Sunday we had our first and only appointment with any investigator for the week. Jacklyn was a referral from the sisters who was interested in the church and the joy our message brings. Our visit was short but sweet and to the point. 

Spiritual thought, when we take the sacrament we are taking the name of Christ upon ourselves. Think about having a little Christ statue pinned to our shirts, would we act the same way we would without it? Would we treat others differently? When we take the sacrament we take his name upon us. We are all representatives of him, we need to live his example.

Love,