Bay-Bay Tobes!!

October 13, 2014

Dearest Family,

So I guess you have heard from other sources already, but yes, Sister Tobler and I are staying together thank goodness! Seriously I was really pretty nervous about it but finally just had to say, if we are meant to be together another transfer then we will be. Apparently we are! When we told some of the other missionaries in Warsaw, they were like what... no way, that never happens with Sisters. Since there are so few sisters in the mission I guess it is very rare to stay together in the same area with the same person twice. Thus Sister Tobler and I are very grateful for another opportunity to serve together. It also leaves me with a very high chance of running the area next transfer, so I also feel an immense amount of pressure to know everyone and everything. Another great way to push myself!

This week has had some really interesting moments. I absolutely loved General Conference last weekend and it really put a new spring into my step. It is really interesting to watch Conference from a missionaries perspective and be a part of the work they are talking about. We have gone to a lot of different meetings this week and had the privilege of having Elder and Sister Adler our area seventy come and speak to us on Saturday and then they spoke in our branch on Sunday. Basically our week was sandwiched by two fantastic conferences. They talked about some really cool things. Some of my favorite things he talked about was converting yourself every day, being committed to learn the language (because the spirit can only do so much in preparing someone for making covenants), and never forgetting the people you teach and baptize because they will remember you always and you will be their savior for years to come. It is amazing to have a general authority come in and just tell you some exact things that will bless your life.

Also crazy thing. We were sitting in church yesterday and I saw this girl sitting a few rows up with a friend that I didn't know. I knew that we had a potential investigator that was supposed to come that week so I assumed it was her until I discovered they were from America. Thus the entire meeting I was like, who and the heck are they. So after the meeting I saw my comp up talking to them and I went and joined in the conversation. I sat down in front of them and turned around and was like, Hey I am Sister Benson! One of the girls smiled and was like... Hey I am Lindsey. I sat there for like a minute just chatting with her and my comp and then it hit me. It was Lindsey Sterling. Ummm wow, I felt kinda dumb. We knew for weeks that she was coming to Warsaw for a concert and we had even just watched her Mormon channel video in English class this week. Needless to say, it spread through the congregation like wildfire after that and she got swarmed. Elders were pulling out cameras and getting selfies with her and all of the American teens were having geek fan club moments and someone even cried. All of the English class investigators got to meet her too. It was pretty funny to watch. Especially since none of the Polish people, mission president, or Elder Adler (who had just spoken) knew really who she was, but all of the Americans and missionaries sure did haha. I should have gotten a picture for you dad... I know your a fan!

I feel extremely blessed to get to share her last transfer with my beautiful comp Sister Tobler. Not a day goes by that we are not rolling around on the ground laughing at some point. We have set some pretty tremendous goals for this coming transfer. I want to make sure to send her out the door feeling pretty exhausted and good about the work that she has accomplished on her mission. I really don't know how exactly we are going to do some of the crazy things we have planned, but I know that the Lord is going to help us a lot. The hand of the Lord was in General Conference this last session, He is always in the missionary work, and He is constantly trying to direct our lives. It has been amazing to see the testimony I had before growing so much. It brings me so much peace to know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and a brother Jesus Christ who has provided a way for us to be free from guilt, sin, and sorrow. It makes me so frustrated when I forget about that simple, but oh so important knowledge that God is always in our lives, because not a single moment goes by that He forgets about us. That is pretty incredible. I am really starting to appreciate this mission even more. While I am out here it feels like I have gone forever without talking with Drew, or laughed with mom, or played soccer with dad, but truly missions are such a small fragment of time in eternity. That is why you have to live in the moment and make them count. That is also why the gospel is so important, because the rest of eternity is based off of the decisions you make in this short time on earth. An eternal perspective is a huge key to happiness and peace now and forever.

Sister Benson