Last Week for Pres. & Sister Tavares

No letter to Mom this week! She feel asleep and did not get a letter off to him. But Dad did thank goodness!

Dad,

ya it’ll be weird when the new mission pres. shows up but it’ll be an exciting time, I’m pretty sure it’ll be an adjustment though. we didn’t get to watch the broadcast either, were gonna watch it this Sunday though, im pretty excited to see it though, should be awesome!!! Baptize brayden while he’s in Clovis haha but seriously.

    last week for Pres. Tavares, should be crazy with the new transitions in his life hell make. he wont have to worry about 190 young people across two states so his life should be a lot less stressed out haha!

   we baptized this miracle girl this week! we found her on thursday, taught her on friday and baptized her friday night, met, taught and baptized her in less then 24 hours! she was confirmed on sunday also!!! it was super awesome! the Lord has blessed us so much!

  winter is getting rough here in apuca, nobody wants to get up for church on sunday mornings and walk in the cold rain, not even half the members. so imagine how hard it is to get people to come with us. the Lord blesses us with miracles though!

   this week an elder that is from my branch here, that was serving in the sao paulo north mission returned home because of back problems, but he was one of my best freinds from the ctm! he has two brothers and his dad and grandma that arent baptized, we plan on baptizing all of them this week! this has to be! an elder that i knew in the ctm returns home from his mission and nobody in his family is baptized and he returns home when im serving in the area where he lives, the Lord has already prepared it!!! love you dad! say hi to everyone up in mesquite!

   - Elder Bennett

COURAGE

Mom,
they celebrate fathers day a different day here though so looks like dad get two fathers days from me, which is still not enough from what he deserves. :D
thats awesome to hear that mason has already returned, i heard college is a lot of work so i decided im not gonna do it.haha
we had a huge miracle happen this week with us! theres this young man named fernando who is 16 and already been to church about 3 times but his mom never let him be baptized. he was taught about 9 months ago by some other elders and they took him to church 2 times but the mom is super difficult and she would never listen to what they say nor let him be baptized. we took him to church last sunday and talked to him about baptism and he said hed like to but he was scared of him mom. we asked him if he was still drinking coffee and he said that he had stopped 9 months ago when the other elders taught him the word of wisdom, even though his mom didnt let him get baptized he stopped drinking coffee and was keeping all the commandments, thats a strong young pup right there. so everyday in the week elder denna and i passed by the house to teach him but he was never there cause he also works all day to take care of the family and studies at night, his mom doesnt have a job and never gets off the couch, so wed always try to talk to the mom and shed never come to the door or talk to us. one time we caught her in the front and were able to talk to her for about 5 minutes, we were talking about nothing, just small talk trying to get to know her, and then when we started asking about fernando she started yelling at one of here kids cause he brought the ball in the house,and she left the room and we called her to come back and she never answered us or came back. she knew what was happening. so on friday, with the week almost over elder denna and i were sitting in the house and talking about how we could get this signature to baptize this kid! and out of nowhere elder denna gets crazy and starts gettin me all excited about how were just gonna go their and put the baptismal form in front of her and beg her to sign it, just beg, beg, beg! now were both going crazy, super excited to get stuff done, we say and a prayer then we leave with confidence to where fernando lives. theres fire in our eyes mom, weez be crazy in this moment, i walked by this full grown man in the street bout 6'4' 260 lbs. and he started crying in the middle of the street just from the sight of us. we show up on the street where he lives and start talking with his friend whose a member whose name is gabriel whose street name is "Bat" hes a little guy, but you dont get a street name like Bat without gettin stuff done. so were talking to him about fernandos mom and how he thinks we could get the signature and he said you cant his mom is an angry person. while were talking he points to this little bridge thing that crosses over some train tracks and says thats fernandos dad right there. (fernandos parents are divorced and his dad lives in a city called Jandaia, he visits 1 time every 1-2 months). we took off running for his dad, because if the mom isnt nice, maybe the dad seperated from here cause hes cool and shes not. we make it to him out of breath and begin to talk him, hes an awesome guy with a humble heart. approves the baptism!!! We still faced challenges though because fernandos mom is absolutely against his baptism and knows were wanting to baptize him so shes got him on lockdown in the house and also is a controlling mother so she told him if he ever gets baptized in that church shell kick out on the street. friday we werent able to get him. so on saturday night we went to gabriels house and told him were baptizing fernando tonight! it was about 6 30 at night. and gabriel who also is scared of his mom was like, forget about it, shes crazy man she told him if he gets baptized shell kick him onto the streets! we were like if he doesnt get baptized he cant enter into the kingdom of God! id rather live on the street in my mortal life then be doomed to an eternal hell! he went with us to his house and we waited outside on some bricks behind some truck and gabriel went in there to get him, they both came out!!! i dont know how gabriel got him out of the house but like i said you dont get the nickname "Bat" gettin nothin done! so we were talkin to fernando and he was like ill go to do the interview but im not gonna be baptized. we all walked to the church together showed up with him to the interview and when we showed up he said im not gonna be baptized man, my mom is very controlling! he walked out of the interview and said, im gonna be baptized right now!!!!!!! the Holy Ghost does miracles! talking to Elder Bandeira, who is my district leader and did the interview for him to be baptized, Elder Bandeira said that in the interview he invited fernando to be baptized but he said he couldnt be baptized and that he said his mom told him shed kick him out of the house and also kill him, but fernando sat there thinking to himself for a while, and then said, " ill be baptized." Elder Bandeira said that in this moment he started crying because of how much courage that the young man showed in that moment. when Elder Bandeira cries, its for a good reason. when fernando was getting changed for the baptism, he said, " looks like ill be living in Jandaia with my dad here in a little bit" what courage! what strength! can you believe this, a 16 year old going against his mom for what he knows to be true! Jesus said that any one who loves there father or mother more then Him is not worthy then. this is a valiant and worthy young man! during the baptism i couldnt help but think of a modern day waters of mormon. how alma used to teach that little group of believers near the waters of mormon and they were all taught and baptized there without there friends, relatives knowing because king noah was gonna kill whoever was a believer. here we have two young man doing the same thing, one watching out for the other, and following Christ in secret because king noah (the mom) would kill them.
yeah so while you all were in bakersfield having a blast i was sitting on some bricks hidden behind a truck in brazil trying to baptize someone haha.
im very grateful the Lord put the father in our path though, it was a perfect answer to our prayers.
i dont care where dakota gets called, he better baptize people there or he is no cousin of mine! i think hell get called to somewhere in europe.
ya ill be watching the training for the new mission presidents also on sunday :D
im super excited for the new mission president coming and im gonna miss pres. and sis. tavares. i just hope that this new mission pres. wants baptisms alot otherwise ill be forced to do the worst thing ever. mutiny.
LOVE YOU ALL
- Elder Bennett
that picture is me and e. bailey hes from rocklin, do linds and jared know his family.

Dad, hey we get to watch that training session next week also with the new presidents, were all pretty excited also haha.
Crazy to think that mason already got home, i hope he marries soon!
were all working really hard in the zone here, our zone is moving up slowly but surely were getting there. why are the bennetts having there reunion in nevada?
i hope this new mission president means business and wants baptisms. i love you dad, have fun in nevada with the family
- Elder Bennett

 

THE WAR HAS ALREADY BEEN WON!

Mom,

mason gets home on saturday! man how time flies huh!!!

 nick nelson already got home!!!!

  ya it was the last one with pres. tavares! hes awesome! he leaves in 3 weeks...

   youre gonna get surgery again?! what is that 2 surgeries since i left? hope all goes well!

i dont know but maybe ill stay here til the end, we´ll see what happens here in a couple of weeks!

      this weekend was really rough, the zone had 7 people to baptize and everything fell on saturday and sunday. the zone only ended up baptizing 2 people this week. thats so terrible. the opposition was rediculous here! i felt like i was literally in a spiritual war this weekend but i am very proud of how the zone responded. i was able to see very strong testimonies shared with people to baptize them but in the end people have there free agency and act for themselves. as much as we try people choose iniquity this week. we still won though, i hope satan knows that, were in a war thats already been won because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

   dont have much time but love you all! im loving life but i think that life is loving me more! she treats me so well! :D

        some of the elders in our zone had a baptism that they marked for 4 oclock on sunday. they had nobody go except for the guy that got baptized and his grandma and niece. there wasnt even enough priesthood holders to be witnesses there. elder denna and i had to walk across the city to go watch the baptize to have 2 witnesses. thats incredible! not one member went to the baptism!!! that mom, is why apucarana is the oldest district in brazil. its been a district here for over 40 years and still hasnt become a stake. that is why, eu estou nem aí!  love you mom!

              - ELder Bennett

 

 

Dad,

   no its just a little conference thing with pres. tavares and sis. tavares. its really cool cause you get to see everyone. i love the mission so much! lifes good and cant get any better! hope that everythings goin all good there also! baby dakota till he gets on the mission dad, love ya ton, thanks for everything!

   love Elder Bennett

Baptism=Courage

sorry mom but i still dont have an address..

 so you choked huh? haha never gonna eat alone again o stop mom everyone eats alone.

   hey so the big story this week is that we had this 14 year old young man that has been attending church but was afraid to  get baptized. me and elder denna were trying to get this young man out of his house a long time, for about a week but he knew the minute that he leaves with us were going to invite him  into  the baptismal font. reason that he didn’t want to be baptized is because he had an abusive uncle that was beating him for just going to church and so he was really scared to think what he’d do to him if he got baptized in the church.  Anyways the uncle hit the mom which is the young man’s grandma. So the grandma kicked him out of the house. yay the uncle doesn’t live there anymore! but the young man was super scared to get baptized because the uncle still passes by there and he said if he gets baptized and the uncle finds out then he’ll start drama with everyone there. Also the young man’s mom struggles, she suffers from depression because her first husband, the young man’s dad, got shot and died a long time ago. She married again, and the second husband was murdered in the street also so she is sad from all that and super depressed. Anyways we asked permission from the branch pres. and pres. Tavares if when we get the opportunity can we just baptize this young man at any moment with just us? We explained the situation and they allowed us to. so on Thursday elder Denna and I decided wed baptize him Friday,  then on the way to his house we was like, this uncle is crazy, why would we let the devil have one more day to work on him and ruin this baptism, lets baptize him today. We invited him to go to the church to play basketball with us. on the way there i called my home boys, other elders, and we all shot some hoops de boa with him and then we were like hey let’s do an interview right now to see if God thinks you’re ready to be baptized. He agreed, and when he got out of the interview and with all the missionaries there we were like, hey what about just getting baptized right now! That’s a great idea, he  was baptized 10 minutes after! i love my life! on the way home from his baptism we asked him, what will you do when you’re uncle finds out you got baptized, he said, and this touches my heart every time, " take care of your own life!" baptism changes lives!!! Baptism gives courage to people to be true disciples of Jesus Christ! Baptisms is what Jesus wants that’s why He changed the ages for missionaries, He wants Baptisms now! Who am i to deny Jesus?

    _Elder Bennett

 

thanks dad, im doing awesome, we baptized again and already have 1 for this sunday, we are being very blessed!

  dont have much time sorry cause were gonna go to londrina for the leaders conference thing, it steals my pday traveling but its an awesome conference! love you dad thanks for the support!

           - Elder Bennett