I am a Child of God

Hello Family!

Well it's SO crazy, but another week has gone by!!! This week so much happened, I don't even know where to start! I'm so sad I can't tell you everything, it'd be too hard, but a few stories stand out :) AND I had a very eventful night on Tuesday, but I wrote you a letter about it so I'll let you wait it out for those stories ;) But on Saturday we got to go to a baptism, the other sister in our area had 2, and even though they weren't our investigators it was an amazing experience. To watch people of all ages be baptized, a little boy, a new mom about 30, and a blind old man...to watch them all go completely under the water and come out clean was an experience I'll never forget. It's special to watch our little cousins get baptized, but this experience helped me see just how important baptism is. It's the first step we make into entering God's kingdom, and it is such a sacred thing! The covenants we make are incredible and we need to keep those everyday to show our love to Heavenly Father. It was a great experience.

The other experience that I think will be one of the single most humbling experiences I'll have, happened yesterday. We went to the home of a less-active mother named Vinos. Her husband is no longer in the picture and she has a 12 year old girl and 7 year old boy with special needs. This house was so dark, and dirty, and hot, and really I just wanted to cry looking at it. The kids running around had no clothes most the time, or the ones they did have were partial and just rags. When I first met the little boy I thought he was only 3 because of how skinny he was...his legs are smaller than my wrists! I saw no food anywhere, the "kitchen" they had outside was just black from cooking with a fire, and there was no fridge. But then we started the lesson by singing 'I am a Child of God'...then I REALLY wanted to burst into tears. I could literally see the spirit filling that dark room, it felt almost like a dungeon, and I knew how much God loved this family. They had basically nothing yet were so kind to me and seemed to be positive and optimistic. I will never forget them and that experience...I have SO much at home and take it all for granted. God truly has blessed us so much, it's incredible!

Teaching these families who have so little, yet are so kind to us give me such a great desire to learn Tagalog! I want to be able to really talk with them and understand what they're going through so I can help them see how much the Gospel blesses us. I can see how much this mission will change me, but it'll be an incredible experience. Last night we had dinner at a members, and I learned how to make Puto! They're really yummy rice cakes with cheese (one thing I've learned is that Filipinos LOVE mixing sweet breads and sugar with cheese! ha) It sounds weird, but it's actually good! So I'm starting to write down recipes of things I eat that are yummy to bring home so we can have a big Filipino feast!! I've eaten Tuyo, dried fish!!! which I'll send a picture, because it looked HORRID..ha But actually is good :) You eat Everything, and it's just crunchy! Also quail (is that the right spelling??) eggs and they're good! Speaking of food...I found out I drink about a gallon of water a day!! ha Crazy. OH and I've definitely lost weight. I'm wearing the skirt that Grammy made me right now and it's practically falling off! It's ok to wear, but maybe not for too long...ha SO that's pretty cool!! But I'm doing great, and I love everything here!! Even though there are some hard things, I know that in 16 months I get to come home to the BEST family and friends ever, and I'll be so blessed for serving here. I love you all, thank you for the support!

Awhile ago Colton told me about how much he loves the first 30 chapters or so of Alma, and honestly I wondered why because I thought Alma was boring..ha BUT I've really started reading the Book of Mormon and searching for those good things in each verse...and that is now my Favorite section of the whole book! Read somewhere between Alma 17-22...the faith of the people is incredible. There truly is a God who loves us SO much, and wants us to be happy. I'm so lucky to be teaching this gospel :)

Love you so much!!

Sister Benesch

P.S. Alright...well the Tuyo is that dried fish I have attractively hanging out of my mouth :) ha It doesn't taste too bad but it is pretty salty!!

Then our red tongues...ha Sister Mabini asked me one night if I wanted apple juice, so of course I said yes and was So excited!! Ha THEN turns out, their apple juice here is just powdered, like kool-aid! That's exactly what it tasted like. ha So yes one thing I'm excited for when I get home is real apple juice :) along with a lot of other foods

...and THEN the cow thing. ha This was on the way to Brother Teng's, and even though I look ok here, I was like screaming trying to get past it because it kept walking at me really fast! But you can't tell, but where the camera was is rice fields, so really there isn't much land to run on! hahaha If you could have seen me you'd laugh so hard :) It's so fun being here!!