Email from June 1

Hello everybody :)

I can't believe it's already June!! That means that it's summer now there and in just a few more months your Favorite Sister Benesch will be coming home! But I'm not counting ;) ha Actually this week was really good. I got to go to my first MLC (mission leadership council) and it was actually way fun! The workshops on leadership were so good, but actually most of the day was just about us as missionaries. How we can really be excited about the work and do our best. It was a good day to just think about all I've been able to do while I've been here and set goals for what I want to be able to do with the time I have left. And then the food was great for lunch so that just made everything ;) ha But it really was great to be able to see that side of the mission and just how much work so many people put into this for all these investigators and less-actives and they just don't even know it...Heavenly Father spends a lot of time trying to show us what to do in life and sometimes we just don't even notice.

And then on Saturday we had mission tour with Elder Craig C. Christensen and it was so fun! I really like him, his talk was great and then with Elder Ardern there too it was so motivating to keep doing our best in this work. They talked a lot about obedience and diligence and how we just don't have time anymore to do anything that may divert the work of the Lord. It was so great! I felt real pumped that day to keep going hard even though it's So hot :) ha Luckily it's getting closer to rainy season!! I think my very favorite part of mission tour though was when Elder Christensen was bearing his testimony about President Monson. At one point he was saying that he wished we could see the man he is behind the pulpit, and then he said "he is a minister." It was such a simple phrase but really touched my heart. I truly know that President Monson has been called of God and he is our greatest example on earth for us right now. He is such a great example of service and loving others and sharing the gospel. I really love him so much! So that was really powerful, and then it was also fun to be with the whole mission and see so many of my friends!! I didn't realize how much I missed them till I saw them, so we took lots of pictures and had so much fun..but sadly I forgot my camera. So maybe next week I can send some :)

Also a great story from this week...I don't remember if I told you a couple weeks ago about the elders taking 45 minutes to guess my first name and I owed them ice cream, but now they just say it all the time randomly to like catch me off guard, and it's so weird!! ha

So besides all that, the work is going pretty good. Honestly right now is a little hard with very little progress with our investigators and less actives, and I just don't really know what else to do..but we're going to keep trying with tracting and finding activities.

Sorry this email is so short, I just can't really think of stories from this week!! But I love you all so much, I couldn't be here without you!! Happy Summer :)

Love,

Sister Benesch