June 2013 God, is a God of Miracles!!

3 June 2013

 

Well winter is definitely here in Melbourne but I sort of like the cold weather as a missionary. The cold is much better then the hot weather in a shirt and tie.  It rained so much over the weekend, it was nice listening to the crazy thunder as I was laying under my electric blanket in bed.

 

Well it has actually been one amazing week!  Because it is the 'Temple month' this month it means we don't have to travel to interviews or zone conferences or anything which means that we get to spend 4 or 5 days in our area each week, what a blessing!  The exchanges we go on when we are outside our area with the zone leaders are always so much fun too, so its just a win-win month.

 

 

We taught a lot of lessons this week, and lots of them were with inspired fellowship.  We went out on our fist 'splits night' during the week which went really well. Six missionaries in the ward meant that we needed six members to come out each week which allows us to visit up to 12 less active/  recent converts or just general members from the MLS list each week, what a blessing.  I had the opportunity to go out with Bishop Lavaka, he's a good hard working man!

 

 

Uri was baptised by her husband

Everything seems to be falling into place which is really nice. We found some great part-member families and investigators while on the other side of the teaching pool, we finished the week with a baptism.  Uringavai  was baptised by her husband on Saturday at 11am. The spirit was very strong during the service.

 

 

We actually had two confirmations on Sunday. Uri was confirmed, but Seliyan was also confirmed. Seliyan was a man we baptised back in April but it was the week of General Conference so there was no sacrament meeting following his baptism, which meant he has to wait a week to receive the Holy Ghost. During that week of waiting, his stomach decided to be silly and he had to end up having surgery on his stomach which left him bed ridden. Long story short after some crazy drama he was finally able to be confirmed a member of the church which was a huge relief!

 

Our companionship goal is to baptise five people in June, we're on track with another set for this weekend.  There is a Sri Lankan man being baptised this weekend named Damian.  He has been coming to church for some time now so all should go well.  He has kept the 'word of wisdom' for a week now so we are just praying that he won't relapse during this coming week.

 

Know that I am loving life here in Melbourne!

 

Elder Bennallack

 

10 June 2013

This week has been awesome for me, we were able to teach lots and lots of lessons which is always good. We have made some great progress with the ward council and also with the Tamil community at church.  We now have translation material for the Tamils on Sunday, but just need to fix one little thing with it before we can use it.

 

We had some new missionaries come in mid transfer so we greeted them and made them feel welcome.  We also had all the new missionaries back for a follow up meeting that went really well!

 

My companion and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday which was a great opportunity.  We were both given the topic of a conference talk by Elder Hawk entitled ‘Come Unto Me oh ye House of Israel.’ It really angled it towards missionary work as you would as a missionary. It was a great opportunity though. I felt like I spoke more naturally compared to previous talks form the pulpit.

 

 

This morning we pulled all the zone leaders in for a meeting at 10:30am. The purpose of the surprise meeting was to discuss the past few weeks.  As a mission we have an opportunity to look at ourselves and ask how can we better help our brothers? We can also ask ourselves what we can do to become a more consecrated missionary.

 

We have a few exchanges on the agenda this week, we will also have to start looking at transfers as they are next week.

 

 This morning I was studying the dedicatory prayers of Solomon’s Temple alongside the dedicatory prayer of the Kirkland Temple.  What beautiful prayers offered!  As I was reading through D&C 9, I was caught in thought at how so many of the things prayed for have, and are being fulfilled. The gospel is truly filling the whole earth, what a miracle. I’m really looking forward to going to the temple later this month; it will be a choice experience.

 

Again thank you for your constant support.

Elder Bennallack

17 June 2013

It has been another great week over here in Melbourne. It’s truly getting cold over here but I love it. I do need a light rain jacket though, so I'll be off to the opp shops today. Opp shops are missionaries favourite stores. I love shopping at them! You can go pick up a suit for $10 dollars, then spend $50 dollars at the tailors and for $60 dollars or less you have a tailored suit looking amazing…. Just one of those missionary tricks. I bought a new suit the other day when I found my blue one. I got it for $79 though, so that’s a buy and a half.

 

We really have been able to make some progress in our area this week. We have a baptism coming up this weekend of a 9 year old boy named Iotia. (Pronounced Yo-tia). We have been able to bring back the whole family which is a blessing. Real growth.

 

The highlight for us in our area this week was a miracle that happened yesterday. As I have mentioned previously we have been going through the endless ward list really focusing on real growth.  We have been working with this lady named Julia over the past weeks.  She was baptized a few years ago and has 5 children.  Two of her children haven’t been baptized.  We have been working with her to come back to church but there are a few awkward circumstances at church which had been holding her back from coming ,but after a spiritual lesson on Saturday night she decided to forget others and focus on her relationship with her Heavenly Father.  She came to church for the first time yesterday and absolutely loved it.  The ward did a great job with making her feel welcomed.  As a result of this, we will be hopeful of teaching her un-baptised children.

 

My stomach is getting a work over in this area! We had a triple Polynesian feed on Friday night which made me feel so sick followed by 5 huge Polynesian feeds on Saturday.  I put on 2kg within 24 hours.  We have to be so gracious to everyone though and although you don’t want to eat, we still really appreciate the sacrifice these people go through to cook for us.  We don’t set ourselves up for this, it's just every set appointment we have with any Polynesian, there is always food associated, they are too kind. 

 

 

Well transfers are all sorted and we are ready go for tomorrow.  We actually have the whole mission driving in to transfer meeting with the exception of Tasmania.  It will be a little bit of a farewell for the Lifferth's.  We have organised for the mission to be seated early so when the Lifferth's come in the whole mission can stand and sing 'Called to Serve'. They have mentioned in passing comments that this happened when they first entered the mission and the power that was behind that song.  It will be a great way to end their service by re-singing 'Called to Serve' with double the mission force.

 

We also have a slide show put together for them. I have organised a really nice camera and tripod to take a mission photo together and there will be a farewell Hakka performed for them.  The Hakka is always so powerful and a great tradition we have in our mission every transfer as we say farewell to departing missionaries. This one is going to be extra big though because a lot of us palangies (white people) are taking time to learn it too. (I’m learning it today). We will miss them!

 

Well it’s going to be an exciting week. We have 'goldens' coming in on Wednesday alongside with Elder Watson which will be good. And then in early August Elder Pearson will be visiting again.

Elder Bennallack

 

24 June 2013

Well it has been one amazing week with mixed emotions. Tuesdays transfer meeting went perfectly. We had all of the missionaries minus Tasmania and some senior couples in for the meeting.  We had a small meeting before transfers for those who would be training.  After the meeting we stalled President and Sister Lifferth with a few transfer questions so by the time we made our way into the chapel everyone was on their feet waiting.  As they entered everyone started to sing 'Called to Serve' with such power.  We were standing next to President on the stand and he was weeping, it meant a lot to him.  I conducted the big meeting and everything ran flawless. After the transfers were made, we watched a slide show which had a farewell theme with great memories and we also presented a scrap book to them full of short messages from all the missionaries on how President and Sister Lifferth have changed their life forever.   It was done really well.  The meeting concluded with President and Sister Lifferth's closing remarks and testimonies with a closing hymn ‘God be with you till we meet again’.

 

Following the transfer meeting to Presidents surprise I organised a mission photo on the stage which looks fantastic, I’ve included the picture into this email. Then we had 50+ missionaries all perform the Hakka to President and Sister Lifferth. It was the biggest and most impressive one I have ever seen, they loved it.  We had it recorded on a HD camera and I have a copy, I’ll have to show you when I get home. 

  

Australia Melbourne Missionaries
Elder Bennallack centre front, & Sister Foster second row, 8th from the left!

I’ve been out to the airport three times this past week picking up new missionaries. On Wednesday we were down there with President to pick up 13, we picked another up on Thursday who missed his plane and another on Sunday who was delayed due to his visa. We're grateful to have them all in the mission though, they are a great group of missionaries.

 

Wednesday night I ate dinner with Elder F. Michael Watson who was down to set apart a Stake President as a General Authority. He is a good man.  He and his wife are good friends with Uncle Paul. The Bennallack name truly has a great reputation, what a blessing. They finish their service here in the Pacific next week.

 

We have been blessed so much in our own area this week. We actually were only there for two days but still managed to have 9 at church yesterday, such blessings. Iotia was baptised on Saturday. I’m grateful we have been able to be a part of the re-activation of this amazing family. The whole family was over the moon.

 

I was reading a report of the missions in the pacific area just this morning with President Lifferth. He is very happy with the progress we have made of late. A few interesting statistics follow:

We have had the biggest growth in missionaries out of all the missions within Australia. Our mission has gone from 142 to over 150 in the five months. The Melbourne mission has baptised as of the end of May 204 people, right behind Brisbane at 237. Adelaide and Perth are not doing quite as well.

The biggest statistic that we're really excited about though is one that shows that within the past 12 months each missionary within our mission is baptising on average 0.6 more people than previously. We are the only mission in Australia that has an increase in this area with each other mission down -0.7 – 0.9.  We are being blessed in this mission!

 

But we still have a long way to go though. We have a very young mission at the moment which is naturally resulting in a lack of skill.  We have been discussing options with President and we have decided to change our role as Assistants.  We are now going to be ‘traveling Assistants’.  Although we are having much success in Dandenong we believe most missionaries can have similar success in this area as it is very multi-cultural.  We feel like our time could be better spent.  As of this week we are only going to spend Thursday night, and Sunday for church in our area.  The rest of the time we are going to be driving around the mission trialing our new 4 hour exchanges. 

 

When I was down in Tasmania last time we averaged 4 hour exchanges with the companionships and we felt it was the best use of our time. I feel that the same benefits can be achieved within 4 hours compared to our standard 12 hour exchanges we have going at the moment.  In 4 hours you can have 20 minutes to go over the plans for the day, 20 minutes to teach skill out of 'PMG' that you would like to focus on throughout the exchange, 20 minutes for a review at the end of the exchange, 20 minutes to go tracting, 20 minutes to go Gq’ing, travel time plus 2 hours for a few lessons.  Everything can be achieved in the space of 4 hours.

 

The benefits are that you can go into an exchange with greater urgency; greater faith is required to find someone in 20 minutes etc.  You also eliminate the 5 hours of tracting that is often what is resorted to.  By doing 4 hour exchanges we hope to exchange with three people per day.  We are really going to try and develop some basic skills that we feel have been lost a little like setting dates on a first lesson etc., We are excited.  We are going to have to live out of our car a little but it will keep us extremely busy. Now is the time to sprint!

 

Well tonight we have been invited to President's for dinner where we are going to watch the Missionary Broadcast together. There are some great changes coming which we are so excited about such as: Every missionary receiving an Ipad, the chapel being open 24 hours of the day for chapel tours etc.

Well, know that all is well on my end.  I really am loving life at the moment.  When I reflect the past six months, the one word that would describe it is 'Leadership'. I am so grateful to have been able to learn from amazing leaders during he past 6 months, what a blessing.  I’m all about maximizing my seconds and minutes at the moment. Delegation is key. The work is moving forward. We are looking forward to 25-30 baptisms in our mission this coming weekend. God, is a God of Miracles - that I know!

Elder Bennallack

May 2013 The work is moving forward

6 May 2013

Companions Elder Bellon & Elder Bennallack
 

Well it has been another great week in Dandenong. The work is moving forward. Yesterday another Sri Lankan recent convert received the priesthood.  It is so good to see them all in white shirts and tie, I'm so proud of them. Unfortunately we won’t be baptising this coming weekend like we were hoping but its ok, we should be having a big week on the 25^th.

 

This past week we have been making a big effort to get to know more of the members in our ward.  Our ward is so huge it’s crazy. The sacrament isn’t even finished until quarter to.

 

One day this week I had a big breakfast in the morning after a workout, them at our first appointment of the day I’m fed this massive Sri Lankan feed, then we had a big late lunch which was a huge mistake, because that was followed by Cook Island investigators cooking us a big feed at our appointment followed by another huge Samoan feed at night for dinner. Way too much food! I threw it all up!

On a related topic, Sri Lankans eat the spiciest food, they eat straight chilli! I love spicy food though so it’s ok, but over the last few weeks I have built such a tolerance to spice. I can down chilli like nothing else these days. I am also a pro at eating my food with my right hand on the floor too.

 

Yesterday at church there was over 20 Sir Lankan investigators alone, it’s so exciting. (Our teaching pool is only half Sri Lankan). I feel like we’re really making an impact in this area which is such a good feeling, what a pleasure.

 

Well our mission continues to grow, forget the cap of 250, in a few months we are going to have 270 missionaries! We have another 40 coming in a few weeks.

 

We have Zone Conferences every day this week across the mission which is going to be great fun! We have prepared training on 'the importance of planning' so we’ll see how it goes.

Well it’s going to be great to talk to everyone next Sunday on Mother’s day.

Elder Bennallack

 

 

13 May 2013

It was really good to speak to you all yesterday; we truly do have an amazing family!

Well last night was such a miracle night; we were able to teach so many beneficial lessons!  We have in our sights the next Tamil’s were going to baptise. We meet so many Tamils that are really nice up front, but dodge appointments and what not. But amongst those you find sincere seekers of truth, they are those who get baptised.  We went back to a Tamil household last night to find that in less than a week one of our investigators has read first and second Nephi!  He is on cloud nine.  He has four referrals for us too including a Tamil family that all want to come to church, we're really excited for him!

 

Week six in the transfer cycle is my favourite week because it is the week where we discuss transfers. I feel like this transfer coming will be a big one. No doubt we will be discussing transfers as we are in Tasmania with President.

 

I have been reading through the New Testament lately, this past week I received a really nice insight from the book of John. In the early chapters of John you read where the Saviour introduces the idea of the sacrament to his followers.

The concept of eating his flesh and drinking his blood isn’t understood and taken very well; even his apostles say that this is a very hard thing to do. You read how many of his disciples pack up and leave from the presence of the Saviour, they couldn’t handle the idea.  As the Saviour looks around and sees his sheep leaving him, He turns to his apostle Peter and asks ‘are you going to leave too?’ Peter’s response is inspiring. He says ‘No Lord, I’m not going to leave, where would I go if I left? Although I don’t quite understand the concept of the sacrament, I do know that you are the Son of God, I’m not going anywhere!’ (paraphrased, of course!)

This account echoes clear in situations you hear of today. Some members when they hear certain doctrines that they don’t quite understand or comprehend, are very quick to leave the church.  Although there are some things that I’m sure lots of us don’t quite comprehend or understand, we need to follow Simon Peter’s attitude. We focus on the testimony we do have. From the words of our modern day apostles lips ‘You might not know everything, but you know enough.’ I know that there will be times in our lives when we might not comprehend or understand, maybe we're going through rocky times, but as we cling onto our testimonies that we have developed we can have the same attitude of Peter ‘I’m not going anywhere’.  'Be steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works'. It is those good works that will strengthen and deepen our testimonies.

 

I’m grateful for the testimony that I have personally sought after and found of this restored Gospel, I love it!

Elder Bennallack

 

 

20 May 2013

Well it has been a busy week! We only taught a hand full of lessons in our own area because we only had a few hours in our area all week.

 

It all started with Tasmania on Monday and Tuesday.  President spoilt us so much ,we flew in and went with them in the rental car to the hotel. They put us up in the nicest hotel in all of Launie (Launceston), 4.5 star.  Everything marble in the lobby with the waterfall, it was beautiful.  After dropping our stuff off, we got dinner together then we had a meeting with President in the lobby in a ‘business area’, and discussed transfers.  We spent the night in 4000 thread cotton sheets spread over a queen size bed and woke up to room service, our hot breakfast, fresh fruit, yogurt, fresh juice, hot chocolate, raisin toast etc being delivered to our room. Living the dream! Our whole trip I felt like such a business man walking around in my suit with, I could really get use to that idea!

 

 

The meeting in Tasmania went really well though; I also found out that President Lifferth is the one responsible for the creation of the best chocolate milk in the world! The BYU Chocolate milk... He was the one working on it with a chef and got the approval by the church and welfare who produced! What a good man!

 

Wednesday we had our meeting with the Polynesians. It went well, the spirit was strong. I think those that wanted to change will and those that don’t won’t.

Thursday we had zone meeting and exchanges. Friday and Saturday were spent with transfers. It’s been a busy week.

 

We are setting ourselves up to baptise every week in June which will be great. Hopefully we can start by having one this weekend, it’s a 50% chance just because the family is in the middle of moving and what not, but we will see.

 

That's about it for the week, transfers are all organised for tomorrow and there are 24 missionaries coming in on Wednesday which is also organised. Have a great week, we're off to play a huge touch AFL game now which I’m really excited about. Looking forward to having a week in our area.

Elder Bennallack

27 May 2013

It’s been another great week here in Melbourne.

Transfers were at the start of the week and which took a little organising but it wasn’t too bad, I’m becoming more and more efficient at the whole process.

 

Wednesday morning we were out at the airport to greet the 24 new missionaries. After spending a day with them I am very impressed, very well prepared excited missionaries. It was definitely a win for the mission, saying goodbye to 4 or 5 missionaries and picking up 24 full of fire.

 

We drove up to Shepparton on Saturday morning for a zone conference and back later that evening, which basically took the whole day.  In answer to Dad’s question, yes we do train at all the Zone conferences, us alongside President and the Zone Leaders.

 

We were supposed to have had a baptism this weekend; there was a nine year old boy that we were going to baptise who was very excited.  Bishop pushed our baptismal date back though because he wants the father to baptise his son. That’s no dramas. The father has come to church once during this whole process but all he needs to be doing is ‘striving’ to be able to baptise his son so that sound be happening in a few weeks which will be good.

 

On a positive note, one of our investigators got married this weekend in preparation for her baptism next weekend. Her name is Uri; she is the partner of a less-active named John who we have re-activated.  She is due in a few months so it was so nice to get them married this weekend.  They are awesome and Temple sealing is their goal.

 

There actually will be one more transfer cycle before President Maxwell comes in. This transfer is only a 4 week transfer with the following after that being an 8 week transfer to balance the cycle out. The reason being, that President Maxwell arrives right at transfer time and the last thing he needs is to deal with transfers right off the plane. We will be spending a lot of time with him when he arrives to help that transition as much as possible.

 

Within our own area we are really changing the focus. Our ward is a little dysfunctional at the moment and so we really just want to assist the ward council in finding their strides. We have the biggest ward list I have ever seen in our ward, yet sacrament meeting can vary from 300 one week to 150 the next. There are a lot of members that need to have deeper roots. On that note, over the past year there has been around 30 recent converts. Out of those 30 there is only a few that are strong with the majority being semi active with only a few being fully less active. Of those 30 only two or three have callings, only a few have home teachers and there are many men still without the Aaronic Priesthood. We really don’t want to baptise too many people into the ward until we can get a grasp on the recent converts we have, we are losing way too many of them.

 

We had a great discussion in yesterdays ward council which we are hopeful will kick start this rescue. On our end, we are really going to focus on teaching the recent converts.  All haven’t had the ‘new member lessons’ so we are going to just really work on strengthening testimonies and assisting this bridging process with weekly splits. Elder Oaks just finished touring the pacific area and although his schedule didn’t involve Melbourne, the echoing message that he shared was that we need to become ‘Full Purpose Missionaries’. Meaning that we are dynamic and ready and willing to assist in whatever is needed not just tracting.  There is a work to do!

Jess C. spoke in our ward yesterday. She was one amazing missionary; she spoke with such confidence and conviction. I was very grateful to receive some personal revelation during her talk.

 

I’m really looking forward to our temple visit we will have in a few weeks, I have such a desire to work in the temple after my mission. What an amazing place!

Elder Bennallack

 

 

April 2013 Miracles!

1 April 2013 - Easter Monday

 

Well I'm actually off to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) today to see the 'Cats' and the 'Hawks' play (AFL Football). You have no idea how excited I am for it! President gave us permission so I can teach Elder Kirklin, seeing that it's a Monday game  :P 

The famous MCG!

 

This week has been an amazing week, we have been working really hard and everything seems to be falling into place.
 

Mahinth's baptism, baptised by Elder Kirklin

We finished the week with another baptism which was really rewarding.  His name is Mahinth.  He is Sri Lankan.  I have so much love for him. I am so excited with the progress we are making with the Sri Lankan population here.  
Our goal is to have a Sri-Lankan branch within a year.

 

 

Yesterday at church I was able to confirm him, what a blessing.  We have been thinking how we can make church more appealing for these great Sri Lankan people.  Over the past 6 weeks we have had over 30 different Sir Lankans come to church but only maybe 20% come back, this is because they don't understand.  The ones that come back, come for the Sunday School class in Tamil. We have been looking into getting a translating system where the members can wear a headset and have sacrament meeting translated to them, they cost a few thousand dollars though, so we came up with an alternative. We asked everyone to bring headphones to church and we plugged them into their phones, then we did a huge conference call. It worked perfectly. We had everyone put their phones on mute so there was no back feed and then we had the translator talk into our phone. They loved it!! I love technology!

 

 

We have a busy week coming up. Transfers are in a week so we were at Presidents last night talking about it all. We will be meeting with him a lot more over the coming week.

I love this work.

Elder Bennallack

2 April 2013
What a game at the MCG!! I was loving life so much! My companion is officially converted to AFL Football :P He now has bought a leather game ball.

I was unable to finish emailing last night, we were very busy, so just sending a few lines this morning as we are sorting out a few more things in the office for our meetings this morning. I'm on an exchange with the Chinese missionaries today which will be interesting. I was able to see the Chinese Branch yesterday which is right downtown. It is beautiful!

Elder Bennallack

 

8 April 2013

It has been one heck of a week!  I don’t think I ever updated you on our March goal of 75 baptisms. We didn’t quite hit it, but in the end we baptized 68 people in March.  We were all still so thrilled with that effort though, because the record before that was 53.  The Lord is truly hastening his work!

 

We have been able to work out transfers this past week which has been fun. It was a lot easier doing it this transfer than last.  I’m not sure if it’s because it's the second time around, or if it’s because it’s a smaller transfer, maybe a bit of both.  We're organized though and ready to go!

I’m really excited about my new companion. He doesn’t know he is being called as an assistant yet but he will do a great job. His name is Elder Bellon. His is form Utah:P I love American companions! He loves hunting and what not just like Elder Guymon.  He is a great missionary! He has been out one transfer longer then me, so he still has a long time left which is great!

 

On other news, we have just opened a second branch up in downtown Melbourne.  It is at the same building as the Chinese branch, it’s an ‘International branch’ targeting Vietnamese in the city. They have the sacrament meeting in English with translators and then split off into different classes in different languages; we are all quite excited about it!

 

Elder Lambe is being made a Zone Leader this transfer which is exciting for him.  Even better is that he will be serving in the same ward as me in Dandenong.  He is doing great.

 

 

Well, we have the 'Golden’s' coming in on Wednesday. We were suppose to have 27 come in, except all the American's from Provo, including all of the sisters didn’t get their visa’s in time so they have been sent off to other missions temporarily until their visa’s come through, maybe next transfer? So now we only have 9 coming in.

 

I’m really excited to watch conference this coming weekend!

Elder Bennallack

15 April 2013

It has been one busy week this past week, we were able to accomplish so much and I know it was because we took a few hours out of the week to plan.  Planning and organisation is key.

 

We actually have four missionaries in our area for a few weeks which is absolutely great, this is because Elder Kirklin doesn't leave till the 23rd of this month.  It's great having four because it gives us a lot of flexibility in visiting the mission while our own investigators are still being taught.  We have been driving around in Sister Lifferth's car the past week which is nice.  This coming week we're actually going to be out of our area all week.  We're off touring the mission with President as he conducts interviews.  It's going to be a great opportunity to influence the mission this week as we accompany him. 

 

In between all of the interviews, I'm actually going to be going on exchanges with Ballarat and Wagga, I'm quite excited!  We have great missionaries in both locations, it's going to be highly beneficial exchanging in their area especially  because I served in both areas so I will be able to help them out a little with fresh ideas. Wagga has actually just been doubled in, so it will be great to endorse them to members up there. 

 

More about last week: We saw some great miracles, the biggest were on Saturday.  I was on an exchange with Elder Lambe because he is a new Zone Leader.  As we were reviewing the plans for the day in the morning together, I was reminded that there was actually a baptismal service on that night.  Bishop's daughter and an investigator were being baptised.  I was thinking 'wouldn't it be nice if we could baptise someone tonight?'  The program was all set, the members invited, it would be convenient.  I then thought, 'why don't we?'

 

We set plans.  Later in the day we visited with one of our most progressing investigators, his name is Francis, he has a great story but another time.

Francis has been reading the Book of Mormon every day, praying and coming to church.  He has been taught everything, he was ready.  I committed him to be baptised  that evening, and he excitingly accepted.  I then went and organised the 'whites' while Elder Lambe did the interview. 

 

After seeing such a miracle and being on a spiritual high, we then thought 'Why cant we baptise another one of our investigators tonight? We have a few hours?'

We made some phone calls and arranged to meet with another one of our progressing investigators, Seliyan, half an hour before the baptismal service at the chapel.

 

We had faith so we bought some spare 'whites' with us in the car to the chapel.  Seliyan has been coming to church for a long time and had been taught everything but wouldn't ever make his baptismal date because he wanted to know more. We sat down with him and proceeded to ask him a few questions: "Seliyan, have your been reading the Book of Mormon?" "Every day" he excitingly replied.  I then asked "have you prayed about the Book of Mormon? Do you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet? Do you believe Jesus Christ's church has been restored?" "Yes, yes, yes" he replied.  The spirit was very strong as I invited him to be baptised... in 20 minutes.  He paused for a second but as the Holy Spirit touched his heart he accepted!  Just as practiced earlier, I got the 'whites' from the car as Elder Lambe interviewed him. 

 



Francis' baptism...

Both Francis and Seliyan were baptised Friday night at 5pm. The day started  without any baptismal dates and ending with two baptisms, what a huge miracle!

 

 

... and Seliyan's baptism

It's blatantly obvious to see how the Lord is hastening his work as miracles are raining upon us in our area.  I have such a testimony on the converting power of God.  We are just guides and his hands here in Dandenong.  Faith is an action word, as is repentance.  In our area we have really been focusing on only those that keep their commitments, those that don't, we make record of them and drop them for a later time.  The field is white ready to harvest.  We have been filtering through investigators like flour through a sieve, but I know that those we are getting baptised are ready to make that first covenant in the gospel because the spirit has confirmed to their heart and mind of the validity and truth of this restored gospel.  Faith and repentance prepares one for baptism. 

 



Group photo before Francis' baptism
 (My new companion Elder Bellon is next to me, right of pic)

Our recent converts we have are amazing, they truly are the pioneers of the Gospel in Sri Lanka.

I was grateful for the missionary focus at General Conference.  The message rang loud and clear that members are to step up and assist the full time missionaries. We need to take courage and extend the blessing of the gospel to those we love around us.  I know that there are people within your social circles that are prepared to receive the message of this restored gospel.  I challenge each of you that read this to spend some time on your knees and let the Spirit of God touch your heart and mind as to who of those you know are ready to hear the gospel.  When we receive this promoting, I again invite you to act.  I might not know everything, but I know that as we act, we come closer to our maker.  As our friends act, they develop faith which leads them to change and grow, to develop fresh views about God as defined in the bible dictionary under 'repentance'  which prepares one for the blessings of baptism.

I know this church is true. I love this work and am so excited how quickly the spiritual gathering of Israel is taking place throughout the world.  I feel honoured to be a part of this cause as a full time representative of Jesus Christ. Remember badge or no badge, every member a missionary, take courage and act.

 

Thank you for your constant support and prayers on my behalf.

Elder Bennallack

22 April 2013

 

We have been touring the mission with President this past week and still have another week of it this coming week. We have been having a big training meeting with the zone while each missionary waits for their interview with President.  On average, they have gone for three hours which is a fairly long meeting.  We have been averaging two zones a day which means two three hour meetings every day. We have a few more zones to visit this coming week. As tiring as it is,I am on such a spiritual high!  We have become really close to President and Sister Lifferth this week.  One night we were stuck in traffic with them and so we ended up having hilarious chats for the three hour drive home, I love them so much!  It’s such a blessing being an Assistant because you get to know the Mission President and wife on such a personal level. I have learnt so much from them.

 

Well in between the interviews, we managed to travel to Ballarat for a quick exchange which was beneficial. We also spent three days touring the District in NSW. I was in Wagga yesterday which was crazy. I had half a day to kick start the mew missionaries that had just been doubled into the area, it was great.

 

Well there isn’t too much news from my end this week I have just been busy out of our area. I will leave you with one miracle from the week though:

 

We only had three or four hours in Ballarat for our exchange and in that time we wanted to cover all forms of the work, namely, planning, finding and teaching. We had an appointment at 5:30pm and I knew it would be dark after we were finished with the appointment so I was very eager to do some tracting beforehand.  We were driving to our appointment with five minutes up our sleeve.  As we drove past this street, I felt an impression to turn around and spend five minutes tracting that street, so we did.  After getting out of the car I said to my companion, ‘Elder, we only have five minutes which door do we need to knock on?’  He chose a door but they weren’t home.  As we looked around, I felt another strong prompting to tract a set of units 100 metres up the road on the opposite side. We ran to the units because we know time was against us. The first three out of four units didn’t answer the door.  With a prayer in my heart we approached the last door.  As we approached the door a man came outside after seeing us coming. I quickly realised I had seen this man before, it turns out we met each other nearly a year and a half ago.

 

Back when I was serving in Ballarat, I made friends with a Catholic Priest who invited me to his inter-faith group. We attended this inter-faith meeting which was full of Christians from all faiths. We were able to stand and share the basic restored principles of our faith coupled with our testimonies. Although a positive experience nothing came of it, well that is what I thought.

A year and a half down the track, I knock on this man’s door who I met at this inter-faith meeting. It turns out he recognised me too and expressed his sincere desire to now learn about the church. We were able to bear our testimonies and set a return appointment for the following day. Miracle!

Elder Bennallack  

29 April 2013 

 

I was so glad to hear that mum and dad were able to meet President and Sister Lifferth, they are amazing!  It was actually quite funny I called President Tuesday night to talk about a few things and he told me that he has a package for me? I was so confused but was very glad to hear that he had lunch with the two of you. While you were with him on Tuesday I had a great day in Dandenong, we actually set six baptismal dates that day. It was the only full day in our area this week so we made the most of it.

This week we travelled a lot. We had interviews with four more zones which went really well.  We have been training over the past few weeks on dropping investigators.   It is actually quite funny when we commit everyone to do this.  The principle behind it though is that an investigator will never be baptised if they don’t keep their commitments.  We all know the doctrine of Christ – faith, repentance, baptism… Faith is an action word. James 2:17, John 7:17. When investigators keep their commitments they exercise faith. Repentance is the consequence. Too often missionaries miss the mark with repentance.

We know repentance includes gaining forgiveness of wrong doings but I believe the Bible Dictionary gives us a greater insight especially when it comes to conversion. 'Repentance comes from a Greek work which denotes a change of mind or heart, a fresh view on life, God or one’s self.'   When people will read the scriptures, pray and attend church this repentance process naturally occurs. This is what prepares someone for baptism.  At the start of my mission, I was working just as hard as I am now but I didn’t understand this concept, I kept trying over and over again with investigators that weren’t quite ready to hear the gospel because they wouldn’t keep their commitments.  We read in D&C 4 that the field is white, people are ready, and these are the people we need to focus our time and efforts on. Anyways that was a summary of what we have been training on; combining the importance of investigators keeping their commitments, weaved in with using time wisely which is one of the chapters in 'Preach My Gospel' (PMG).

This mission is really moving forward.  We had 41 baptisms this month which was a fair effort to back up the 68 from last month. We are right on track for us to reach our goal of 151 for this second quarter of the year.

Well all is going well in our area, we should be baptizing on the 11^th and the 25^th which is exciting.

Tomorrow we have a ZLC meeting which is always enjoyable and then we have Zone Conferences starting up next week.

Elder Bennallack