April 23, 2012

What blessing it is to always email you all every week. I hope your week was great everyone has been tellin me around here how hot it is there, gotta love it. :) I sure do hope you all are doin well , would not wanna ask for anything less. :) Every single one of ya deserve the best. I sure love ya all.

 Well It sure tickles me that I am a zone leader now, I got a sa wa eet companion named Elder Kelsch from Utah. I remember when i was a yound missionary i wanted to serve with this kid and whatt do ya all know it happened. I am excited. We play basketball every tuesday and thursday and we gott a little tounament this saturday, us and 2 other missionaries that stay with us play .. Our house is always fun there is never a dull moment. We live in a 3 story house with a basement its a big mansion. This week we have been busy teachin and finding and jumping right into sone stuff. I had my first stake correlation where all the bishops get together and talk about the work, Me and elder Kelsch found 3 new this week , we have been poundin those doors i am so excited to see what this transfer brings. THis week we got to head up to charleston for a train the trainers with all the district and zone leaders in the mission. Then thursday we got Zone leader council where we talk about the mission. Our Zone has such great missionaries, I love bein able to serve such a wonderful zone and to be around a solid bunch of elders!!!!!

 Well not to much new this week. around here thought id share with you all some of my thought s about the holy ghost. . .

As we all may know the holy ghost brings so many blessings to our lives. I love this paragraph from page 65

Those who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and remain worthy can enjoy His companionship throughout their lives. The Holy Ghost has a sanctifying, cleansing effect

upon us. The Holy Ghost testifies of Christ and helps us recognize the truth. He provides spiritual strength and helps us do what is right. He comforts us during times of trial or

sorrow. He warns us of spiritual or physical danger. The Holy Ghost provides the power by which we teach and learn. The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of our Heavenly Father’s

most precious gifts. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we can feel God’s love and direction for us. This gift is a foretaste of eternal joy and a promise of eternal life.

Arent those suchamazing blessing we can recieve just by simply bein WORTHY of the holy gohst to tell ya the truth, I wanna do everything in my reach to shoot for those blessings I pray that we will always remain worthy of that constant companionship. I love this story about the holy ghost !!!!

In the marvelous experience of Brigham Young in February of 1847, when the Prophet Joseph appeared to him in a dream or vision, Brigham pleaded to be reunited with the Prophet. Brigham Young asked the Prophet if he had a message for the Brethren. The Prophet said:

“Tell the people to be humble and faithful, and to be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord and it will lead them right. Be careful and not turn away the still small voice; it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the Brethren to keep their hearts open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them, their hearts will be ready to receive it.”

The Prophet further directed Brigham Young as follows: “They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits; it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts; and their whole desire will be to do good, bring forth righteousness and build up the kingdom of God.” 

I pray that we will al follow the spirit nomatter what and live worthy of it. There is no better way than following it, I love you all so much I pray that uall will have such a great wekk, I miss ya be safe and know i love you all. Thanks for everything.

p.s scrunched on time thats why i was in a hurry sorry if it doesnt make semce haha

                                                                                                              love elder bentley

                                                   -moroni8:3

April 16th, 2012

Well hi there!! I hope you all are doin well as always. I am so thankful for every single one of you and all that you do to support me and my family. I pray for the lords richest blessin to be upon ya all i love ya.
Well I am super nervous but so excited to be a zone leader startin tomorrow!!!!! I will be heading 15 minutes away to clarksburg,WV so not to far from here. Im gettin a awesome companion his name is Elder Kelsch,he is a missionary I have always wanted to serve around he is way cool we are goin to do some great things, Ill go back to stayin with 4 missionaries again !!!! I am way excited. before I forget i need to put my adress on here. . .

my new adress:
790 Locust Ave.
Clarksburg,Wv 26301

Well like always its hard to leave an area I feel like have grown so much this past transfer here in fairmont, We have been so blessed to see so many miracles here its been amazing, really amazing. The new investigators we were able to meet and i am dissapointed that i have to leave because someone i was teaching was really close to baptism!!! so close !!!!! the lessons have been amazing but hopefully he will be baptized in may. Things were going so well haha. But I am ecited to see how much I learn this next transfer. Elder Partridge my trainer is going to be an assitant so Ill be seein him quite a bit at meetings and stuff.
Well this week I have had a great opportunity to draw closer to my savior to become more like him, I was able to read throught the entire whitehand book and figure out things i need to change and become better at , its not going to be easy , its going to be hard to change some things, I want to tell you this not to dig myself a hole or to make me look bad, but i do have many struggles, at times its hard. . . but what i am so indeed greatful for is to know if I put forth a little faith unto repentance I am showing my heavenly father that I have faith in his plan. Alma 34:16:
. . ."therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption."
from what I understand, its only if we exercise the gospel , that meant put forth faith repent, baptism , bein worthy of the holy ghost and then enduring can we return to live with our heavenly father , I know often times it may occur that we may be members and maybe we dont exercise the gospel as fully as we can. But I know that as I have put the gospel to work that i have come closer to my savior I feeel more at peace. I love the gospel of jesus christ it only brings us happiness not misery, guilt, nothing bad only good can come out of this special gift, but are we willing to act upon it? I hope so, "may god grant unto you my beloved brethern, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance. . ." I know that this is the only true church with the fullness of the true gospel, I know I can do better at living it and applying it and acting upon it.
I sure do love you all so much I cant wait to tell you all next week how crazy hecktic it is as a zone leader. I hope and pray you and your famlies have such an awesome week . please be safe , and I love you all . Thnanks for everything .

love elder bentley
-moroni 8:3 :)

April 9, 2012

I dont even know how to start this email haha. Well I hope you all have had an exciting week. I sure do miss all of you. I pray for all and for the lords blessing to be upon all of you.

Well Everyone dont send me mail this week transfers are next week and i am leaving to go be a zone leader in clarksburg which is like 15 minutes away, I found out in a letter this week. So just hang in there Ill try to get you all the adress next week. But im so stoked to be a zone leader!!1 Im going to be serving with a awesome companion, in a awesome area from what I hear!!!! So that was a pretty big shocker on my week!!!
Then this week I had an awesome exchange with an elder from arizona this week, his name is elder holder he went to EAC before his mission and he is in my district :). So this week we went tractin at these apartment and found an awesome potential that we are going to teach this week. And then we started teachin an awesome family Things went so well on our exchange maybe because were both from arizona. It was a great time!!!
I tell you what , there is no better feeling than helping others. This week we have done numerous hours of service and I have enjoyed not only giving service but serving these other missionaries. I know that is where my true happiness comes from is by puttting myself last and worrying more about others. And being as the savior, I am so greatful I get to be a zone leader , not because its a leadership position but because I get to be in the service of other missionaries. I sure do love this work and being the best represenative of jesus christ I can be . I love my savior!!! I love you all thank you for everything you all do. Remember that I am leaving next week so dont send anything to that adress. I love you have a great week.

love elder bentley !!!!

April 2, 2012

I love you all. . And hope you know how greatful I am for my family and friends!!!! Thank you for your support for your love your prayers and everything. You all play such a big role in my life and I appreciate and love every single one you. Thank you. I hope your week was great a happy energizing week to help us become better members of this church, There is so much we need to do. I love the leaders of our church I admire their hard work and service and the time and energy which they put into helping us and bringin us closer to our father in heaven.
I wanna start off with a hymn that I really enjoy:
"The world has need of willing men who wear the workers seal.
come help the good work move along;
Put your shoulder tho the wheel.

The church has need of helping hands and hearts that know and feel.
The work to do is here for you;
put your shoulder to the wheel.

Then dont stand idly looking on; the fight with sin is real
it will be long but must go on;
Put your shoulder to the wheel.

Then work and watch and fight and pray with all your might and zeal.
push every worthy work along;
Put your shoulder to the wheel.

put your shoulder to the wheel; push along,
do your duty with a heart full of song
we all have work; let no one shirk.
put your shoulder to the wheel. "

This week I had the opportunity to watch 17 miracles!!!! So if your wondering why im talking about the pioneers thats why haha. But this week I have had spent alot of time thinking about the pioneers. I very very greatful for their examples, As we all know they went through so much they went through pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue, they suffered lost.But the thing I was most surprised with is how much they relied on the lord for strength how much faith they had in the lord to move across the plains, so we could have all the blessings of this church!!! They relied so much on the gospel of jesus christ and on the promises of the lord. I know alot of people may say this but I am so greatful to a modern day pioneer!! I havent thought about this much before but i am so greatful for the pioneers!! As I think about what it takes to be a pioneer, I have realized I can do so much better as a missionary to live the gospel of jesus christ. I got that message clear to me especially during this conference, I need to study the gospel principle everyday and live them. Some of the pioneers were even promised if they would live the principles of the gospel they would be able to make it to the salt lake valley!! I know that If I live the gospel in my life that Ill be able to make it back to my heavenly father and fufill my Treck back to him. Like I said early the pioneers put so much faith in the lord, I ever wonder am I ever converted that much to the gospel, I know for certain I am, I love this gospel and I am so greatful to have the fulness of it and to carry the priesthood of God, what a blessing it to me. I pray with all my heart that I will develop that same kinda faith like they had in the lord. I know that my treck as a missionary is much more that just knockin on a door and talking to someone, the lords purpose needs to be in all things i do and in all things we do. I am ready to put my shoulder more to the wheel these last 10 months of my mission. I am ready to step up and pull that hand cart and pull that hand cart back to my heavenly father. I know that angels will be there to support me on my treck I know that heavenly father will forever be there for me to give me strength, I am greatful for all of you because you all are my angels, thank you for helping me pull my hand cart and I pray that I can give that support back to you every single one of you. thank you. I need to step up now and put my shoulder to the wheel a little bit more and push along so this journey aint worthless. I pray that I can be a better modern day pioneer.
General Conference was so great, as always I heard things that I personally needed to hear and strengthed me as a missionary. president monson is always great, i sure do love our prophet and the leaders of this church and the service they give. Well probably one of my favorite talks was Richard G. Scotts on how to recieve presonal revalation, he said something along these lines that stuck out to me " make sire daily activities help us listen to the spirit." I really enjoyed hearing that and how just by our simple behavior can drive the spirit away. david a bednars in preiesthhood session was good as well. he said " be honorable, virtuous, be a good boy" sounds like a one liner from my grandma , I love you g- ma. I really enjoyed conference I was sad to see it leave, I love the words that they shared and I cant wait to read study and re read . to prepare for this conference I tried reading the last conference ensign but i didnt finish but It sure got me excited. What a special spirit there was during this conference. I loved it I pray that we will apply their teachings every talk to our lives in someway, remember it more than listening we gotta aplly it for it to take effect within our homes. I know that we have a living prophet who is called by god . I cant wait for next conference.
I am so excited for this easter season to focus on the sacrafice of my savior may he be at the center of our thoughts in all things we do and may we express our gratitude for him for his great sacrafice.
this past week I have had awesome teaching experience and have had so many encounters where I am listening to the spirit and i am so greatful to my father in heaven that i can understand and recognize it because I know that is what blesses the lifes of others.
I want my brother coda to know how much I love him, I pray for you buddy, make sure that your holding your aronic priesthood well, keep your head held high and know and always remember how much i love you, be a great example to your brother and sisters, I love you buddy , be a good missionary , always remain happy and bring that love of christ i know you can bring into our home.
I hope you all know how much i love you, thank you for everything , I pray for you all everyday and your families. please be safe have a great week!!!!
put your shoulder to the wheel!!!
-elder chaz allen bentley
moroni 8:3

March 26th, 2012

missionary super bowl weekend is approaching , I am so anxious for this weekend!!!! Howdy ya all, hope everything is cool and chill back in good ol Az!! Aww i sure miss you all . Thank you for your support to me to my family everything thank you I love you all!!!

Well what a week I have been super busy!!!! Life as a district leader is still always crazy, busy but I sure do love it. i feel like i have grown so much these past 3 weeks, I can really feel heavenly fathers love for me and those that i serve amoung. I feel his presence in everything i do :) its an amazing feeling and im going to strive to constantly feel this way. I find when im less worried about myself and more focused on what others need how they are feeling , I develop a deeper love for them. I think thats true no matter in all ways we serve as we focus less on ourselves we will truely grow to love those around us. I am so greatful my father in heaven has blessed me with a wonderful comapnion, area , and district, its such a blessing and i am growing so much. this week while I was on exchanges with a zone leader we found an awesome potential family that we are going to start teachin tonight we are pretty stoked for that and we got our bishop really excited for missionary work this week!!! We are going to be having a fast in our ward for the whole month of May we are going to have different families sign up to fast for missionary work it was so great we are so stoked for what lies ahead, the lord is blessing us more and more everyweek, Its amazing to see his hand in this work!! I am so excited to hear from our prophet this week and the leaders of our church, I am excited to listen to the promises that they will extend as we seek their direction to carry out this church farther :)

Well nothing to big or dramtic happend this week, I hope my sisters know how much I love them I pray for them and i hope they have such a great birthday this week. i love you all so much. I know that this church is true , i am so greatful to be serving the lord at this wonderful time, I know that things which I teach everyday is true, i am so greatful for prayer and the opportunity which I have to communicate with my father in heaven. I sure love you all so much have such an amazing gereral conference week I miss ya. PRESS FORWARD SAINTS!!!

love elder bentley
moroni 8:3
ilove this scripture in Alma 24:14

14 And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.

March 19th, 2012

Howdy Ya'll I hope your week was so awesome and I hope all is well back home. This week I hope that my email will be able to help you all and i hope you all will be able to learn something from what i share. I am so excited to tell you all about this week. it was so great!!
Today I want to start off this email by telling a story we all know from the bilbe. . I will be pulling my thoughts today from John chapter 21.
At this time Jesus appears to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. and i wanna focus on peter after he makes it to the shore. Jesus ends up asking peter, " Peter, do you love me? more than your boat your boat, and your net, and your fishes." And peter said, yea you knowest I love thee. and jesus said unto him, " "FEED MY SHEEP!!!"
He goes on to ask peter a second time " peter, do you love me? more than your boat, and your net, and these fishes." And peter replies. you know i love thee. and jesus says " "FEED MY SHEEP!!! "
And jesus ask again a third time, this time peter is a little stressed that he has to anwer this again. But Jesus goes on to say " peter, do you love me ? more than your boat, and your net, and these fishes." and peter replies thou knowest I love thee.
and jesus said "FEED MY SHEEP!!!"
Do we love him? are we willing to follow him and leave our nets (disobedience) and other thing to show the lord we love him. I have spent alot of time thinkin about this scripture this week. I have realized I need to do things and change to show the lord i love him. I mean just put your selves in peter shoes for a bit can we tell the lord we love him? Our master who cares so much for us is pleading for us to follow him , to feed his sheep, to show the lord that we are willing to give up everything to follow him. I have decided on the nets i need to leave behind the things i need to change to follow my savior more and thats what Im going to do to show him I love him. I love this verse from come follow me. . we dont sing it to often but I like it
" we must the onward path pursue
as wider fields expand to view
and follow him unceasingly,
whate'er our lot or sphere may be."
Follow him, trust in him who loves you so much who is pleading for us to just " Follow Him"
then may we all FEED HIS SHEEP!!! I have realized Im never going to get these 2 years back but my mission is not over once it ends my mission is for eternity and I will commit to the lord to FEED HIS SHEEP because i love him and am willing to follow him.

So this week has been a great week we were able to step up our area this week the lord is really blessing us and our district already. This week I went on exchanges to this area called mannington!!! I got to pet baby goats on this exchange it was awesome, we would pick up the goats and it would lick and slobber all over our name tags it was so funny!!! But we were able to find 5 potentials for that area but thats awesome for that area because they relly needed it . Then while i was on exchange there we found 3 new investigators in our area it was so awesome!!! But this week I had another encounter with the spirit this week . . . while we were driving this one day, I noticed some apartment that really stuck out to me , and these apartment just kept itching in the back of my mind for a couple days . So I said today lets go tract out these apartments , my companion agreed. we went we were able to find 11 potentials we are hoping to teach 9 of these people on tuesday, It was so amazing I dont know who but I know an elect person is waiting for us in those apartment. i am so stoked that i was able to listen to and follow the promptings of the spirit and I know that the lord is already blessing our area in so many ways!! so we have a pretty exciting week coming up.
I am so excited for general conference to be able to listen to our prophet and the other leaders is so exciting, i am excited to be in the number again for full time missionaries!!! Things are going pretty good here in fairmont, I know my main job here in fairmont is to love my compnion, my area and my district. I hope I can do that. I hope I can be the best leader I can be and I hope I can strengthen my commitment to the gospel, and show the lord i am willing to follow him.
I wanna send a quick thank you to mellisa gardner for the wonderful package!!!! It got to me safe and sound. thank you so much for all you do, I am thankful for you and your wonderful family. I love you all so much I will write ya shortly.
I wanna thank you all for everything, thank you for taking the time to read these emails. I hope they are worth your time. I love you all so much. I pray for you all and I am assured and know that our father in heaven loves every single one of you!!!! I express my gratitude for you all and the blessing you all are to my life . may we always remember to follow our master, our good shepherd who wont lead us astray, at all times. I love you have a great week. thank you again!!!

-elder bentley moroni 8:3

March 12, 2012

Hello everyone!!!! I hope you alls week was great!!! I hope everything is goin fine and dandy at home. There is so much to tell you about this week.
Kellie I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, I hope you know that your such an amazing cousin, I love and miss you so much, I hope that your just having the most amazing day , I wish so bad I could be there for your birthday and bring pizza to scholl just for you. I love you so much cuz, Nemo is still on my bag haha, the other day I was gettin off the transfer bus and a missioinary said nemo thats so awesome thought it was pretty funny. Have a great day remember always that I love you!!!!
So as you all know i got transfered that was supper dupper hard to leave BV it wasnt the easiest sayin goodbye to all the people i love. I will sure miss that area and the wonderful friends that i have made. I got to my new area on wenesday, Fairmont WV.( i will give you all my adress at the end of this email.) Basically nothin much is goin on here , It was surprising to hear that we only have 1 top notch investigator. But I hope i can be a helping hand to this area and change that!!!!! It was very suprising to hear that there is about 300 or so less actives, now i know why president wanted me to come here to show those people that they are loved. So my new companions name is Elder Barry, he loves to draw, I know I am going to love serving with him despite of how different we are :). He is pretty funny. WE ARE GOIN TO TEACH AND PREACH TILL WE DROP!!! I have a feeling I am going to grow so much in this area I just know I am, I am already starting to love this area, for the first little while it might be difficult but I am stoked to serve, the members so far seem pretty nice like always :). It was fuunny last night we were tracting some apartment this lady took a book of mormon and said she wasnt really interested? but after she closed the door we heard her say " I CANT BE MEANT TO THE MORMONS THEY ARE SUCH NICE PEOPLE" I thought that was pretty funny to hear. Its a bit different to be in a driving area again, I kinda miss walkin? thought i would never say that. :) We are driving a chrysler baby blue haha seems kinda girly but at least it has 4 wheels and drives. :) The district has alot of work. I got so so much to do I hope I will do all that i can to do what the lord expects of me. I am excited to serve here in fairmont. I have to speak on Sunday. so I hope my talk goes well :)
well this orning I had a pretty awesome personal study, I am so excited for general conference!!! I wish we could just have it every weekend for church. I am tryin to read the last conference ensign before this conference. I lovedRichard G Scotts talk on the scriptures I am goin to try really hard these next couple weeks to be in the scriptures, I loved how he explained the importance of memorizing scriptures which is something i wanna start doin, I liked how he said that the scriptures can become our bestest friend. I have turned to the scriptures so much this week, I know that anytime we go through a hard time or a rough situation I know that we can turn to the scriptures to support us to build us to strengthen us . I am thankful for the scriptures and the power that they have in my life. I know that they are goin to be my biggest support this next transfer.
I hope and pray you all know how much I love you I hope you know how thankful I am for you. I express my deepest gradtitude to my father in heaven for such wonderful friends and family. I love you all have an awewsome week.

moroni 8 : 3 elder bentley
my new adress:

1715 MaryLou Retton Dr. #35 (just put #35 no apt. before it)
Fairmont, West Virginia 26554

March 6th, 2012

Well what is up everyone!!!!! I hope you all are doin well!!! I hope you have had such a great week!!! I hope you all know how greatful I am for you, I thank you all for your support and your love which you show to me. I really thank you for everything.
So I wanted to tell my uncle wes first HELLO!!! I miss ya buddy so much. I was so happy to hear that maddy is gettin baptized this week. I am proud of her and I hope she grew as long as you from the missionary lessons, arent they amazing to know how much our father in heaven loves us. I love bein able to study these lessons the every day , I am still learning so much about theses principles that I teach and it truely brings me closer to my savior. I think its amazing how you kept you promise you made to me before my mission. I cant wait to to go the temple with ya bud, I know your doin the right thing and im here to supprt you 100%!!!! I love ya. MAddy I wish so so bad i could be at your baptism this week. what such a special day you have comin up, pay attention to how you feel and always strive to have that special feelin with you. I sure love you maddy!!!! you the best!!!!
Well Guess what ya all Im gettin transferd. . . I thought this one would be easier since I turned 20 years old but it feels like a part of me is going to be missin. . I have rally grown to love this area. I have been truely blessed to bring 5 people into the church who are all such wonderful converts who I will truely miss, I have 2 great companions who have taught me so much how to be better , I have been blessed to plant many seeds in this area, I cant even count the number of book of mormons I handed out since I have been here. The lord has blessed me to serve such wonderful members of the church. I really think that a temple will be built here someday. This haas been such an amazing area to serve in. I felt whats its like to walk for 7 months straight as a missionary which has been an amazing experience. I truely feel like I have been humbled here in BV. I have had the opprtunity to grow closer to my savior and have spent numerous hours askin my father in heaven for help. And he he has been there to lift me and and to bless me every step of the way. I thank him, and to him I owe him everything i got and all my service all my time and service. I am goin to miss this area. So president called yesterday, he said that I will be going to FAREMONT, WEST VIRGINIA and I will be district leader there. i am greatful that I get to go serve there. I will be serving with this elder named elder berry. I will be goin into a pretty big ward so it will be exciting, I will email you all my adress next week. I am so nervous to leave, stinks gettin attached to areas, I wouldnt have mind stayin here the rest of my mission. I am greatful for the opportunity which I had to serve in such a wonderful area.I thank my father in heaven I was able to serve here. And for how much i was able to learn and grow, it will be wierd not going to 3 wards anymore it will be so different. Ill miss this area.
I wanna leave you all with my testimony that I know this church is true!!!! I am greatful for the opportunity to be on a mission and serve my father in heaven.
36 and thus they were instruments in the hands of god in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their redeemer.
37 and how blessed are they! for they did publish peace; they did publish good TIDINGS of good; and they did declare unto the people that the lord
i am greatful for the service im rendering to my father in heaven. I pray that I will accomplish all the lord expects of me in fairmont WV. i pray that my testimony will continue to grow I love my savior, I love our beloved prophet and I know that the things we teach as missionaries is true. thats my testimony. short and sweet, I am sorry its short it woll be better next week i promise.I love you all so much, I will tell you all next week my adress. I miss you all so much . i pray for all. I hope my family and my brothers and sisters know how much I love them. I miss you have a great week .
love elder bentley
moroni 8:3

February 2, 2012

Hey ya all. I hope you all are doin well. Hope your alls week was great. This week has been a pretty busy week over here in BV!!!!!! I hope you all know how greatful I am for every single one of you and the support you give to me. I thank you all so much. thank you.
Anyways like I said, this week has been pretty busy. I went on 3 exchanges this week. I went to one on tuesday with elder gurney, we ended up gettin invited to one of the college basket ball games it was pretty fun. I really enjoyed it it got me pretty excited because i wanted to go play. :) No but it was good. I guess the highlight of this week was stake conference. I had the opportunity to got to the saturday night adult session. I have a feeling all my other recent converts are going to be scared to be baptized by me because saturday night, Brenton the guy from Australia spoke. He did a really good job on his talk, and he found out like 10 minutes before the meeting started that he had to be at the church to be speak he did good for giving it at the last minute. haha :) so 2 outta my 7 recent converts have spoken at stake conference. haha. I was really proud of brenton, Just to be a witness to see how much these people change just within a couple months is pretty amazing. I know that the lord has prepared these people specifically to be put in path, I am greatful I have remained worthy of being able to bring the gospel into these peoples lives and that is what makes me happy is knowing I helped my father in heaven bring his children back to him. So at the saturday night session the stake president picked a non member football coach to speak of the importance of going on a mission it was pretty good. then the whole meeting was around missionary work and a bunch of recent converts stood up and talked about their conversion it was great, I really enjoyed that session. So I guess something cool that might be happening is they will be creating a student stake here in april. might mess with our mission and expand it but not to sure thought that was pretty cool. Then on Sunday we got a satellite broadcast of stake conference, we had the great privledge to hear from Elder piper ( yepp the one that came to our mission) then bishop Burton and sister allred, and Elder Richard G. Scott. It was such a special treat hearing from these general authorities. I like how elder scott testified of his love for his wife. I guess one thing that I learned was to tell my mom how much I love her :) Mom I love you so so much, I am so greatful an apostle told me to do this because I havent been doin it as often as i need to. I am so greatful for you love and support which you show to me as a missionary. I am greatful for how much you sacrafice to make our family better, I am thankful to know I have the best mom, I am thankful that you are my best friend, I am thankful that I have a wonderful example to look up to and has taught me to work so so hard, I am thankful for how much you push me in the gospel, I am thankful for you and that you are my mom. I love you to the moon and back mom. Elder Scott went on to share a story i thought was interesting, how he was fixing the washer for his wife and when she came home from work she said richard go play with the kids, he was puzzled he was like I am fixing this for you, she said go play with the kids, the next morning at 4 a.m one of his kids came up and kissed him on the cheek and said dad your my best friend. I am so greatful for all the times my mom has told me to watch my brothers and sister or to spend time with them or the family. because those are moments I cherish most. I am so greatful for my family, I love them , they are the best.
On saturday a guy named Brick Wilce got baptized!!!! Me and elder davis were the ones who started teaching him, but because we had to switch wards the other missionaries finished teachin him and baptized him this last saturday. It was a great baptism, I had the priviledge to speak on the holy ghost. I guess it was a good talk a bunch of people complemented on it. I was so greatful to see brick get baptized though, he had to make so many changes and it was good to see him on that special day. I guess I can count him as one of my recent converts.
We had to drop our elect persons baptismal date!! I guess he has other things that he needs to be doin before he gets baptized, He said he really feels like he needs a testimony which is one thing I hope we can help him with that. I guess he is going to continue to come to church. and go to an addiction recovery class. So hopefully soon we can help him be baptized.
I have learned so much in this buena vista area. I know that there isnt alot of teachin sometimes not even alot of things to do, but if there is a couple things I have learned, its to stay happy through hard times, no matter how hard it gets to always stay happy, I have learned to always turn to my father in heaven for help. when times are rough and things are weighing me down i always turn to my father in heaven for hep. Its been a blessing and its really eased my load. I love this work and I am so greatful to be serving in BV.
I wanted to say congrats for brecklyn gettin married. I hope you have and awesome day cuz and I sure love ya. i hope your doin good and your family as well. HAVE A HAPPY DAY!!!
Well you all transfers are next week, so dont send letters . . I will let you all know next tuesday whats goin on. I love you all so much , I hope you all have a great week. thank you so much for everything. god bless.

-elder bentley
moroni 8:3

February 21, 2012

Whats going on ya all!!! I hope you all had a lovely valentines day. I hope your week was great. Well it finally snowed yesterday, we got pounded with snow!!! Its great, me and another missionary got done with planning last night and went helped members build an igloo turned out pretty good. Although I rolled a big snow ball it broke like 3 times, so last night was pretty fun, not sure if my companion enjoyed it but its alright. Its so tempting to go sledding today not sure if we are allowed so might hold off on that haha. :)
Anyways this week has been such a great week for our area and for our district. Dont even know where to start this email i am excited!!!!!
Well we think we have found our ELECT this week, we think we completed the promise from elder piper!!!! WE are so excited, so you all ready for an awesome story?!?!?!
So this week me and elder davis had just finished lunch. When we decided to check our phone before we headed out , we had a message on our phone from the institute, a member we knew left a message and said " hey, elders i got some exciting news you all are going to love to hear!!! she handed the phone to another person, it was our investigator we meet the week after elder piper gave us that promise. :) he said hey elder this is blah blah blah. . . I have decided to go ahead and get baptized!!! so ya if you all could help me with that it would be great!!!!!" Me and elder davis got so pumped!!! we called him back ran up to the institute and taught him, now he has a baptisimal date for march 3!!! We have already taught him 3 times this week!!! He has given up everything to be baptized smoking drinking everything on order to be baptized by march 3!!! He came to church yesterday, so we are pretty stoked I might get a 2 week baptism!?!?! The lord is really blessing us with so many people to teach.
This week we went on exchanges with president pitt, we had a pretty funny experience, we got done showing jason the church where he was going to get baptized, president pitt called us and said we are turning BV bike into BV car "for the day." Sad part was we missed for the day part, when elder davis got off the phone he got really excited , and said " ELDER WE ARE FINALLY GETTIN A CAR"!!!! but we got up there and to our disappointment we didnt have a car it was just for the day haha. That was pretty funny. But we went on exchanges with president pitt he meet jason, then helped us teach adam and then we went and tried a bunch of people and were able to find a family that we are going to start teaching on wenesday!!! we are pretty excited, we got 2 families that might be teachin this week :) and we were able to find 2 other people that we might teach as well in bv this week. so things are lookin up for us:) I was so nervous to teach with president pitt, I like how he is so bold, loving and friendly to everyone he meets and always tries to keep a foot in a door he doesnt give up on anyone :)
WE GOT A BAPTISM THIS WEEK!!!! jason was so excited we were teaching a lesson right next door while he was getting his interview on thursday, we were about to wrap up the lesson, when all of a sudden jason starts screaming excitedly :) it was hilarious, we knew that he passed, we ended our lesson ran outside jason ran and started jumping around, I have never seen someone so stoked for baptism, It was so awesome, it brought such a great big smile to my face. It makes me so happy to see these people I teach make these commitments there has not been a baptism on my mission where I havent felt the spirit the spirit is always so strong at these baptism. I am grateful for these experiences. They lift me and make my testimony grow so much. So elder partridge and his companion baptized someone in a river this week it was pretty awesome, my camera died so I wasnt able to take pictures but It was such an awesome baptism!!! I was jealous a lil bit . We told jason who got baptized this week he should get baptized in a shark tank and beat gettin baptized in a river haha:). So far we have had 3 baptism in my district and we are planning on havin 8 baptisms this transfer. We are all so excited and so stoked for this transfer its great!!!
I found an awesome scripture this week, now I know all of us experience hard times in our life, i do especially but I read this scripture the other day that re assured me that I need to be happy and not let anything bring me down I love this scripture in 2 nephi 10:20
" and now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful god has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off."
Let us not hang down our heads, once trials come and we hang down our heads, it will be tougher to make it through. Whatever curve balls we get let us not hang down our heads, what ever life throws at ya do not hang down head, I remember I played baseball alot growin up, I was not really the best at it but I tried, whenever I get up to bat I would miss the ball and most of the time strike out because my head was down. I remember my coaches always use to tell me keep your eye on the ball. Let us always remeber not to keep our heads down, but look up so we can make the most of our at bat. I pray that you all you will be able to overcome your challenges, Let us remember him always in all things we do , because I know he is there to help every single one of you. Let us remember always How Much He Loves You!!!!
I love you all so much. I thank you for takin the time to read these emails, I know they are not perfect but I hope they help. I thank you all for everything you do for me and my wonderful family. I hope you all have such a great day. I love you. i pray for you and may the lords richest blessings be upon you all!!! I love you!!!!

love elder bentley
moroni 8:3