July 30, 2012

well Hello family and friends. What a fantastic week it has been for us here in DUB VEE!!! I love this work so much, if I could I would just go on a mission for the rest of my life. Truely is amazing to be apart of this great work. Well I hope you all had a great week as well.

 So this week in our companionship we were able to set 4 new people with a baptisimal date that was exciting, we have made it a goal in our compaionship to just start inviting people to be baptized. This work is just so exciting and we are really stoked to be apart of it :). We are hoping to start teaching a family this week :) and we will pick up 3 new people and set them on date as well. As a mission we are hoping to get 30-40 baptisms next month so we are trying to excite all the elders in our zone, we are going to do our best to make this the best month within our zone. :) I am having a blast in this great work. We get fed so great here in Clarksburg, I feel like every meal is a thanksgiving meal, haha!!!!! I still cant believe I have been out for 18 months doesnt feel like that at all. I love this work so so much and I know there is nothing better I could be doin right now than bein here servin a mission. yesterday i had to give a talk in church i was a little nervous because i hadnt had spoken in front of that many people in a while my  talk was on scripture study. I hope everyone liked it i did my best with what I had haha. I sometimes wish my mom was there to whisper in my ear what to say and have pictures when i give my talk haha just jokin but I enjoyed preparing it and I have come to know that scripture study as families and as individuals is so important. Make it a habbit and simply set that time aside everyday.

 So this week is my moms birthday , mom I just want you to know that I love you so much your such an amazing mom and you matter so much to me and I wish so bad I could be there on this special day for you. thank you for always bein such a great example to me and helping me through everything , you are truely a blessing to me directly from my father in heaven, I know that heavenly father places angels in our lives and I know that you are one those angels in my life  you amazing mom and dont ever forget that I love you to the moon and back. Happy Birthday.

 I just want my grandma to know that I love her so much , I know that heavenly father will support you in all things. I love you grandma and I am always praying for you, thank you and papa for all you do I know you are such a blessing to my life you are an angel to :) i love you mamaw have such a great week.

 I know with all my heart that heavenly father places special people in our lives I am so blessed to have all of you in my life to help me I am greatful to be that support to other people and to help other families be together for eternity.

 Well if there is one thing I have come to know this week is that studies are so crucial for a companionship and individuals to grow and learn. without the studies of the scriptures and without studies as a family its harder to overcome harderships and situations . But Its such a blessing to me and my companion and it really builds us and helps us in the things that we face in this work. I loves serving with my comp. I am having a blast learing new ways to work and to build myself as a missionary. with our 2 differet work ethics we are doing great and marvelous things. I know that this church is true, I have so much gratitude for my father in heaven for the many blessings he gives me. I am greatful that I am worthy to hold a current temple reccomend and to be a priesthood holder at this time. I love you all so much and i pray that you all will have such a great week and know. Thank you so much for everything !!!!

                                                                                                                -love elder bentley

                                                                                                             MoRoNi 8:3

July 16, 2012

Family and Friends, howdy!!!! I hope you all are having such a great week, things are just peachy here in the good ol Dub Vee.

 Lets see nothing to much happened this week. Well the house that we live in is in pretty bad shape we are hoping to move out soon therer is mold and mushrooms growing in our shower, which is makin us all sick!!! Our toilet is broken in one of our bathrooms. Things are just messy and gross, we only have to window air conditioners which barely help so its always hott in our house. I think the only worse thing that could happen is our porch will get all messed up in a tornado, but we are hangin in there with a smile haha :). This week we were able to pick up some new investigators, The wife is so willing to be baptizzed if she could, the husband has a tough time with the spirit I fell like we were able to break through his was near the end of our lesson and we really made him feel the spirit just by bearing testimony. I know with a testimony it can break down any wall at any time and really can sink down into the hearts of people just by our testimonies, we really left this guy pondering it was sweet and we can wait to go back!!!! We are really working with a couple people right now I hope we can see another baptism soon , I really want one that elder makemsoon and I taught. Nothing much else new just excited our recent convert jerri vincent is back she is awesome and so is her family hopefully we will be able to baptize her daughter and her husband.

 so this week I have a little spiritual insight on prayer that one of my good friends on my mission showed to me. So this week I have been working alot on trying to improve my prayers, so recently my friend sent me a package of jolly ranchers and said that before I pray I need to stick one in my mouth and dont end my prayer till the candy is melted. my friend promised me that I would have more meaningful prayers and that I would feel closer to god. I certainly do feel that way and I am more and more greatful for time i have to talk to my heavenly father. I love this quote on prayer.

 " prayer is the key that unlocks every door of difficulty. but a key is not only to be once a day; its to be used everytime you come back to a locked door."

I hope that we can all talk with our father in heaven at anytime and take the time and the effort to draw closer to him. I love my father and I know he is there for every single one of us.

I hope my grandma and papa know I love them and how great ful I am for all you do for me, I love you both so mucch!!!

Aunt mar man I love you sweatie, I love you and ticky so much and i miss you alot know that i think of you often.

I hope the Mosers know I love you all thanks for the letters you all are such a great family and i miss ya I will for sure right ya all back soon.

YOu all are seriously the best family and friends ever i love you I appreciate you and am so great ful for all of you, I hope you all have such a great week. I love you !!!!

love elder bentley

moroni 8:3

p.s nana good job at your testimony sister your going to be a great missionary :)

July 10, 2012

Whats Up EVERYONE!!!!!!! Well Fist off I love you all so so much. Its Tuesday and this week is transfers but thank goodness I am staying here in Clarksburg, I hate packing its  the worse thing ever, I hope to stay here for the rest of my mission so I never have to pack again haha. But I hope you all have had such a great week and I sure do miss ya, i guess you just never know how big of an impact your family and friends have on you until your away. I am so greatful for you all!!

 Anyways this week has been a pretty great week for us here in Clarksburg, we came so close to achieving the mission standard of excellence( or goals) but we are hoping to achieve it this week. This week our companionship has gotten blessed with some more awesome investigators!!!! An area that has been shut down has no missionaries so this week we had to drive to that area and go teach this awesome couple who are hoping to get baptized on the 25 of August!!!! We were able to set him with a date over the phone and we are so excited to get another baptism within the next month!!!! We are hoping to start getting some new investigators to start working with and hopefull our teaching pool will build.

I wanna send a shout out to my brothers and sisters.

Coda cade savannah and shaders!!! i love you all so much. you all are amazing brothers and sisters. I think of you all often and i cant wait to come home and have a blast with you!!! Coda I cant wait to come home and help you prepare for your mission remember coda to do whats right, love you family so much dont let a day go by where you dont say " i love you" to your brothers and sisters and mom and dad, trust me when you are outhere your family really means so much to you so dont let a day go by that you regret because you forgot to put your family first and love them. NANNA BANNA i cant believe your at girls camp, i hope nana that you carry that excitement to always be worthy to go threw the temple I cant wait to go with you and do baptisms for the dead when I get back. Your an amazing sister savannah and I love how you serve everyone in our family and treat them with so much kidness. I love you sister!!! Cade you better be gettin good at basketball I cant wait to beat you, i play every tuesday and thursday, gotta say last week I had a pretty good game I made 8 shots had 10 rebounds and 3 stuffs back to back to back, so i will teach you how to play when i get home, but cade you read and pray everyday before you go to school, your days will be so great if you do that. I love you cade your a great brother and know that i miss you. Shaders you little stinker I love you so much!! MUFASSA!!!!! be good dont be bad!!!! and stop getting so big :) or else i wont have a little sister anymore. I love you shaders thank you for the picture of the little mermaid its hanging on my wall. Mom and dad I love you and thank you for all you do for me. I miss my mom so much, i really do miss her telling me what i need to do to be better and fix, I just love my mom she is my best firend and you matter so much to me. your the greatest blessing from my heavenly father!!!! Dad I love you so much, the example you have set for me still plays a big role on me out here on my mission, I know that you and mom will make a awesome senior couple and i know that the mission president will love you whenver you choose to serve. Dad Thank you for always bein here for me, i trust you so much and am greatful that you are my dad. 

 I love my family we are together forever and I know that we will live with our father in heaven and its our job to help each other return and be worthy to live with our hevenly father. I am so greatful for a wonderful plan of happiness I am greatful for the wonderful blessings of the gospel, I love the temple, I love my mission, I love bein a missionary, I am thankful for blessings, covenants and ordinances. I am greatful for my savior, my weakness and my father in heaven who is always there for me. I am greatful for wonderful companions who have changed my life and helped me so much and are willing to deal with all my problemes that I have. . I hope i am not a tough companion to get along with. I am thankful for the people I meet everyday and for the opportunity I have to share my testimony with them. I love my recent converts and I am thankful for all these things. and so much more. I truely am in debt to my father in heaven. i love what i have and i should never ask for more. these things make me happy they complete me and bring me the most happiness . 

I love you all so very much, i am pretty sure these emails probably gett tiring after a couple weeks of reading after I say the same thinngs again haha, I hope to have better email for ya all next week and I hope you have such a great week and may god bless you all!!! 

                                                                                                                       -love elder bentley 

                                                                                                                 moroni 8:3  

From: West Virginia Charleston Mission <2011778@ldschurch.org>
Date: July 3, 2012 8:52:04 AM MST
To: West Virginia Charleston Mission <2011778@ldschurch.org>
Subject: All Safe in the Storm!

Dear Parents of our wonderful Missionaries,

            This week has been an exciting one for us!  For any that do not know, “Battered West Virginia” as they have named it in the news has had some hurricane-force winds come through this past weekend.  No one knew they were coming, so not many were prepared for the power outages or water breaks that we have experienced.  Most of the areas in our mission were without power for some amount of time, and some also lost water for a while.  Many trees were uprooted and roads have been blocked and some homes have been damaged.  We are very pleased to report that none of our missionaries were injured in any way.  Most areas have received power and water back.  One apartment still has no power or water, but any missionaries whose apartment lacks these necessities have been housed with other missionaries or with members of their ward.  We have been able to make contact with each one of the missionaries, all are okay and have reported a successful time doing service for those living in the area they have stewardship over.

            We can see that the Lord truly watches over His missionaries.  It seems in almost every case that our missionaries’ apartments gained their utilities back before most any other place in the cities they reside in.  This experience has been one that has strengthened our faith that the Lord’s hand is in every trial we encounter.  There have been many investigators found and re-contacted solely due to the storms and our missionaries’ efforts to serve and rebuild their communities.

            We are looking forward to a week that may have more storms ahead of us, but it is our testimony that as the Lord taketh away, so the Lord then showers with desired and pleaded-for blessings.  We are grateful for your encouragement to your sons and daughters here in the mission field, helping them to catch the vision of all that can be realized in times of trial.  Some of your missionaries may not have the ability to e-mail you this week, we are aware.  We wanted to be sure you knew why they didn't contact you if this was the case.  But rest assured that every one of them is safe and accounted for!

Gratefully,

President and Sister Pitt

July 2, 2012

Family and Friends Git R Done!!! whats going on everyone!?! I hope you all have had a super duper week and are stayin out of that awesome summer arizona heat, just think it could be worse and you could be where i am at where its always humid and sticky!!!! This week has been Crazy with all the big storms we didnt have power for one night and it was so HOT in our house!!! But we are safe and our air is back on :).

 so this week things have just been crazy busy with the storm tryin to make sure our missionaries are safe. Apparently most of the missionaries apartment dont have electricty or water what a fun time to be a zone leader :)!!!

I wanted to start off by telling you all a little expereience about what happened this week, in no way am i trying be prideful or anything, But this is all directed by the spirit and its been on my mind the past couple of days. It was late in the evening on saturday probably at around 8 p.m and we were having a tough time figuring out what to do. I went and knelt and asked heavenly father to please bless to do something late this evening , help us know who we can bless and after i ended my prayer this name came immediately to my mind saying we needed to go see this family, I brought my companion in and told hime to pray with me and again the name came to my mind. So we went, we got there and the brother said " Elders thanks for coming i have been really sick these past couple of days and i dont know who my home teachers are and i would really like a blessing, we went in and proceeded a little later to give him a blessing. I know that the spirit spoke to me because I was willing to listen and heed its promptings, I know that if we follow the spirit  it will lead us to do whats right. i am so greatful I had this experience and i know it will be something I always remember.

 This week in my studies I finished Alma getting ready to start on Helaman, i hope I can finish the book of mormon at least 2 times before I come home. :) I found an awesome quote by Spencer W. Kimball that says :

"I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems like no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If i immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns."

 I know that as we continure to immerse ourselfs in the scriptures that we can recive that divine help that is nessecary throughout our day. I know that if we simply just pick up and read the scriptures daily our days will be better and we will be more happier as we seek to communicate with God.

I miss you all so much , I hope you all have an amazing 4th of July we will probably be going to a members house and watching fireworks and playing CORNHOLE its a game where you toss the bean bag in the hole, so much fun and I am way good , elder makemson is not that bad for bein blind in one eye haha.

I love this work so much I love my family and friends and I know that the work which I am about is true, I love the gospel and I pray that I can be the best represenative of Jesus Christ that I can be, I love my savior and I know that I am his diciple at all times and in all things and in all places. I hope you have a great week and thanks so much for your letters and support. :) i love ya!!!

                                                                                                                                   love-

                                                                                                               Elder Chaz Bentley          Moroni 8:3