November 12, 2012

Well Big Gulps Huh? How are you all doin!! I hope your having a splendid week!! I tell you what its gettin cold here, BRR!!

Well transfers are this week, Elder Clay is leavin he is heading off to charleston, WV, I sure will miss the Elder!! But I am getting someone who came out at the same time as me, his name is elder Whitby!! I am stoked he is one of my good friends in the mission,we are goin to tear it up!! I am stayin in Vinton, man this is going to be a blast, I was hopin to train 1 last time but its ok:)!!

 Well these past 12 weeks have been so great!! I have loved serving with elder clayI tell you what he has taught me so much about he importance of bein humble,  I wish you all could hear this great missionary pray man I dont think there hasnt been a time i havent felt the spirit in his prayers, his prayers really sink down into the hearts of the people we meet on the doorstep, our investigators, and members. His prayers are so powerful. I have loved bein able to see how much Heavenly Father loves this missionary. I sure will miss serving with him, we really saw alot of miracles together, I really felt that if Christ was here he would have done the things that we did if we were, we ministered as if Christ was here. Its been absolutely amazing I hope that I can take the things I learned from this missionary and apply it to myself to help make me better. I  will sure miss my friend.

But There is still so much to do here in Vinton this work is exciting, I have a feeling our area is about to explode into something amazing , we are teaching so many people and hopefully soon someone will be ready for baptism, its been so awesome one of our investigators is like begging for us to always teach her she is so excited to learn and progress. This work is amazing and I am excited to see what the lord has in store for us here.

Well I will leave you all with my testimony, What a great time it is to be a missionary, especially around the holidays because you actually realize what you truely are greatful for. I dont think I could name all the things I am greatful for, there is just so much. But I am thankful to be a missionary, I am thankful for wonderful people that I have been able to teach and see come into this gospel, I LOVE THEM!! I just found out last week that one of my recent converts was preparing for a mission, He is coming along great. I am thankful for my family and freiends I love you all so dearly, I am confident that our family will be together forever, I am thankful for coventants and promises i get in return. I am greatful for a savior, I know that what christ went through he couldnt do it without the father. I am thankful for so many blessings the lord has given I these are the things that are most important to me that I am truely greatful for.

i hope that you all will have such a great week, and may we remember like president monson said "TO ALWAYS EXPRESS OUR THANKS". Love you and god bless you all.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!

                                                                                                                                                                               Elder Chaz Bentley

                                                                                                                                                                                moroni 8:3

November 5th, 2012

WHAT UP FAM!! I hope you all have had such a great week!! We are doing great here in Vinton, the STORM didnt do any damage to us we are safe and sound here, so no worries!!

ALright so I will start off with something funny. This week I had the opportunity to play basketball, I was on an exchange with another missionary, and I was the only white guy playing basket ball, the missionary I was with iis not white haha, my companion walked in he was like "where is elder bentley and he was like ohh!!" It was funny. :)

Well This week we have worked really hard!! We are always so close to reaching the mission standard of excellence!!  We are just trying to find someone solid who is ready for this gospel, we are finding alot of people, but we cant really retain anyone so its been kinda hard lately, but we were able to find a SOlid new investigator who we meet a couple weeks ago we are hopimg to set her on date soon she is excited to learn!! we know Gods elect are out there and I really hope we can find a family soon!!!!! WE had a great halloween, we went around with one of our members to a bunch of TRUNK or TREATat these churches it was pretty fun!! It was a great halloween!!

Well I have grown to love the spirit so much more on my mission. Lately its been just on my mind how can anyone not be apart of this church or go in-active. IF I could I would shake them haha, There is a quote that my Grandma told me in a letter at the beggining of my mission.

" Be different from the world, in order to make a difference in the world." - Elder Neal A Maxwell

We got to be different, sometimes I feel like we only have our eyes in the world and sometimes we forget the eternal asspect of things, We got think where do we see our families at that last day when Christ comes again? Will he welcome us home, Will we have done all that he has commanded us to do? I hope that whatever questions he may ask we may answer with A FIRM YES, I hope that we will remember that its more that just living in this world , we can inherit eternal life, our lord is preparing mannsions for each of us!! I hope that we dont live in this world but that we continue to have our focus on eternal life!!!

I know that Thanksgiving is approaching fast and I thought of this thought, We all know the parable of the good samaritan, We know that 2 men passed by this guy who was lying on the ground , and didnt bother to stop or help, But we know that a Samaritan was able to stop for a minute and help this man who laid almost dead and took him to a place where he could clean him up and take good care of him. I am pretty sure that man was thankful for that samritan and I bet he didnt even know who helped him. I know we have a great privledge to reach out to those in need, I know that my father in heaven has been my good samaritan, he has been there to help me and care for me and provide many wonderful blessings just for. I love him I thank him and express gratitude for him for everyhing and knowing that I can live with him again. And I am so greatful to be able to live with him forever!!

Well I hope you al have had such a great week I pray that each of you are doing so well, I love you and may we all have a great thanksgiving. Transfers are next week, so ill email you all next tuesday i am hoping i can train 1 more time. I love you all have a great week. JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!

                                                                      -elder bentley

                                                                   moroni 8:3

October 29th, 2012

From: West Virginia Charleston Mission <2011778@ldschurch.org>
Date: October 29, 2012, 3:17:30 PM MST
Subject: All Elders safe and accounted for.

Dear parents,

Just want you to know all of the elders and sisters are just fine.  The storm has had very little effect in our mission area. 

Love,

President and Sister Pitt

October 29th, 2012

BOOOOOO!!! Happy Halloween everyone I hope your week had been absolutely great!! I am just livin the dream over here in Vinton, its awesome!!

Well this week we have been working extremely hard, we came so close to achieving the mission standard of excellence, we were just missin someone at church!! But we will get it this week, we have so much to do. I feel like we are in an intense basketball game and we keep getting behind with short time left and we cant loose haha, this game is worth so much. 

This week Elder Whiting from the 70 visted our mission, He talked about DESIRE to do God’s work as He wants it done is important for us. He asked us some questions. What is the desire of YOUR heart? What is it you really seek after? Unusual missionaries are those who see visions in their hearts and minds as to where to go, what to say and who you need to find. He drew a continuum with the nature of Christ on one end and natural man on the other. Then he asked, “Where are you on this continuum?” and “Where would your parents put you, or your companion?” We do not have to stay where we are for the atonement allows us to change and move closer to where we want to go. After desire came OBEDIENCE. If you want the blessings, you have to be exactly obedient. This does not mean that we won’t make mistakes. This means we try the best we can to do everything asked of us . Next was FAITH. What precedes your faith? Think of times where you saw your faith manifest. Last was UNITY. John 17. Unity with Deity is most important. If you are struggling with your companion, he is struggling with you. Unity needs to be there with God, companions, the mission President, etc. Do a thorough examination of yourself. When we have all of these in place we will have POWER. We have authority; now we need power. If we align actions to desires, we will receive power to teach, to listen, and to love others.

Right before we headed out to lunch we sat for about 10 mintues and I prayed and I really desired to recieve some mad rev. (revaltion) for my self and 1 word came to my mind, LOVE. I though about the first week before I started traning, the 1st thing president pitt did was he came up to me, put his hand on my shoulders and said love your companion, LOVE is the motive in everthing we do. I hope that as I work on this that I will stregnthn that power that I carry as a missionary.

We have had a pretty great week. We were able to set  a lady date for baptism for January 26th. I really think she will get baptized sooner though!!! She came to our ward halloween party this Friday and I was talking to her and she said Her son who is on a mission in Arizona (he is serving in Heber) emailed her and said " MOM!! are you going to get baptized so we can go to the temple togather?" She said that she knows baptism is her next step, it sounds like she hasnt been taught very well so we are going to go through everything to help her understand. Elder Clay did a great job at extending a solid invitation to read the book of mormon, he is a great missionary and I have loved seeing his improvement in the work and how much he has grown. But I really feel like she will get baptized sooner!! Then we went out with our ward mission leader this week, we were trying people and we werent really finding to much success. But we decided to go to see this lady named Alba Hamilton and we had a great lesson, we were able to set her with a date for baptism for Jan. 26, i too feel like she could get baptized sooner. I guess her husband investigated or was a member we arent really sure but we are going to go through everything and help her understand , she knows that the book of mormon is true!!! We were able to find many investigators through harvesting, we have 2 solid people that we need to see this week so I will let you know how it goes, I hope that one turns out really well :)!!

So this week I heard of something called HARVESTING from president pitt, and we get to the door step and we tell people "we are sent here from God and we would love to leave a blessing with you and your home and find out why god has sent us here, then they willl invite us in and we will leave them with a prayer and right after we go in and say a prayer we will ask them Why do you think God has sent us here, if they preceed to ask more question after the prayer we will answer them, if not we will do what we wanted and then leave. But I had a pretty cool expereince the day I got asked to try this, it was late and we knocked on this door and this lady came, I gave the introduction and she immediately kneeled right down had no probleme with it at all, she told us after the prayer that she had a funeral for a loved one that had passed away that day , we offered to share more about the plan of salvation and we are lookin forward to going back again this week, the second time this happened a lady said I could never turn down a good prayer, and she is interested in learning more. I feel the powera nd authority in my calling eveytime I do this. The SPirit was so powerful on those door steps and its been a great opportunity to bear testimony. I love HARVESTING !!

Well I hope my dad knows how much I love him, HAPPY birthday , thank you for your wonderful example and everything I hope you have an amazing day. ilove you dad!!

I love you all so much I hope you dont have to much of a SCary week, may god bless you all and keeep you safe.

                                                                           -elder bentley

                                                                      

October 22nd, 2012

GIVE ME SOME FIN NOGGIN DUDE!!!!!!!!!! You all got some serious thrill isues dude haha :) how are you all doin!! I hope fine and dandy. .

Well  this week has been a pretty good week. Yesterday we had a great day at church, Our ward mission leader before he spoke decided to put me on the spot and make me go up and bear my testimony about missionary work. i guess it turned out good our bishop said last night, that he thinks he called me out because that is what invited the spirit was my testimony. Then the other day we were doing some things and I felt really prompted to go see one of our investigators who has cancer and might die soon. . . and we got over there and he needed help gettin up, his wife couldnt do it and he said man i wish those two boys would show up, next minute we knocked on his door, we went in and helped we know that heavenly father lead us there. We were able to pick up some new investigators this week. I am really hoping and praying that I can find a family, I have yet to find a family to bring into the church so if you all could help me out I would really love for you all to pray to help me with this. Its one of my goals I hope I can achieve before the end of my mission. But we are finding great success here. I am still learning so much and growings so much, I got alot to learn these next couple months!!

So I have been thinkin its football season and I love football stories and I thought this was pretty sweet so hope you alll like it its has a great thought behind it. .

When I was a young man in high school, one of my passions was American football. I played middle linebacker. The coach worked the team hard, teaching us the basics. We practiced until the skills became natural and automatic. During one play against our biggest rival, I had an experience that has helped me over the years. We were on defense. I knew my assigned opponent, and as the play unfolded, he moved to my right into the line of scrimmage. There was a lot of noise from players and fans. I reacted as the coach had taught us and followed my man into the line, not knowing if he had the ball. To my surprise, I felt the ball partially in my hands. I gave it a tug, but my opponent didn’t let go. As we tugged back and forth, amid all the noise I heard a voice yelling, “Packer, tackle him!” That was enough to bring me to my senses, so I dropped him on the spot.

I have wondered how I heard that voice above all the other noise. I had become acquainted with the voice of the coach during the practices, and I had learned to trust it. I knew that what he taught worked.

We need to be acquainted with the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and we need to practice and apply gospel teachings until they become natural and automatic. These promptings become the foundation of our testimonies. Then our testimonies will keep us happy and safe in troubled times.

I love the holy ghost I am greatful for its still small voice that whispers to us at any time, all we need to do is recgnoize it and I promise if we follow it we will be led to do what right, thats one of the biggest thing I have come to love on my mission is the promptings of the holy ghost!!

well we are excited for elder whiting to come we have alot to do to prepare, I hope youall have a great week. I love you and mis you. and may god bless you!!! thanks for everything !!

                                                                                                                                elder Chaz bentley moroni 8:3

                                                                                                                             

October 15th, 2012

What up everyone!!! I hope you all are having an amazing week I am going to appologize ahead of time if this email is kind  of short but I will do my best to hopefully make it GREAT!!! I hope you and your families are doing well and i pray for the lords richest blessings to poured out upon you all!!

Well I will start out by sharing a little spiritual message with you I hope it  helps in some way. 

"most of us have not reached [a christllike] stage of compassion and love and forgivenes. it is not easy. it requires self-discipline almost greater than we are capable of. But as we try we come to know that there is a resource of healing, that there is a mighty power of healing in christ, and that if we are able to be his true servants we must not only exercise that healing in behalf of others, but, perhaps more importantly, inwardly." - gordon B. hinckley.

If there is one thing I have come to learn in this companionship its been truely becoming a diciple of Jesus Christ. I love the lyrics from this song.

"If the savior stood beside me would I do the things i do?

would I think I think of his commandments and try harder to be true?

Would I follow his example, would I live more righteously?

If I could see the savior standing nigh, watching over me.

If the savior stood beside me would I say the things I say?

Would my words be true and kind if he were never far away?

Would I try to share the gospel? WOuld I speak more revrently? 

If I could see the savior standing nigh watching over me.

He is always near me. though I do not see him there

and because he love me dearly I am in his watchful care.

so ill be the kind of person that I'd know I'd like to be.

If I could see the savior standing nigh watching over me. "

I am so greatful to be a representative of my savior, I love him and I pray that I will always be worthy to carry his name. I know that its not just me but I know that all of you who have been baptized represent our savior. I am so greatful for my saviors atoning sacrafice and that it allows me to be worthy to live with my father in heaven. I love this church it truely is great and such a blessin.

 Well this week we have been really busy we have "pounded the pavement" i guess you could say haha we are really trying to find some solid people to teach, we know they are out there!! So this week we were able to start teaching a family, we started teaching them on thursday and we had a pretty good lesson with them the lady was so stoked to come to church on sunday and then her fiance came with their baby and I guess the husband loved church, we are looking forward to teaching them this week and hopefully setting them with a baptisimal date. Then one of our other investigators that stopped us on the street a couple weeks ago we had an amazing lesson with him and his wife!! right now they are having some marrige issues and we had an amazing lesson where the spirit was just so powerful it was awesome. I really feel like the lord is placing those elect in our path. we are truely starting to be blessed with wonderful people to teach. Our mission is getting pretty stoked to have Elder Whiting come next week so we have been preparing alot for that.

Well I love you all so much I pray that you all will have such a great week, thank you for your prayers in behalf of this work it truely is moving forward and it would be impossible without you. But there is so much more to do!! I love you all so much continue to pray for those missionary opportunities!!!!! I love ya!! oodles!!!

                                                                                                                             -elder bentley

                                                                                                                             moroni 8:3

October 8, 2012

Wow what a great  spiritual week its has been!!!!! I hope you all have had a great week please always remember how much I love you and your father in heaven loves you. Its always hard to email after an amazing spiritual general conference.

But Ill start off this email by sharing with you some of the things I have learned that will change my life forever. One of them was about the priniciple of becoming I have come to love this principle. I know that my mission is not centered on me but I know that its helping others know what they can become. I love  President Monson shared in preisthood session about the missionary who saw alot of success on his mission and one of the general authorities asked him how did you do it? and he said I saw everyone as our father in heaven sees them In white!! . I loved the quote by Elder Osguthrope " to be converted requires us to do and to become. " I pray that we will se others as what heavenly fathers sees them as I know that this is merely how christ works through us to help other people.

So This week has been kinda slow but full of amazing wonderful Expereinces, we were able to meet with one of our investigators yesterday and have an amazing lesson!! It was impossible to not feel the spirit it was absolutley amazing!! We were sad that he didnt come to conference but it was just an amazing lesson. Before I even got done extending the invite he said ya of course haha it was awesome. We read alma chapter 36 which describes alma's conversion story. . I have come to love the scripture Alma 36:27

And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me.

this week were able to visit with one of our members and as you know we replaced sisters when we got here and this member told us you got some big shoes to fill. But we were visting with these members this week and they said you all dont even know how much you have helped us with the spirit you carry. It blesses our home and we have made so many changes since you all got here that have helped our family draw so much closer to the lord, I came to know that my mission is more that just maybe reaching out to investigators and less- actives but we are really called to bless members lives as well. This week has been absolutely amazing and I have loved these sweet feelings of the spirit so much.

I just want to send a quick birthday shout out to my dearest aound mar-man I love you. Thank you for your supporting emails that you send to me. I wish i could be there for your birthday and show you how us elves party :) I love you mar man and am so greatful for you and the blessing you are.

Micah whats up my man, can i just start off by telling you how much your heavenly father loves you, more than you will ever know. your an amazing cousin and friend. I know that our savior jesus christ lives and that joseph litteraly saw what he said he saw. I have been blessed so much to serve the lord and felt his love for me grow, and i know that any young man will come to feel that as they serve. I dont know where I would be without my mission. I hope you have an amazing birthday buddy, you just keep on keepin on. I love ya.

Thank you bishop oakes for a wonderful email that was awesome bein able to hear from you, hope your family is doing well and I hope you know how greatful I am for you and your example. 

I hope Uncle Randy your doing well your defintily in my thoughts and prayers!!keep breathing, DONT YOU GO DYING ON ME!! haha

Coda hope your neck gets better so you can play some football great job at bein undefeated!! Cade great job at your football game your a stud keep getting sacks. Cade I challenge ya for however many tackles you get in your games you have to read that many verses in the book of mormon by yourself :)

I love you family and friends so much I hope you have an amazing week and may we all become better diciples of our lord and savior jesus christ. I love you have a great week and god bless.

                                                                                                                        -elder chaz bentley

                                                                                                                 moroni 8:3

October 2, 2012

Family and friends, top of the morning to you all!! I hope your week has been PEACHY (or good). With confenrence approaching things are just exciting and fun here. I love you all and am stoked to tell you about my week!!!

 Well football was fun by the way last week, found out I am still a pretty good quaterback for flag football I got wait for the TURKEY BOWL this year haha:) Well like I said with conference apporoaching we are handing out a ton of conferece invites, we handed out 77 in one day!!! we set the record until friday, the sisters are of course better ;) they handed out 400. I was a little bummed but we will do better this week. We had an awesome expereince while handing out these invites the night before we set a goal to get 30 we were left our car parked at our apartment and we prayed numerous times within 5 minutes to accomlish this goal of 20 within 10 minutes we talked to 10 people we ran into a lady on her front porch who really needs the gospel, then we were just talking to this guy who ended up turning down our card and we turn around and there was this guy sitting in his truck parked he asked us what we had to give him, we said we feel really impressed that this book of mormon is for you!! He said thank you we invited him to confernce he is coming on SUnday and he said he is really looking for something more in his life, more happiness i guess lately he has been going through alot of struggles but that day I gained a testimony that the lord places people in our path I know he does and what were the chances to have that happen within 1 hour amazing how the lord works in mysterious ways, we ended up going back to this guys house that we meet in his car and we extended to him a baptismal date for November 10 and he said YES. So that made our week pretty exciting!

Our mission is getting pretty excited to have a general authority come to our mission this month. I am just loving this work so so much. This week we were at a members house and it came time to share a spiritual message and I felt impressed to watch this mormon.org video come to find out it was exactly what they needed and they are preparing for the temple and satan has been working on them hard. I know that throught the spirit we can come to know what others need to bless their lives. I am so greatful for this wonderful week which has been such a blessing, I am greatful for a wonderful companion who is helping improve daily and helping me become more like my savior jesus christ. I am so great that my life is so blessed and I pray that I can just give it my all at all times. didnt get out to much this week I was sick all day friday , the cold brought me down and wore me out but I am back on top of everything and feeling a ton better!!! 

Well I just wanna send a shout out to my dad Todd, dad I love you more than you will ever know. I am so greatful for all that you do to support me and help me. I hope your doin well and that work is going good. I hope your birthday is great. I love you dad your my example and i will always look up to you. have a great day!!!

It was good to hear from my parents that Marty and Sue made it to Arizona safe, congrats on selling your house, I hope the Packers are doing good this year. I cant wait to see you all and visit with ya. I hope you are doing well and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

 Well I got the best family and friends in the world I love you all so much, there isnt anything I wouldnt do for you I hope you have a great week and I hope you all are remembering to pray with us at 1:00 our time for our mission to find the ELECT we are going to have a white christmas. I love you all!!!

                                                                                                                                -elder bentley

                                                                                                                           moroni 8:3

September 24, 2012

family and friends whats happenin!! Well i hope your week has been so great!!! I know that it has been a great week for us here in the Vinton area !!! I love you all and i sure do miss you!!!

This week we had a BAptism!! Jeremy our investigator got baptized it was awesome haha he was singing and dancing before his baptism he was so excited. My testimony has grown so much these past 5 weeks, i know that the lord is preparing people EVERYWHERE no matter where we go we can find the elect!!!!! Elder Clay had the great opportunity to baptism, i think most of  my happiness comes from seeing others happy it gives me the excitement to keep going!! But the work doesnt stop we got alot of more work to do here in Vinton we are going to help this place be the top baptizing area in the mission haha. I am so greatful to be able to be here I know that my father in heaven knows me and exactly what I need I am greatful to be in the service of Gods children and I know that this work is true!!

I wanted to send a quick shout out to my good friend Ashley Cox I hope you have an amazing BIrthday !!! you sure are awesome and I hope you are having a blast in Hawii!! Wish I could go there haha. Well I hope you have an amazing day ashley. thank you for everything . love ya friend!!

Well I love you all so much I am sorry this email is so short but we are going to play football with other missionaries. But I just want you all know to know that I love being able to serve! I love my recent converts and how much they have strengthed my testimony , I feel like I have been converted on my mission. I know that through a young boy we have the resstored gospel and we hold that priesthood to bless the lives others. I love my family so much I miss them and they mean the world to me. I love you all and I hope you have such a great week and that its full of blessings!!!

                                                                                                      love

                                                                                              elder bentley

                                                                                     -moroni 8: 3 

September 17, 2012

Well howdy everyone!!!!! I hope everyone is having a super duper week. Its true the saying,  days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days. Everything is just a blur a cant seem to keep up with time there is just so many people to baptize and so litttle time to do it haha. But I hope your doing well and have had a spledid week!!!

Well one of our investigators is hopefully getting baptized on Sunday!!!! I tell you what missionary life is just so exciting there is nothing better than bein here in Vinton, Va serving!!! I am loving every minute of it. We got so much work to do this week!!! This week we were doin alot of finding we really needed to build up our teaching pool and we still have alot more finding to do hopefully we can set more baptisimal dates and see another baptism here shortly, i stil havent been able to see a family come into the church thats somethingI really want to happen before the end of the mission. So recently in our mission we have started praying at 1 o' clock to find the lords elect!!!!! So if any of you wanna join our mission to help us have a White Christmas pray at 1 o'clock and thats eastern standard daylight time haha. Yesterday we got stuffed we had 3 meals within a 4 hour time spand it was crazy it was like it was thanksgiving or something haha.

Well I want to congragulate my sister savannah for becoming the Beehive president , nana love and serve those young women with all you got and make sure that they have a friend and that they come to church do something nice for them love them. your amazing sister and I know you will do so great I love you nana so much your the best.

Well this week I dont have too much to say but ill leave ya with a short little testimony!! I know that this church is true, I am greatful for the prophet joseph smith who saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ, I know that he was confused and joseph found his answer through the scriptures then he went into the grove of tress and knelt and prayed to our father in heaven. Its interesting that satan tried to keep him from praying because he knew that this 14 year old boy was going to change the world, he was going to change lives. I know that satan is going to keep us from doing the right thing because he sees what we can become and he is going to keep us from becoming something great. I love the boy, prophet. I know that my redeemer lives he loves you more than you will ever know. I am great to be a missionary for this church. Let us always remember to stand as a witness of God at all times , in all things and in all places. I love you all so much I hope you have a great week!!!!

                                                                                                                           love elder bentley

                                                                                                                        -moroni 8:3