"Ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you.. and ye cannot bear all things now..be of good cheer for I will Lead you along..." D&C 78: 17-18
Suddenly my problems are not bad at all. I feel bad for even complaining about bed bugs. This Tuesday we had interviews with our mission president. We went to the church to meet them there and when we walked in everyone had this really concerned look on their face. President and his wife were both on the phones. An elder came up to us and told us that two sisters serving up in Ogdensburg were in a horrible car accident. We didn't know much then, but we knew it was bad. The president suggested we all kneel down and say a prayer and that seemed to comfort us. President and his wife were on and off the phones calling people. I was their when he called the parents of Sister Bentley who was in the worse condition. I can't imagine being the parent and receiving that phone call. In the midst of all this we did our interviews and it was hard to concentrate. We left and prayed all evening for Sister Love and Sister Bentley. The next morning we had district meeting and President happened to be coming to ours that day. He told us in the beginning of the meeting that Sister Bentley had passed away during the night. It didn't seem real and I still feel like I will see her at the next transfer meeting. We ended up changing the ways of our district meeting and having a testimony meeting. The one thing that was common in all of our testimonies was the plan of salvation. How lucky I am to know that I will be able to see Sister Bentley again. We know where she is and we have the assurance she can live with her family forever. This experience just reminds me how lucky we are to have this knowledge. I have such a strong testimony of the plan of salvation and that we can truly live with our families forever. This week has been a hard one and trying to understand how a missionary could die on her mission has been even harder. My mission president shared some scriptures with us and I liked the one in D&C 78:17-18. We are as little children and we don't understand everything right now. I don't understand why she died, but I know the Lord has a plan for all of us. He will lead us along to understanding. Sister Bentley was a great missionary! She and I both started our missions in Glenville so when ever we did see each other we would talk about the people there. She had a great love for the people she served. Sister Love was also hurt pretty bad and I'm worried for her as well. Continue to pray for the families and sister Love.
This week has felt like an off week and we have been trying to work around it. We hope the bed bugs are gone and we hope we can get back to normality. On Sunday we had a guy come to church looking for a Book of Mormon. He said someone had stolen his and that he used to meet with missionaries before. It was a great blessing and we hope we can start teaching him. Right now we have been teaching a man named Dwight. He is such a great investigator and is so humble. We were able to have a member come to his lesson and it really helped us get to know Dwight better and what he needed. He opened up to us and told us that he hasn't been praying and we were able to help him pray and give all his problems to the Lord. The simple lessons like this is why I'm on a mission.
I don't have too much time to write this week because of the Holiday. I just wanted to end by bearing my testimony of this beautiful Gospel we have. Sometimes I think we take for granted what we have right in front of our faces. We have been so blessed to have the Book of Mormon in our lives. We must use it as guide and really study it. The Book of Mormon will tell us what we need to do in order for us to have eternal life. We get so caught up in the worldly things of life we forget what we are really here for. We are here on earth right now to prepare to meet God. Not to be the best at a sport or be in the top program. We are here to prepare to meet God. We must do everything we can in our power to apply the atonement into our lives because that is the only way we will live with our families forever and live with our Heavenly Father. I'm not sure what I would have done if I had never gone on a mission. It has opened my eyes to what really matters and what is most important. I am so glad I am on a mission. I have the opportunity now to share this truth to the people in New York. I know that Sister Bentley is in the Spirit World doing the same thing. Share this plan with everyone around you because without it they will not live with their families and will not live with God.
I love you all,
Sister Stacey
Keep the families of Sister Bentley in your prayers!
My new address
502 Ivy Ridge Rd.
Syracuse NY 13210
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