Elder Alex Bennett's Mission Blog

Elder Peterson let me know that 2 days ago it was Slurpie day, Why did i never know about this in America!?!? Apparently they give out free ones on that day.... Anywho.. How is everyone!!! Sounds like everyone is having a fun summer and things are good. I dont know what season it is here, one day its summerish then it rains A TON! Yesterday after English Club was over, there was a huge rain storm and the sister missionaries didn't have an umbrella so i let them borrow mine (Elder P.'s was at the apartment). So Elder Peterson and I got a little wet but hey, no biggie. And Sasha (a male-member in the branch) told me that the rain here is radioactive/acid rain and it can make you go bald, hope its just a joke, but probably not. To answer some of the questions that you had... When I go to Finland, they say that I will have a 99% chance of going with the Elders that were in my district at the MTC, which would be really awesome. We take a bus and then a
flight, and stay at the temple housing. You also have the opportunity to go to a session at the Finland temple. Visa trips are a blast from what I've heard. We mainly cook our own food every meal. It's cool though, almost always members will feed us refreshments at Family Night and Firesides. At the family night that we recently went to, sister Olga wanted me to learn how to cook Plov (rice, meat, veggies) so we had that, cookies, and a sour berry drink. It was a great meal!!! All of you need to fly to Russia to come try blini (thin folded pancakes with your choice of fillings), they are sooo good! And the "donuts" here are amazing as well. Our apartment is a tall building, im not trying to scare you mama, but it's in a deeeecent neighborhood i guess, i dunno it's kinda sketch, but it's all good. There are other missionaries in our area, we have 8 total in our zone (including us). Elder Anderson & Elder Whitchurch, Elder Haynes & Elder
Erickson, Sister Vasilivskya (from Samara, Russia) & Sister Holmes, and... US! It's a great group, i'm really lucky. There are about 70 or so on average attendance every week to sacrament. They are all such amazing people, it's been great to get to know all of them better. English club has been really good, we have a few faithful attendees that come every time. Yesterday Elder P. and I taught our group (there are 3 different levels) about Utah- things to do, famous places, interesting facts, etc. Culture night is coming up, we might get to go to a soccer match, which would be really cool. We have a few new investigators this week, we were meeting with one yesterday and it was kind of embarrassing because my stomach made the biggest growling noice it ever has in my life. After the meeting i just said in the best Russian i could, "Exxxcccuuuusssee meee, my stomach was so loud!" and they thought it was pretty funny and so did my companion. We saw
the cutest little puppy-dog (not quite the age of a puppy not not full-grown either) at the bus-stop. It is homeless and we see it here and there throughout the week. It eats the sunflower seeds that people spit out and like eats whatever it can find, its sooo sad! If I were in different circumstances, i would have for sure taken it home and taken care of it. Got a hair cut this morning. Elder P. has a Phillips clipper set and he actually did a really nice job, it looks good. It saved us some money and the hair cuts here take like an hour and they like to leave it long in the front and short in the back "Dima hair cut", so i thought i'd pass.... Let Justin T. know that I'm thankful for the email he sent and that I'm doing excercises 6 days a week. Push-ups, crunches, we have a pull up bar, the whole 9 yards, so tell him to get ready to sign up for Ninja Warrior or American Gladiator when i get home. Ohhhhh weird!!! That song off of Just Dance 2
is playing in the internet place! The one that Jake likes to get really close like he's gonna kiss ya one where you're a sailor and do the salutes. Sometimes "Grenade" by Bruno Mars will play, Bon Jovi, Rhianna, etc. here. So the other day on the bus, there were a MILLION people on it, and i got positioned right under this persons armpit because he was grabbing the bar above,yum.... If you are all going to the Newton Celebration could you send me some turkey steaks and a keg of the Summers home-made Rootbeer, thanks. :) Im sure that St. G has a big celebration as well so you'd probably stay, but just sayin'... That's so crazy to hear about all these people getting married!!! They are babies! Life seems like a long time when you first look at it, but it really slips past you so fast! Im on a mission, I'm a baby!! Where has time gone?! I'm even starting to forget parts of the MTC, it's so crazy. Oh, if any of you can remember
any funny stories or things that happened i could tell a big group of people, let me know, at English club we switch off on days where we share a funny experience. Also like group game ideas, recipes, flash drive, or anything that you think would be useful. Thank you for everything, I'll say it again.. I HAVE THE GREATEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD! I miss you all, and hope you all have an amazing week. - Love Elder Bennett