On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 3:51 PM, Alex Bennett Ooooooo, I'm kinda mad right now, I had a way long email, almost done and some weird thing happened and kicked me off and didn't save it as a draft at all, sooooo huh, I guess this is today's email since I spent a ton of time already typing. Shoot. Maybe in the event of a miracle I'll be able to recover it.

Tap, Tap, Click, Tap, Wa-wa-wa, Tap, Tap..... Monday, August 20, 2012 6:04 PM That, is the sound of my lovely type-writer that I got from the D.I. for twelve bucks! Elder Hardy and I decided that we wanted to be able to write letters faster.I love it though, it's a "Brother 540-E" or something like that. Every key-stroke produces a click/tap on the paper, it's not a super old-fashioned one or a new one with like a word-processing screen, it's in-between the two I guess. I have been able to put out SOOO many letters of appreciation for meals, friendships/associations with investigators/members, etc. during some free time such as during lunch or after nightly planning, I LOVE it. Speaking of Russians,I met another one the other day. We were at the Jackson's for dinner which, by the way a cool fact, are related to Elder Daniel Anderson that was in my District in the MTC, he was DL for the first 6 weeks, and then it was me. He went to the Samara, Russia mission, Sister Jackson is his Aunt, what a small world, she was talking about her nephew from North Dakota who was serving in Russia and it all came together. Anyway, this Russian speaking guy is from Ukraine, I probably shouldn't have called him a Russian then, but he spoke the language. He's Pentecostal, very common to see where I was, but really a nice guy. He gave us his phone number and said to call him anytime. I knew when Justin was saying that the potatoes that you used on Sunday weren't from Idaho that everything was going to go wrong, it's the only way to go. That's way cool that you got to meet Elder Hardy's dad, he sounds like a really nice man. I'm sure the two of us (Hardy & I) will probably see each other a TON considering we are going to Dixie the same Semester. And, BY THE WAY, crashing on the bike is very common :) Didn't you know that 4 out of 5 missionaries crash on their bike here every day... Ok I made that up, but it's probably not far from the truth. Do you guys want to hear a pretty sweet song on LDS.org? Of course you do, it's on the Youth Music section and it's called "Take it Home" by Jen Blosil. I love this mission, I'm so grateful to be serving here. I have a Jewish friend now, we just helped them move some heavy stuff in their new house the other day. We thought we'd never see our helmets again the other day when we got a ride from a member. We were trying to get to an appointment on the other side of town on our bikes and this car pulls to the side of the road and he asks if he can take us anywhere, we were way happy to get a ride so we locked up our bikes to a fence thing and went with him. We were going to put the bikes in his trunk but we decided to do otherwise so our helmets were there and we forgot. Later we realized, we'll never see him again. Luckily he mentioned that he sold some stuff to a man which we knew, We called him and he had his phone number so we were able to meet up and get them. So after District Meeting we went to 5 Guys, Burgers and Fries.... There's this guy, he came and disappeared, but he just slapped a $100 bill on the counter and paid for all of us. We did some grounds-work with the Hunter ward at Discovery Elementary on Saturday and mowed a ladys lawn again on Friday. Has Sister Adams gotten a hold of you, she's a really, really nice lady that is so accommodating to us, she has a son out in Germany right now, her first one, so it's been tough for her, but she feels good when she's able to help the missionaries here. A Less-active that we have been working with came to Church yesterday! It was way cool to sit by him and also see one of our investigators sitting behind us. We set a baptismal date with a guy for September 15th, he's a great guy and has opened up a ton. His wife is a great support and a solid member, so we hope for the best. Also we are going to set a baptismal date with a kid for September 8th, he's 9 years old. We're seeing a lot of success and getting excited for the next couple weeks, things are movin' along.Had a great P-day today, as a zone we played volleyball at the stake-center, ate at Subway (not as a zone), and then went bowling at Big Al's (as a zone), it was dang fun. Well, I better get going, you guys have a wonderful week and we'll talk to ya real soon :) :) :) - Elder Bennett

That's sure nice of Pres.Gibbons to write all of those nice things, he's a wonderful Mission President and individual. No accidents on the bike this week, proud to say. If you are familiar with Monsters Inc., when there is an accident on the Scare Floor and they have to reset their record of like 564 days or so with no problems to 0, that's how I feel now with the bike stuff, we'll see how far I can go without another one. Justin brought up giving the kids some father's blessings, it reminded me that we have given quite a few of those lately. Mainly for health issues, but also for comfort, what a blessing that, well... blessings are to us in our life :) Hardy was also telling me about how one of the people that I signed up at Summit is their family's good friend and was mentioning a boy that went to Russia, etc. which turned out to be me! What a small world. It's surprising I haven't gained weight with all this food but you know my super-human metabolism, I can live off of a blade of grass and Pop-tarts. We picked up a new investigator this week. We had dinner at a house and two of his friends and co-workers came over to eat and have a lesson. They are both pretty interested and want to learn more. For dinner the members picked us up and took us to the Cheesecake Factory, it was way good, I had fries in a cup, which I don't think I've ever had before... We're going to Boise today so Elder Hardy can get a new suit, I guess there's a Chick Fil A at the College, maybe I'll hit that up. We were able to help an investigator move some stuff into a U Haul and he had us over for dinner, he's makin some progress. The coolest guy ever, promised us that he and his family were going to church on Sunday, we were WAY excited, but I guess something came up. Hopefully next week for sure. It's way hard to get meetings with the summer!!! Everybody is gone! We mowed a lady's lawn again, we almost got attacked by this huge infestation of wasps in her backyard, Elder Hardy is terrified of them and snakes, as you know mine is sharks. Well we gotta get goin, love you guys, tell everyone I loooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvveeeeeee theeeeeeeem!!!!!!!!1 - Elder Bennett

To:vicki bennett Sent: Monday, August 6, 2012 5:52 PM I appreciate Justin's wise counsel and advice every week, He's totally right, if the members aren't on board, then the work is going to be slower for sure. With summer still in full boar, it's been tough because availability is scarce which doesn't make member-present lessons benefit, which is the best way to do things. Also with the BSU football season coming up, I think things are going to slow down quite a bit as well, but you just keep plugging on. We've been able to meet a few new people and some some new investigators, one of them, needed some help with her lawn so me mowed and trimmed it this Saturday. On our way there, you guessed it, I crashed on my bike again.... It wasn't into a parked car this time, just me carrying the Area-Book because we were doing Progress Records right before, and trying to slow down on my hand-brakes but for some reason pulling way to hard and being bucked off. It jacked up my knee and my upper thigh, I'll send some pics, but I think that I'll survive. If I start having more problems though, its good to know that we have chiropractic appointments for free with Dr. Moorhouse, we just went there the other day for a back and neck crackin'. There is a member who bore her testimony about a lady who is her neighbor and is Russian who is having some hard times right now, so maybe I'll meet her. We had another busy Sunday this week, we taught three different classes at three different wards. Two were about missionary work like we did a couple weeks prior, we placed 15 copies of the Book of Mormon with members and challenged them to hand them out to their friends/family, all were gone in seconds. One was in the Hunter ward co-taught with Brother Peterson, our Ward Mission Leader, to the High Priests, another in the Settler's Bridge ward to ALL of the Young Woman in the ward, and the last was the 7 year olds Primary class in the Sundance lesson. All turned out great and I'm thankful for our opportunity to do them. One of our investigators who is a Fire Fighter invited us to a huge annual Salmon BBQ, it reminded me of the Garland thing, but it was better. I'm a little person in a big world. Well I better get goin', the work is goin' great, I'm lovin' every day! Let everyone know I looooooooooove them!!!! - Elder Bennett