Monday, September 24, 2012 6:33 PM So ok, I'm sure that you have all heard about those people that go to the park and have live reinactments, yeah, so there are people here of the "Belegarth" clan who meet every Thursday we found out, and are faithful followers of the "Medievil Combat Society". We were going to try and teach them the Gospel but the guy said he was Wicken, so we kind of avoided that part of conversation. Their weapons are padded and have some foam under-neath the covering of some of them. The whole thing is ridiculous, but is fun to watch. There was an awkward situation at McDonalds the other day with the cashier lady. To understand the premise of the whole story you have to know that she is very Anti-Mormon and hates the missionaries. She slams drink cups on the table and treats us so much differently than the other customers. She asked for a name when Elder Norris was ordering and he said "Elder Norris" and she wouldn't accept it or say it because she said that It would be making her be part of our religion and that it was not the name that our mother's gave us. I asked to to say "Elder Bennett" and she got even more fiesty and started getting in a argumentative mood. I asked if I could talk to the Manager because we shouldn't have to deal with that, we go there frequently because it has a dollar menu, so we've run into this problem a lot. The Manager admitted that she was in the wrong and should not have been acting like that and that she HAS to call out any name that we give her, it could be Allah Jihad Malby Osama, and it's policy to call it. So after that whole National Lampoon order, the Manager talked to her and we saw from a distance her getting fired up and then it having to go outside. He started taking her position behind the desk sooooo we don't know what became of it. There was a college-aged girl that brought 4 little ice-cream sundaes to us though and she said that she was not a Mormon but she really respected what we do and apologized on behalf of the other ladie's actions, that was really sweet of her. We had Zone Conference so it was good to see a couple of missionaries that I have not seen for awhile. I re-arranged the room and it's so much better now, Elder Reed agrees, we have a nice place to study and it seems all-around more convenient. She has a little chiuaua and a cat (I love him! His name is Bob and he loves to hang out with us everyday and he's always waiting at the door inside and rolls on his belly when we get home). Hope Mitt wins it, even though the world is goin' to pot regardless. We are very busy right now, we have 9 baptismal dates set for October 13th so we're going to see what we can come up with scheduling wise. One of the families is from Iraq and speaks Arabic, they are soooo nice. I forgot to mention that every two weeks on Thursday we help unload the truck and load it into their cars in the church parking lot with the people from the Bishop's Store House (picture with me and a lot of boxes). Elder Hardy and I are like PB & J, I hope you have a good time getting to know his family. Momma Adams is a Travel Lady for Disney so she definitley travels a lot, she said that she was going to China with her in-laws, husband. EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY is right, 14 million is better than 55,000 or however many missionaries are out. P.S. They are making a Chick-Fil-A here!!! hhahaha, and I'm pretty sure that building is one also (in St.G) Let Sarah, and Justin H., Mike, Papa, and Justin T. I'm really grateful for their letters, I'll try to get back to them soon. Love you all, talk to ya next week!!! - ELDER BENNETT :)

Monday, September 17, 2012 6:22 PM Condensed version, names of people baptized left out for privacy Well, you saw the pictures, I was able to baptize someone for the first time in my life, pretty cool stuff. They are such a great family that is so receptive to the Gospel and love God, I love 'em!!! Interesting stuff though, for some odd reason the font started draining and nobody knew about it. So when it was time for the baptisms the water was like lower than half level and still draining, no one knew how to stop it! So we had to act fast and Elder Reed and Brother LaMarche had to baptize on their knees. Since the girl was short enough I didn't have to do that, but since it was more shallow, her dress came up a little bit and I had to do it again and the guys legs came up so Brother LaMarche had to do it a few times as well; but everything worked out in the end and we were able to get it done :) Unfortunately the day after I was sick. Elder Reed was sick this last week and I think I caught it from him, It was fairly short-lived looking back, well yesterday, but I was achey, ohh my back felt like I was 80 years old, chills, runny nose, etc. it's never fun to feel like that on your mission. Feeling much better today though, which is very good, can't be too effective if one of your "other half" is out; Anyway, thank you all so much for the letters you sent last week, it means a lot to get letters from Justin. Awww thats super nice what Momma Adams said about me. Well I gotta get going so we'll talk to you later!! -Love Elder Bennett

Monday, September 10, 2012 8:23 PM I have had to buy a couple of language books because I am kind of in the melting pot of Idaho right now. We are teaching Burmese, Karen, Deaf, Napali, Middle-Eastern, and English speaking as well. We're waaaay lucky that we have a few interpreters to help us, but I'm trying to learn a few phrases to connect with the people. I think that I am going to have to send ya another type-written letter sometime this week because I want my letter to be more explanatory. Let Michelle Adams know that I am sooooo grateful for the great friend and lady that she is, she is just so kind. Where we live now has a cat named Bob that chills with us in our room all the time. We've met a lot of people around here. About the car, I'm fiiiiiiiiiiiiine. You should worry about the drivers around me, when we were going to Wendy's today, there was a Lady that has no idea what's going on and totally pulled out and almost hit us, we were on the main road mind you, she was coming out to the main road. It has "sports" mode, which is cool sometimes, all around good car, wouldn't mind having something like that when I get home. We ate at that Salisbury girl's house, Sister Gardunia, she said she was from Logan area, I asked what part and she said Newton, and I was like me too!!. She did dancing and stuff with Shelly and knew you guys as well. I got the packages by the way, thanks for that, the Skittles have lasted forever. I haven't heard back from Joclynn yet :( That's cool that Lindsay wants to have correspondence, let her know I say hello. It's not as bad anymore not being in a bike area and being exhausted all the time; Well like I said, I'll try to get around to writing a longer letter, we were doing a lot of stuff today including soccer, volleyball, basketball, Coldstone, etc. so I didn't have pondering/clever letter writing time. Anyway, I'm gonna get goin' Be grateful for the pics that I sent ya, I was able to buy a SD card thing and send a lot of them today. Anyway, LOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEE you!!!!!!!!

Dear Family, Pretty dang excited with the whole being in a car-area thing. I'm the area leader a.k.a. Senior Companion so that means that I'm the designated driver of the companionship. My baby is a Subaru Impreza and it has really good handling and even a "manual"-like mode that you can kick into if you want. I didn't really know what to think when we got transfer calls on Friday and I found out that I was leaving, sad times, I loooooooved Meridian! I thought I'd at least serve another transfer or two with Elder Hardy, we're like best buds, good to know that he lives close by in St G. It was hard to say my last good-byes to everybody, but at least it was Fast Sunday and I was able to let a pretty big majority of members know how grateful I was to serve there, definitely taking a road trip after the mission to visit people. I'm serving with Elder Reed (from Ohio, and like a fire-ball of energy) in Twin Falls, it's about an 1 1/2 - 2 hours away from my previous area. I'm lucky because the Twin Falls temple is close by and I heard that you get to go there about once a transfer. Elder Hardy and I went to Star and Caldwell on Saturday for a couple of baptisms that happened with people that he had previously worked with. He baptized one of the girls,and did a really good job, it was fun to be a part of all of that stuff for the day. There was a wedding reception for a lady that cut the missionaries hair (also a well-known member) in Caldwell right next to the building that the baptisms were in, so they wanted to go to that for a little bit. I'll fill you in on more that's happening in the new area as time goes on, kinda short on time today because of the travel, adjustments, etc. Really excited though because Elder Reed said that there are a lot of prospective baptisms that are getting ready to happen here. I love ya all ta pieces, Love Elder Bennett :)

Letter came in the mail today .....Dear Family and all those near and dear to me. Here the old typewriter is more reliable than the fancy new technology can be at times. Well on Sunday we ate at the Adams home and was able to produce the video for 'yall, I've still got a baby face though, so I don't understand why you would say "I sent out a boy and now your a man". I will eternally look like a 12 year old . Will you let Angie Ransbottom, the Everetts, and Sue know how grateful I am for their letters, cards and money, and Pat for the Newton updates. People around me are getting sick, Elder Hardy was and now Elder Miles, I am drinking Pineapple juice and taking double doses of Vitamin C, so hopefully I can stay immune to the Zombie Infestation that is going around. Good for Adam A. , he's a great kid, always has been an extremely hard worker. Let Justin T. know how thankful I am for his constant support and compliments, he's a wonderful brutha, I'm excited for him and all of the progress that he's seening with his work. Well things are going great up here we are seeing alot of success and excited for the next couple of weeks. We have 2 baptismal dates set and are teaching some who will be close soon, so life's good. We had interviews, President Cannon is such an amazing man, I respect him so much. I'm very fortunate to have him as a mission president. He is so loving and just wants the best for you, I can honestly feel how sincere he is and how much he cares about this mission. Transfers are Monday, there are going to be quite a few changes. We had a sweet Zone activity on P-day. Nerf wars. That is so weird that Tim is 33, I thought he was like 30, wish him the best for me, that he will be blessed with a job in St. G , wouldn't that be great? Well I better get goin, I just got a package from the ups lady like 5 seconds ago. thank you :) Love, Love, Love Elder Bennett

Since the computer went haywire on Elder Bennett, Elder Hardy's parents were kind enough to send us their son's letter,here is the condensed version with the highlights of the week Letter from Elder TJ Hardy August 21, 2012 We headed to the mission nurses house and helped her and her husband move the furniture into their new house with Elder Bailey and Elder Miles. We were there for most of the day - they also made us lunch and a big one too! After we got done with that we headed back to the house got our bikes and then went to dinner at a Scout Pack Meeting at the Park near our house then we went around and made some visits. We met an investigator and he is great! I really think we can have some great success with him! Wednesday (15th)-- Went out contacting and had a few good conversations. Went and got free snow cones down at the Maverick gas station where the Elders get them for free. After that we went and did some more contacting in that area and then we went to dinner with the Former Elder Quorum President - The Allen Family. They are super cool. We were there for like 2 hours just talking about missions and it was a ton of fun!! He had some great stories. Then we went and saw a part member family as we do every Wednesday and we talked about life after death. Thursday (16th)-- Today we got did our morning usual then headed to the church to do our weekly planning! That took a long time today because we were both out of it and couldn't keep our attention! It took forever and then we had a hard time finding members, investigators home to teach. Then we had dinner tonight with the Testa Family - we all got talking about the Gospel in general. Friday (17th)-- This morning we headed to the church and had our weekly District Meeting and had district lunch. We got trained on Christ-Like attributes - went well. For lunch we went to 5 Guys and a member paid for all of us. He went up to the cash register and dropped a $100 bill on the table and said this is for them. Talk about a blessing! It was neat. Once we got done with DM and lunch we headed to our house and got on our bikes and went and visited some investigators. After that visit we headed to do some service for some potential investigators but they didn't answer. We then headed to one of our investigators to do some yard work. Saturday (18th)-- This morning we went to the School across the street from our house to help the Hunter Ward with some service that involved cleaning the school and pulling weeds, etc... After that we got ready for the day and then did our studies then we had lunch and then went to the church to do our weekly progress records and then went and delivered them to the Ward mission leaders and bishops and stake president. After that we headed to dinner, after dinner we went and visited some members to see if they were working with anyone and if we could help them at all. Got a call from Michelle Adams saying she bought us groceries and that they had ice cream cake that they wanted us to come over and have with them so we did. She bought us a TON of groceries and this really really helps out with the money situation. Sunday (19th)-- Went to the Hunter Ward at 9am then to Settler's Bridge at 11am after sacrament we went with 2 priests to a members house to assist them with shut-ins then headed back to the last ward of the day we finished up there. Then went on splits from 3-4 with the Meridian 2nd ward and then went to a lesson with an investigator. After dinner we went to an investigators house and helped him move some furniture so that the carpet cleaners could come and clean his carpets in the morning early. Monday P-Day (20th)-- Today we went to our church and played volleyball with a good 20+ missionaries and had a great time! :) Then we went to lunch at Subway - After lunch we went to Big Al's Bowling Center. (brand new) and 17 of us went bowling it was ton of fun!! It's been a good week but with summer coming to a close and school starting up we should have even more success. In the splits with Meridian 2nd ward we were able to find 4 potential investigators that we will be dropping by this week to see if we can't get them to let us share the gospel with them! :).