Apostles, Opera House, and Snow Banks Jan 28 2013 Wow, let me tell ya, when it rains, it pours... There has been soooo many crazy things lately. A few hours after I emailed last week, there was another interesting event that I'll mention in my little detailed day entries. Happy Birthday TY!!!!!!!! I can't believe he is getting so old, he'll be like a Melchezidek Priesthood holder by the time I get home. Isn't that cool that those Apostles are coming to the mission this weekend, way stoked for that. It is confirmed,the guy in Twin Falls who we were working with was baptized last week. You're right, President Cannon is wonderful, he is honestly one of the most loving, patient, understanding men that I have ever met, I'm so blessed to be under his stewardship. It has been snowing a little bit lately but melting like a few hours later, lots of wind sometimes, worse than Hurricane, Utah which is saying something. Ok so here's the Journal titles.... On Second Thought, Worst P-day ever: Ok so we're innocently going to go to Morgan Lake to take a picture by it, popular thing to do, on the way there's like houses/cabins so it's somewhat residential, not all the way up in the mountains. Anyway so we get up this hill and go a little bit down.. one of the other Elder's who's driving notices that we are sliding a little bit and it's a dead end, couldn't stop all the way so his choice was hit into a metal gate of a ranch or a snow bank, he chose the snow bank, so another car accident. The bank had like rocks in it so it kinda jacked up the car a little bit. He is probably going to lose his privileges because it was over $1500, apparently they are trying to raise that because it doesn't take anything to make that much damage. I love the fellowship that we have going, fun group of Elders so I hope we can all stay together for awhile. Interviews in Baker City and Burger Bob's: Interviews with President Cannon, love that guy. There's a place in Baker that missionaries eat for free at. Opera House Cleaning, There's an Opera House in Elgin that members work at a lot, Grease is coming soon as well as Shrek, apparently they are like Broadway quality according to reviews and stuff. It was fun to clean it and go in all the secret places there. So there's this mattress on the floor and we were just bouncing a little bit on it and it was in this nook hallway and this door frame thing was above my head and I hit it hard, hurt waaaaaay bad, reminds me of the time Jared chased me into a airport desk corner, I've got a little goose egg and possibly brain-damage, who knows :/ , not fun to hit your head Well gotta go, love you all tons, - Elder Bennett ;)

January 21, 2013 It kinda sounds like not too much is going on your way. Oh yeah, I found some pretty interesting stuff in my New Testament studies.... Remember how you would always say that whole "Sky at night Sailor's Delight" stuff, well it's like scripturally mentioned, look at Matthew 16:1-4. I've noticed how bold Jesus can be, it's awesome. Well the last time that I talked to Elder Dearborn, one of our investigators was going to be baptized this last Saturday so that's too bad that I wasn't able to attend and Elder Dearborn doesn't have like a Digital camera so I'm not sure If I'm gonna get pics of it anytime soon... Missionaries have been working with him for a long time and we finally got down to business and taught with a member and he was really committed and received a calling to work with the Venture scouts so he was really excited to do that, hope all is well with him. So long story short, once a month we go to Enterprise which is like an hour and 45 minutes away to do work there. Well, this is like a long email, so I hope you like it, there's just too much that happens in a week to do in the allotted time that we have. Wolly-Necked kids is something that an old member said that I'll keep with me, probably use sometime in my life :) Well gotta go, have a great week! - Elder Bennett :)

Never a Dull Moment in the IBM January 14, 2013 It really surprises me how many crazy things happen on your mission, even being state-side, it's wild! I even forget where I am sometimes because some of the random stuff that happens everyday. It's like Justin said in his letter about being called to a different area how you get to know how big the world is and feeling just like a tiny person compared to the grandeur of the land mass of the earth. Since you have requested that I give ya the low-down on each day like a journal-entry, I guess I can do that, but first, let me answer and comment on some of those questions that you had. Yes, me and Elder Razo get along just dandy, we are REALLY good friends and have a ton of the same interests, like two peas in a pod. It is soooo weird how he so much reminds me of Jake Jorgensen, like really, but he is less shy and silent as Jake is. The wordage that he uses, the way he laughs, his demeanor, it's suuuuper weird how similar, but I like it because both of them are way awesome people that I click with very well. It was kinda funny, last night after prayers were said and lights were out, we were both in bed and everyday we just chat away until one of us falls asleep. We're actually doing a way cool exchange of languages thing, since he wants to learn more Russian (He took it in College) and I want to learn Spanish (he's spoken it all his life) we are both learning 5 words a day from each other, so that would be cool If I could say a few things to Tim when I get back :) It is way fun to have the four of us hooligans livin' in this place, It just bonds more missionaries together and creates long-lasting friendships, so I don't mind having more in a house. Nice to hear about the whole Mission Family Gathering that happened, Momma Adams is pretty legit, I hope you sent my regards. To get here we drove with the APs in their truck to like Caldwell and then went with the Zone Leaders from there to Ontario and then from Ontario to La Grande with just us two. Anywho, we gotta leave soon, so here's some of the week... Ceramics and Yo-Yos: Rebuking, Leather, Koran: Team-teaching with the Mayor: Haulin' Hay, Breakin' Walls, and Board Games: Parrots, Spiderman, and Roast beef Enchilladas: So that picture that you got of me and 3 other people against a church wall. Sooo, the other missionaries in the house have an older couple who served in Novosibirsk as a Senior Couple, didn't know that until later, well apparently there was this Russian over there at their house and I said I wanted to talk to him on the phone. His name is Mark ILLavionov from Kazan, Russia who served under President Trejo in Novosibirsk a couple years ago. He was waaaay happy to meet me and the other two people in the picture were also missionaries that served in that mission, so it was an Alumni pic I guess. He told the other missionaries that he was so grateful that they let him meet me and said that I spoke way good Russian for someone who had only been there a few months, compliments are always nice :) Small world isn't it. Driving last night we saw HUGE groups of buck/deer crossing the road, it was creepy, it was like I was in I AM LEGEND. Hey we have to leave the Family History center right now, so I'll have to write ya about the other ones, have a wonderful week! - Elder Bennett

Goin to Oregon Jan 8th 2013 From Alex Bennett Yeah it was a pretty LONG day yesterday, mainly driving. I had to have my stuff at the transfer spot at 11:30 so they could pack it all up, they drove to Rupert and a few other places to drop off other missionaries and picked our crew up at like 1:45, so a lot of waiting, but it was good to have some final moments with ol' Dearborn before I left. His new companion is Elder Larsen, personality wise, he is a clone of John Mayhew it's soooo weird. He is allergic to cats though, so Bob is going to present a problem, so I don't know what the situation is looking like right now, either an ET (Emergency Transfer) or change of living. I was riding in a car from 1:45 until 9:00 pm basically, there was a quick pit-stop at the Mission Office but then we headed out again. My new companion is Elder Razo, he's waaaay cool, I'm glad to be serving with him. We have a ton of the same interests, he even took Russian. He was born in San Diego but is from Mexico really, so he is able to speak Spanish. He also dabbles in French and Italian, which his name is. I think we'll have a lot of success, he's really hard-working and a great Elder. We live in this house that is two stories with two other Elders, Elder Bloomfield, probably one of the funniest people I know, he's Poly, and his companion is Elder McFarland.It's a pretty nice place and there is a lot of room to put things, like a million closets and cupboards. Since we have such a big area to cover,we have a car, take a guess.. The same Subi that we had in Twin, the Impreza, same color as well, the other Elders have a white one which looks pretty cool as well. I'm serving as a District Leader again here so I'm looking forward to meeting the other two Elders in the District (Elder Poplin and Elder Hong (from Singapore). There is a lot of snow here, and people say it's really cold, but I haven't felt it too bad yet. There is luckily a Wal-Mart here, we get free Subway once a week, which we had today. My bike is in Boise in the APs garage, usually where they go if you don't need them. It seems like a cool place though, I just wish it was summer because there are a lot of trees and streets that look up-state New Yorkish. That's fun that the whole fam got to be there for the holiday festivities, hope you had a Big Time. (as Clair would say). Momma Truscott was having a hard time when I left, she's an awesome lady. Well I guess we better get goin, this computer at the library won't let me send pictures so I'll get those to ya next week. Love ya - Elder Bennett

"I'm a Psychic" Dec 31, 2012 I'm known lately for being quite the guesser of ages. The Burmese revered me as like a seer or revelator, something like that. I hadn't met any of them until that day and I guessed like 6 people's ages like spot on in a row, they were cheering and it was loud, fun night. There was this big gathering at one of their apartments and like 30 people were packed up in there and we were invited to join them. It was like a bowl of chow mein stuff with spicy chicken, tofu, bean sprouts, peppers, etc. pretty good, most of them have worked at restaurants before so they don't really disappoint. Speaking of disappointment though, for the time being, we lost the Burmese side of 2nd ward while Sister Phyu is serving here, we had baptisms lined up :( But things are fine, we'll get through it. We did set a date last night and are planning on setting one at our appointment tonight, so we're trying to stay busy. Also the whole car situation, kinda stinks, they gave false promises and we should get it on Wednesday, sooooo I have no idea, we've basically gone a whole transfer with me as the District Leader lacking a car. I'm glad though, suprisingly enough, it has snowed a lot lately and maybe something worse would have happened. Heavenly Father has definitely been looking out for us. Everybody is moving, Jon is moving to Boise this Tuesday and our most recent convert, is moving like today because it has been unconvenient for her husband, to drive to Boise continually, so they're going there, maybe I will follow all of them, who knows, Elder Dearborn and I have made a few guesses at what will happen, but like I said, we're usually wrong. One will go and one will stay, we're like 90% sure, President told me that when he called about the whole Burmese transferral thing. It was good to see all of ya on Skype, it was not what I expected though, it seemed like everybody was just staring and not much was being said, but it was good I guess. Also the technically difficulties part of everything we do in love, was expected, and not fun. I wear the sweater all the time, it's fine, I like it a lot. The book, it was a nice thought, but I'm just way busy at studying PMG, Teachings of Joseph Smith, and going through the New Testament right now. That picture I sent of that girl, she's Russian, from an area close to the Black Sea. Lived a hard life, her mom died when she was young as well as three of her siblings. She studied in Moscow and there was a Professor here that knew one there and she was referred here to go to school in Idaho Falls. They drove her by the temple and showed her that which she liked. I was able to have conversation with her and I told her that I was sorry for being rusty at it and she replied that "I good speak, not to worry" which means. "I speak good" :) So that was cool. David and Lorri from Summit, love those two, I hope I can maybe work with them again someday.... Well that's really all I have, hope that all of you have a wondeful week, and a happy new year - Love Elder Bennett

Dec 24th 2012 Dont put it under a Bushel MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! It'll be way cool to see you guys tomorrow afternoon, looking forward to it. I didn't mention that Zone Christmas Gathering Talent show (meaning of the title) that we were involved in. Previously, we planned on doing a little skit as a Zone, but with like little to no practice, we did not want to brand ourselves as weird, so we kind of had a spur of the moment change. Elders Dearborn, Thomas, Reed (Not the one I served with), Dabel, and Heninger(Ohhhh, so funny, I want to serve with him, we get along just great) did a sort of whose line is it anyway improv skit on tracting into different characters and the missionaries being different people as well, impersonations acted out... (Obama, Elmo, Brigham Young, Prospector, Joker, Yoda, Batman, Jar Jar, The Emperor) Also, I did a hand-stand while saying "Your Purpose" in Russian and Elder Thomas and I played a Duet of "Heart and Soul" and that Jazzy tune that Jared learned in Korea on the piano. I've got it filmed so I'll just send the SD card soon. We STILL don't have our car, they said before Christmas and now they say by Friday, don't know if we're going there again, it took soooo long and everybody said that it's been faster through other providers. I sent off like 10 or so of those Thank you Christmas letters to people, Judy's gift card for Wendy's came like the day after so I didn't get one out to her yet, let her know I'm grateful and I'll send one. The sweater party looks like a big success. Mike's art is good, but I'm just not a fan, it is a shark ya know... :) That's crazy to hear about the freezing cold weather in Russia. I'm so thankful to be where I am spiritually today, we taught an investigator last night who is a recovering meth addict and is going through some depression, etc. and I was able to share my testimony on the Lord's timing, the power of the Atonement and prayer, that Heavenly is always totally aware of us and loves us. It seems like they were touched, they attended sacrament meeting and we sat with them so it was great. That's too bad that the Hobbit didn't work out for you, it is kind of interesting that they are spreading it out into 3 sections, kind of like the last Harry Potter movie, but I guess that way you get the whole experience without leaving anything out in the books, cool that Mike liked it. Jolee has been at the house lately, I'm not sure what type of dog it is, it looks like a fat poodle but isn't, but I love her, I took some video of her jumping around waving her hands in the air. I had the idea of having a massive White Elephant exchange, so I made it known to the Zone and we are doing that after emailing as well as doing challenges involving those dang jelly-beans, and other activities. The baptism was amazing, she is such a great example to everyone of her love for the Gospel. I sent some pics of it your way. Not sure what's gonna happen with transfers, I think I'm out of this area, but we'll find out on Jan 7th. Hope you are all loving the Holidays and each other's company. I love ya all to pieces, peace and blessins, peace n blessins. - Love Elder Bennett