Feb 25th 2013 Yeah for Chick-fil-A ,Hahahaha, so when I was at the Training stuff Elder Miles, Elder Sondrup, and I went to Chick-Fil-A on our way for the meeting to pick up our new trainees. So derrrishhhhhous (As Brother Razo would say in an Asian voice), dang it, I miss that kid like the Dickens as you say, which in all reality, makes no sense in it's meaning.... Tell him to write me somethin and to get feeling better soon. And whenever I wanted a taste of the Hollister beach life, I'd stay a couple days at his place. Apparently he has a 6,000 square foot place over in Cali that he says has a lot of room for guests so I'll have to hit that up some time :) You're right, we tend to be on the road a lot, blessing that we don't have to pay for the gas on that beast. It was quite the experience getting home from Zone Conference, huge blizzard in Baker that forced like 50 million semis to rest-stops and to the side of the road until it calmed down. Elder Lehmuller, thankfully, oh gosh, was driving so we were able to survive the journey. My companion, well I haven't introduced you to him really yet, so let's do that... His name is Elder John and he is from Boston, more specifically Belmont, Massachussetts. He has like made it a life goal to master the Joker voice and all of his mannerisms so it's like being companions with Heath Ledger and it freaks me out a little bit. He actually wants to pursue a career in Communications, like a Sports Writer, because people have commented on his deepish and loud voice that he carries. We have actually had a few teaching appointments and roleplays and he does a good job. I made this little game where you had to keep a straight face while we did a teaching role-play and he has a tremendous poker-face, like better than Lady GaGa's :) so definitely a talent in keeping composure. That's absolutely terrible to hear about Barry Myers, eehhhh, way too bad. I hope that he has a speedy recovery. Clair's probably right, one of the most painful situations that the human body could be in. Anyways, I guess I'll give you the titles for the week.. 3:30 AM, Hardy, Bloom, Miles, PKC's Place: De ja vu of the old days in the Office at Novosibirsk, waking up at all hours of the night preparing for crazyish to go on that day. I was happy to see some of the Elders that I've made some pretty lasting friendships with. Elder Bloomfield, Elder Hardy, and Elder Miles, as you probably guessed from the title. Since all the Trainer's from faraway areas didn't have a way of transportation unless nearby Elders drove them, just mainly hung out around the office. Made a walk to Deseret Book and got a New Testament Seminary Manual, way good choice. We went to President Cannon's at 5:30, ate pulled pork and ice-cream and had a devotional for the rest of the night (9:00) It was the exact same as when I was preparing to Train Elder Dearborn, so I basically knew the agenda. Elder Miles and I headed back to Elder Sondrops area for the next 2 days. He lives in a WAY cool place. In-door gym, parrot, sauna, a snail shower. Chick-Fil-A!!! Finally!!!!!!!!!!! I was able to be reunited with my soul mate once again. We met with a member in Elder Sondrops area who was a Chiropractic Physician guy who dealt a ton with Hollistic stuff and we talked about that type of stuff for a few minutes and I saw the future Justin with glasses and white hair. Battle-ball, Elder "Joker John", DLC: In the in-door gym for part of our exercise, we invented this exercise ball game where it was like pong, pretty entertaining for a while, before your wrists are broken from taking the pressure of that ball. I was assigned to Elder John, who is known for his Joker impression, pretty creepy how accurate, probably the east-coast influence on his accent. I had a DLC in Ontario before we went back to La Grande, I met this guy from Mongolia who spoke a little Russian, it's a small world. Boise Temple, Slick Exodus: Zone Conference, President gave us the go ahead to go to a session since we are so far away from the temple, it was great to go again. Like we talked about, it was a Slick Exodus back to La Grande. We had like a pretty good list of people to visit, not one, most were HBHing us,( home but hiding,) we helped Brother Rasheed move into his new house in 2nd ward, we're going to miss him, but he's going to the other Elders Area :( We gave talks on missionary work in the 3rd ward. Elder John is allergic to cats, the Hanleys had a few that lived outside but occasionally come in and his eyes were freaking out. We made contact with an investigator .Part member family, so we're happy with that. Well, "M" if you remember, who I taught while I was in the Tri-panionship as well "J" are both getting baptized this Saturday and she has chosen Elder MacFarlane and I to witness and Elder Lehmuller to baptize so that'll be a great day. Have a great week, be thankful for my increased typing speed so that you would be able to be more filled in on the events in my life. Talk to ya later - Love Elder Bennett

Feb 18, 2013 I hope that there is room in the Inn tonight. I'm going to be training again. I'm in Boise right now waiting to go to the Trainer's meeting and dinner with President Cannon at 5:30 or so tonight. Guess what time I had to wake up this morning..... 3:30!!!!! Ohhhhh Nooooo, that's gonna ruin my beauty rest, just kiddin' yall know that.. I rode up to Baker with Elders MacFarlane and Lehmuller and then from Baker to Ontario with Elders Ang and Poplin AND THEN to Boise in a whole van of Elders. I got to see Elder Hardy a little while ago, he's STILL in Meridian, he's goin on 9 months! He's playing basketball at the Mission Office gym right now, Elder Miles, served around him in Meridian, we are at the Family History Center in Boise at this VERY moment emailing, makes sense though right since I'm typing a letter and all.... That's cool that Elder and Sister Webb get to serve in that regard, good for them for choosing to do so, that'll be a great experience for them, I've heard from many people, Sister Olga in the Office included, St.Petersburg is a pretty location and really nice. Awesome to hear from 'Ol Clair again, I forgot he called you Victoria. Well, I guess I'm going to go do something with my life, that is, go and get something to eat today, Today's Diet: Single Reeses and an Oatmeal Cookie, Well, I'll let ya know how things are with the new companion, love you all, talk to ya soon! Oh forgot to mention, so I'll get back to La Grande later on Wednesday and it just turns out that there is a Zone Conference in Caldwell, basically Boise, on Friday, I'm going to have to make that trip like three more times now :( , have a great day! - Love Elder Bennett

Feb 4th 2013 So, I am with Elder Lehmuller and Elder McFarlane in a Tri-panionship for the next two weeks until Transfers since my comp returned home this morning. So this Tuesday I went on Exchanges with Elder Ang. As a District Leader I try to exchange with every member of the District throughout the transfer. I love Elder Ang he is sooooooo funny and awesome. He basically had me laughing the whole night while we were together. Hilarious guy, so glad I was able to spend that time with him. He teaches in Chinese proverbs sometimes and is super intelligent. Before he came out he had his own business and drove a BMW. Wednesday was unfortunately the last "teaching" day that I was able to have with Elder Razo, I loooooooooooove that kid, it's going to be so different without him. But I'm soooo grateful that I was able to serve with him. On that day we had an amazing meeting with the Bishop in Elgin, his counselors, the WML, and a WM, they are so missionary-minded over there and really understand how to work. I also found out that a Corvette that I want that I saw in a magazine is $130,000, so if we as a family could just start saving for awhile I'd really appreciate it. Since the Mission Conference was on Saturday, we stayed with the Meridian ZLs in Kuna for a couple days, I went with Elder Bailey for the time that we were there. We went to this Mexican place in Kuna that was way popular and Elder Razo, who was trying to be vegetarian succumbed because he was in his own little heaven. I accidently ate cow tongue, kinda chewy. Some mysterious person paid for our meal. Had a great meeting with Elder Ballard and Elder Christofferson, it was funny, Elder Christofferson said that if Peter lived in our days with all of the technology, communications, he would say, "You wimps! If I were in your place I would have converted the whole world in 10 months!" He really has a sense of humor, I like him as a speaker a lot. Fun fact, there was a short Q&A section of it at the end and I was able to ask the last question: Ok, say we had a time-machine, what would you both do differently on your missions? Elder Ballard: Be more focused and on target. Elder Christofferson: Use the Book of Mormon more. So there ya have it, I directly talked to Apostles of God, pretty cool stuff :) I didn't think I was going to be able to because there was a TON of people. There was a HUGE group of missionaries that went to Tucanos after, us included. Way fun, ate like a pig. So I accidently gave the lady the gas card for the car, so when she came back she asked like the group of 30 missionaries, I couldn't run this it asked for a vehicle number and odometer, so the whole group was roaring in laughter, dang something to watch out for :) The other Elders have an investigator and I probably had one of the most spiritual lessons on my mission there. She was very emotional and couldn't help but cry and the Spirit was really working on her. Have a lovely week and remember that Jesus loves you -Love Elder Bennett