Subject:
Baby Pigeons.....
From:
Alex Bennett (abennett@myldsmail.net)
To:
vicki84327@yahoo.com;
Cc:

Bcc:

Date:
Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:51:13

Has anyone ever seen a baby pigeon?! There are soooo many pigeons here and i have no idea of their origin or where they come from?! Do they just fall out of the sky as adults or... i have no idea, but anywho... (sounds like something that would be argued on Seinfeld or something) How is everyone?! Let John know that I'm proud of him for becoming Hussain Bolt, that's cool that he's gonna be in a marathon. He can never beat me in a race on my home-court track aka the Newton Dam Run though... :) He told me that you went in a ride in the GTI and that you probably didn't like it, ahhh i remember those fun times in the VW, the bus drivers here drive a little crazier though.. So it's sorta like de ja vu to riding with him :) Jk. You mentioned Scipio, ughh that was the worst part of the ride to St. G from what I can remember.. Oh, the other day we went and did some service for михайл. We helped him dig a trench behind his house. He's got a cool trench system thing going and it was great to be able to go and help him out. To thank us, he gave us some treats. Also they gave us carrots and squash. I grilled some of it up yesterday and we had an awesome lunch. It reminded me of when you would grill up the squash and how delicious it was, mine wasn't as tasty, but it held it's own. Speaking of vegetables, we were contacting on Sunday, and these babushka (grandmas) were trying to get us to buy some potatoes. We told them that it's the Sabbath and that we aren't able to buy things on Sunday because its a commandment. The one kept on trying to sell them saying they wouldn't be as good the next day, but the one sitting next to her was trying to get to her stop because she really respected our decision. Elder Peterson said its the first time that he's seen a babushka respect him for that, so it was pretty cool. Last P-day we went to a little Cafe place and ate. I had a pork pie thing and some blini, it was delicious!! The cafe was called Klauses. I also bought a ToMb soccer team jersey, it looks way cool and it fits just great! Fun fact: I have had 3 mission presidents in less than 2 transfers, not too many people are able to say that. President Gibbons is now the mission president and we get to meet him in a week or so. Elder Davis came last week, he's an awesome Elder. For the English Club story yesterday, he started out with saying that he came from a really small town where the people would make gifts for each other. He then went on to how he was bigger than everyone else and that his bed was too small for him, and so he decided to leave and go find his real father in New york, etc. etc. He told it much better than I just attempted to, but we were able to tell that it was the plot from "Elf" the Christmas movie with Will Ferrell. It was pretty clever how he told it like it was him though, it was really funny. Really good news, we have 2 new investigators this week and are expecting a 3rd! Finding new people to teach has been a struggle right now for all of us so we've done a lot of street contacting. There was a man on the street that I had a really strong impression to talk to. He said that he would be interested in strengthening his faith in Jesus Christ, and he let us set up a meeting with him! It was so awesome, his name is сергей and we have this meeting with him a little later today. We also had a 1st meeting with влад the other day where we talked about The Plan of Salvation. He seemed to receive it really well and he agreed to come to church and meet with us again. He's a really smart kid and is getting excited about the gospel. Things are really looking up! I really have a testimony of the power of prayer. Our Heavenly Father is always there ready to listen to us and he wants to help us and give us strength. There are a lot of people here that recite and read prayers. But we know that God is our literal father and he wants to hear about our lives and have our prayers be personal. If you went to your dad everyday and told him the same thing over and over, how would he know how to help or how things are? Prayers are meant to be personal and sincere, not citations. Our prayers also lead to action. For example, we have asked for help to find and teach new investigators. This means that we can't keep are heads down on the street and not talk to anyone and expect to receive these blessings. We have to do our part. It's so awesome to see how much the Lord and Heavenly Father are willing to give if we just ask........... I’m looking for a card reader today when we have some free time so hopefully I’ll be able to get some pics on by next email. Don't worry I’ve taken a ton of good ones. Well anywho, have a wonderful week, remind people that they can send me emails and I’ll just take pics of them so i can read them. I love you all! Enjoy the nice summer heat! - Love Elder Bennett :) :) :)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Alex Bennett
To: vicki bennett
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: forgot


it went really good. At the beginning I said (but in Russian) "Ok i have a favor i need to ask of all of you... even if you don't understand any of my Russian for the rest of the time that I give this talk, just tell President and Sister Rolfe that i did a good job anyway..." Everybody in the congregation was laughing pretty hard, and it's funny because the APs were there and they translate all of he meetings for President and his wife so they understood it and got a good laugh as well.


On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 11:03 AM, vicki bennett wrote:




how did your talk go? HUG

Message flagged
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 11:18 PM
Message body


The sequel to "Snakes on a Plane"... "River in a Bus".... Let me explain.. It was Elder Anderson's Birthday last week, so after emailing we went as a zone to get some ice-cream and go on a hike. Both were great and it was really fun to get the woodsy feel of Russia. The end of the hike brought us to a lake and it was just a good time. But the weather started getting sketchy so were started to head back really fast. Elder Peterson and I had a meeting with a member that we were going to go to, so we caught a bus. We were really lucky to get on it when we did. The minute after we were on the bus there was like a flash flood and the whole street was just a river. Cars were stuck, it was up to peoples waists, and it was so high that it was even coming in the bus a little bit. And I'm so mad because my camera was low on charge so it died and I didn't get a picture or video of it! I'll have to get some from Elder P. But it happens a lot here, so maybe I'll get some good footage some other time. Other crazy news, I can't believe it's already time for transfers! Time is very tricky. What was the MTC! Really, it seems like I never even went, but it also seems like it was just yesterday,I don't know, time just doesn't exist for the two years on your mission. We have a new greenie coming into our area from the MTC and one missionary just coming from a different area of the mission. Saturday was great! I experienced my first round of Training and met the mission president and got to see the APs again. Elder Eborn says that you and his mom talk to each other and we got a picture together that I think he's going to send in his email, so look for that. President Rolfe and his wife are awesome! We all learned a ton from them and just to sum it all up, it was really helpful. It will be interesting though because Gibbons is going to be the President soon. So, we'll all have to go through the meeting our mission president process again and more training. Oh yeah, they brought my packages, pictures, and mail with them... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Oh it was great to be able to get something! Nothing to cheer ya up like some Reeses Pieces (and a ton of other candy) and some letters and pics from the fam. Tell Justin I love 'em, those chapters from that book are great and so are his letters. I wish I could sit and chat with him, it sounds like a lot is happening at his work and with the kids, oh i miss 'em! Let Justin Hutchinson know that I really appreciate the letters that he sent me and his support it's really helped me out and let him know.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM RUSSIA! Also, we might go out and each of us get a jersey today so if he sees a withdrawl that is why. And tell John Mayhew I wanna hear how he's doing too. I've started taking pictures of the emails i get so i can just read them from the camera when we have a second. What other things are happening in the world? That stuff is always really interesting, so don't forget to throw in a couple current events or things like that in your emails :) Ok, so back to the week. We had our last hot shower this morning. The hot water will be turned off for 2 weeks :( The soccer match was really cool, the best part was close to the end of the game. There was an ambulance truck that was driving at a pretty slow speed on the outside of the field and the driver totally wasn't paying attention and drove into a gap thing about 3 feet or so deep. The passenger got out of the truck, looked at the situation, grabbed his clipboard, and put his head down and just walked away. The driver wouldn't even get out of the truck he was so embarrased. I don't know you just would have had to been there i guess, but it was pretty funny because everybody sort of saw it coming except for the driver. :) When we got back to the apartment, there was a fire truck and a ton of smoke in the air, I was really nervous i thought the place burnt down, but no, it was just the potato cellar on the other side of our little driveway thing. We had apartment checks, the office couple was really impressed at how clean it was. After English club yesterday, I was talking to a college age kid that said he needed a good book to read. I gave him a Knega Mormona and explained that it would be really good practice. He wants to learn more English so I'll see if i can get a hold on one in English so he could translate back and forth. He just couldn't wrap his mind around why we come on missions for two years and dont get paid for it. So he's interested and maybe there's some potential we'll have to see.
Well thanks for everything, the care package i got was such a booster for me, thanks! I love you all soooooooooo much!!!!!!!! I'm running out of time, so i guess this is good bye until next time! - Love Elder Bennett