Tue, Sep 3, 2013 First off.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIMOTHY SON OF DAVID!!!, hope you had a good one. I just got my "Pre-Trunks" as they call them on Saturday, ohhhhhh things are happening quick. I've got to fill out Bishop/Stake President Information and such and that I'm flying, etc. and send it in as fast as I can. I have to agree with you on the whole it getting darker thing. It's a pain when you are trying to contact because when it's darker people are just wondering why you are out so late and they just wanna burrow in their caves and just be left alone. To answer some questions, we are back at the Hansens, not at the "White-House" with Elder Kennedy. You asked about the weather, it's been cloudier here and some rain, not a fan, it's like I'm in Finland :) Last week for a P-day lunch, we went to KFC. I should have learned my lesson over in La Grande when we got KFC once a month for free and it would put us out of commision for a day or so. I ordered these little boneless bite things and it was presented on this huge black styrofoam plate so it made my meal look super tiny and unattractive. One of the Elders got drumsticks and lifted it up and it seriously like dripped a gallons worth of grease/sweat off of it. We spent the later part of the night finalizing our Zone goals and info that we needed to present at Mission Leadership Council. Woke up at the crack of dawn, well not really, like 5 something, but still and lousy part of the day, and headed over to Twin to our interview at 7:45. I love President Curtis, he's awesome.He wants us to go straight to him rather than to the Assistants first, which also increases the bond and relationship that we have with him. Our Zone is awesome, there are always struggles, but I can say I'm as proud as a Peacock when it comes to the missionaries in it. You just gain a who ton more of love for all of them as a Zone Leader and they've recipricated that back with way nice comments. it just builds ya up. On the way home we took the Kimberly route and just stopped by quickly at the Wardells, where Elder Steimle used to live It was nice to glance at the old area. We got free Hoagie Street Deli on the way home. We went to R. home for our lesson and watched Finding Faith in Christ with him and H. He was comparing it to the Passion of the Christ, but you just can't do that, they have different focuses and messages, so one might have more of one thing or less than the other. I've seen that a lot on my mission, I saw a few minutes of it back in Meridian at a LA's house and I wasn't a fan, unnecessary depictions and fails to focus on the main message of the Atonement. Elder Mayfield's bike has been acting up again so we took the bike in the truck over to Wally World, where you find solace, and he traded it for another one. It is ridiculous how often people just hand us money. A lady saw us and just handed a $20 and said go have a good lunch, we're so blessed. We went to Arby's to feed 4 men, I think it turned out to be like $19.70 or something. I had exchanges in my area with one of the District Leaders Elder King. He's a good missionary and taught me a lot of stuff that he learned back in his Karate days, it was like I was companions with Mr.Myogi. One of my favorite investigators had to be handed over to the Sisters, the lesson turned out great for the switch, they brought a few fellowshippers to help. Elder King and I had Taco Bendito for dinner/lunch and I won't be eating there for awhile. D. is a new investigator that is basically homeless, like 28 or so, we're hopeful, he attended sacrament meeting this week. Had a District Leaders Conference with, obviously, the District Leaders, on what we gained from MLC. Had dinner at Brother Moreys house, he cooked some pretty dang good hamburgers, well they better be if he owns Morey's Steakhouse for heavens sakes. A. a less-active that we found a little while ago who was very alone after a separation and divorce, has found renewed strength as we've been able to introduce him to more members, he was also at church this last Sunday, Bro.W went and got him some church clothes and he was thrilled. Had Zone Meeting, as always, they loved it, I try to shake things up a little and make it exciting and applicable. I had another exchange with Elder Mander, one of the Assistants, it was fun, we went to the Star 2nd ward Fiesta, activity they throw for the spanish community in the area, it was good to have him there because he is Spanish Speaking. Sister M in the District had strep, the phone stopped working, so we had to drive to Rupert and get the house phone was her companion Sister E everyone is like sick lately. Had a great contacting experience with a referral give from the H's turned from a no, to a maybe, to a probably. We had lunch at this widow's house with the other Elders, she is hilarious, she pretends to be ticked off all the time but isn't. We had 3rd ward do splits for the first time, we're making headway. We got a call from F. a less-active who is in pretty deep with some harmful substances and we played this Mormon Message that really clicked with him, "Jesus Christ, The Way" you should check it out, pretty similar situation, but he wants to change and we're trying to help. We taught RS again, we used the Work of Salvation and templates for Family Mission Plans, it turned out really good. R didn't come to church so we went over after and he admitted that he was playin hooky and we were able to teach him to compensate for what he missed in class. Ate dinner at Brother Morey's again and then went out on Splits. It rained a ton in the morning so we had to postpone tennis, but we played dodgeball and ate at this mexican place called El Caporale. Well hope you had a good Labor day and relaxed, such an oxy-moron, on Labor day we don't Labor at work. Anywhos, I gotta run, talk to ya next week! -Love Elder Bennett!

Mon, Aug 26, 2013 No need to worry about the lump any longer, it's not bad any more. Injury of the week though, we were carrying the Sisters luggage down the stairs and I don't know what they pack in those things but it was like 500 pounds and when I took the final step my ankle rolled and like broke, not really broke, but felt like it for a second. It only lasted about a day. Oh time is going to fast. I did appreciate the quote "God gives every bird it's food, but he does not throw it in the nest", Well not the best P-day ever, but they're always good. We started out by getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the transfer spot, got our new companions, went and emailed. Missionaries get to go to this place called Impact Athletic for free so we went there and played Raquetball for a while, it was a good time. We had a FHE service project at this one home in the 7th ward, it had like no lawn at all, and now it looks like the lawn could be in the home-show, well, maybe not that good. There was sooo much member-support there and even R. our investigator, came as well. We finally got to see J. again, things are looking more on the brightside with her getting more involved. We gave her an Ensign about Temples and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet to read. She really enjoys the message about life after death and being with families forever, if anything, that's the "selling point" for her. We had a wonderful lesson, as always with R. We shared the video on lds.org of Elder Holland talking about the time a football team was on a field and one of them was struck by lightning and one of the coaches gave him a blessing, "Sanctify Yourselves", it's a great one. We challenged him to pray every time he feels like he needs to smoke, so hopefully that has helped. We ate at this authentic mexican place called La Tacoria, or something to that effect, it was pretty good. The Sisters called and Sister Dodds was as sick as a dog and so a member of their ward went as well as us to give a blessing. When we went in, she was curled up on the couch like a little sick chinchilla, I couldn't even tell if she was there or if it was just the blanket. Then that night, Sister Wright felt the same way so we went over again. We also went to Walmart that day and got them some Powerade, Jello, mashed potatoes, soup, the essentials, they really appreciated it. Soooo many new missionaries all over the place! It was like we were drowning with all the little errands we had to run that day. Back and forth and back and forth with all of their luggage, leading them to their houses, making sure area books were there, it was wild. One of the Sisters on the first day of driving turned in the wrong lane and a cop was there and like followed them and they lost him and then he found them again, he was WAY nice though and just said be careful. We got this address flip-flopped for dinner and this lady let us in and started talking to us and making the impression that she was the one feeding us, well, it wasn't her, wrong house. It was pretty funny, the house was right around the corner :) Elder Kelliher had Elder Mayfield on his back running at night to our car and tripped and Elder Mayfield like collapsed on the hood, it was the funniest thing I've seen this week probably. Good ol' B. took us to Papps again, we had a good visit, things are progressing. We were killin some cat-faced spiders with a hose and rocks for J. there was quite a bunch of them. She is getting closer to coming to church, the RS and WML went over there and both times went great we heard. We went out on our first round of splits with Bro.W. he's awesome, and he was just raving at how good we did at our appointments, the 7th ward is catchin' fire. Went on our first splits with Star 2nd. Found out that some of our investigators are heading to Burley 3rd, whewww, still in our boundaries, that's not usual. So cool to have Morey as a WML. We got a truck! Hahaha, I'm confident that I won't get smushed by it this time around. It's a Nissan Frontier, not as cool as the Tacoma, but it's good. As we were leaving to take some Elders to Oakley, there was a car crash that happened right in front of us at a light and the girl had a bloody nos the car looked bad, and the horn wouldn't turn off, it was a mess. We taught Relief Society as well. We showed some of the Work of Salvation training and talked about who's responsiblity it is to share the Gospel, and then talked about Family Mission Plans, which you should try as well, and how they as a Family can make goals to share the Gospel. We were caught in some Apocolyptic Tornado for awhile, the videos don't do justice on my camera I'm gonna get goin, so we'll catch up next week, love ya -Love Elder Bennett

August 19, 2013 You wondered who I was with, you probably have seen him in previous pictures, but it's Elder Steimle from San Clemente, California. Anywho, he served in the other part of Kimberly while I was with Elder Kofoed and Elder VanZalinge. We picked him up at 6:15, ughhh, what an ugly morning for all of us at the transfer spot in Walmart parking lot. I am going to miss Elder Pyper sooooo much, he is a great friend, (going to Twin Falls), at least Elder Kennedy is staying, we were literally the Three Amigos, better even. Elder Kelliher and Elder Mayfield are coming my way so that will be way fun. There are a lot of changes and new areas, it's crazy to see the growth. We have 3 new ones as of now and a ton of missionaries coming in this week to be trained. We're a fairly Green Zone you might say, but they are doing an amazing job. Also, could you let Kyle and the Family know how grateful I am for the copy of Jesus the Christ that he gave me at my farewell, I LOVE that book, it is so informative and just racks my brain with knowledge every time, Talmage is a sly one. Oh my goodness, the Fair was a good time. Every one in Idaho, central Utah, and who knows where else and their dog was there. Fun times for sure. We, The Fantastic Four (Blum, Pyps, Kennedy) went to this Raquetball place that we get for free and played, it was way fun. Also played kickball in the gym in that huge group. We ran the Unity food booth with the four of us, it was like we had a little Cafe thing. I got to shave a shoulder of this sheep. This was a scary day, B. the one in Star ward that I love and always go on visits with, his son was extremely injured from this steer at the fair. We got a call from Bro. Morey and he was like, where are you, can you come to the emergency room. So we did and the boy couldn't even breath really, 7 broken ribs, brusing on the lung. He slipped on something and the cow stepped right on the center off his back. We gave him a blessing though and it was a way powerful moment where the Spirit and the Priesthood was present. We also got a call that the Oakley Elders were hit by a Semi, wow, lucky. They signalled late and they were going the same way. Glad that they are not hurt. R. is doin' great, I love that guy, he'll be baptized her soon. We taught him about the reasons we have commandments and shared a video on Mormon Messages called "Stay in the Lines" its a good one, watch it. We met President at a gas station off of the freeway and got the new area books for the 3 new places opening up, it's awesome to see all this growth. We met this solid guy who, as always is going to Sister Wright and Sister Dodds area, every time, I've given them like 5 Golden referralls this week. We helped Morey with stapling his new wood floor, that gun that you hit with a mallet is crazy. Blum had his Last Supper. As missionaries we have a lot of those. Blum was packing for awhile, sad to see him go. Met an investigator that LOVES video games and wants to be baptized. Blum is gone :( We got to go in Morey's Steakhouse kitchen. He cooked us up some butterfly shrimp. Elder Pyper took on the Pap Kelseys Scorpion pepper sandwhich challenge. There is this major hive by where we park and I was sick of it and got this piece of wood and stabbed a few while they were gathered and one filtered in on me and got caught in my hair and stung me like 5 times on my head. I planned revenge the whole day and we torched a group of 'em out with some fire and lube spray. Now I have this bump behind my ear and I asked this ward member who is a doctor how much time I have left and he said it should just be a swollen lymph node fighting bacteria and infection and will go down soon. We were at this Birthday Party and I had this Smurf doll and was making this 3 year old girl laugh and the other Elders after were like, Bennett, you're too happy/funny, you're makin us look bad. We went to the YSA branch and H. got the Priesthood and I got to stand in on that. Well we're goin so you guys have a great week!!! -Love Elder Bennett

August 12, 2013 Oh man, another week bites the dust I guess, it all goes by so fast. This is Blum's last week so it will probably be a solemn occasion, it'll be sad to see him go. At least he gets to experience the Fair before he leaves though, there aren't too many of those in Northern CA. All of us missionaries were able to get a booth at the Fair and the Stake is really helping us get prepped for that so that we can have a nice, presentable space so that we can receive a lot of referrals at this crazy thing. Apparently there is supposed to be like foot-traffic of about 10-15 thousand people the surrounding towns just like shut down, not sure if that's daily or throughout, but I expect it to be wild. I was able to take some of my experience running that Summit booth with Joclynn and incorporate it into this, such as a drawing, etc. so it should be good. Tell Sue that I'm very grateful for the Chinese New Year envelope and money.Sounds like Jake enjoyed the video from the picture of me on the TV. I was talking to someone and I get a hand on the shoulder and someone whispers in my ear, "Elder Beneficial", and it was that guy, he's waaaaaay cool. Elder Kelliher told him to find me while he was at the homecoming and give a little shoutout. I LOVE President Curtis, he's awesome, we've been really blessed to have him. Had an idea to have a big Zone dodgeball thing and it turned out really good. I've got a sweet video of me doing some impressive moves, I'll have to send you it in the mail sometime soon. We get snowcones for free from two places, also we have free Raquetball which we are going to go try out today, there's a few hook-ups here in Burley. R. one of our investigators had her baptismal interview and passed, I haven't really taught her, it was mainly work from previous missionaries, but her baptism is scheduled for Saturday. We got a new WML, and we are excited to tear it up in the Burley 7th ward with him. So we had this funny idea, there was this squeeky pig, dog-toy at the other Elder's apartment and Pres. Curtis' favorite animal is a pig, so I put it underneath my armpit underneath my suit and when I shook his hand before Zone Conference it was like "won won wonk, weehh" and he thought that was pretty funny. I was on exchanges with Elder Stoddard, a missionary who usually teaches in a spanish area so we were able to take advantage of his ability to speak spanish . Well this boy that we were going to teach is moving out to Pela, but we were able to watch the Restoration with them and teach the first lesson, it went way good. M. if you remember her, was baptized. H. was also was baptized in the other Elders area. Morey, one of our Ward Mission Leaders, owns Morey's Steakhouse and he fed us there when we dropped off our Progress Record, he is SOOO awesome. Like I said, Lance had his Home-coming in the 7th ward, I met Lance's best-friend that served in Moscow and found out that he was Elder Kelly's companion in the MTC, small world. We had dinner with the Stake President and got 7 referrals there, wayyyy good. Finished up the night with Star 1st visits and I was with Bob, I love that guy, you'll have to meet him one day. Anyways, I gotta run, but I love ya all, have a great week! -Love Elder Bennett

Mon, Aug 5, 2013 Edited version Congrats lil Jakie on being baptized, I'm glad I could participate and that I could be of service with the video. There was this guy we ran into while trying to contact someone else, he was a brother, and he was preparing for a divorce and we tried to give him some comfort but he was saying that if we read a scripture he wouldn't remember it because he was drunk, etc. so I left one for him to read. Well, never thought I'd see him again really, after I bore my testimony in one of the wards and we walked out in the hall to go to the other building I hear my name and it was the guy we talked to. It was way awesome to see him come to church, sometimes before the Lord will lead us to new people, we've got to administer to the less-actives and the people who are there already. While we were doing some more contacting, oh man, we ran into this family, SUPER Golden, we had a return apt. and they were way excited to meet again. Now, we think they'll probably go to the Spanish branch, but they were saying before that they wanted to go to English, sooooo there goes another one to some other missionaries, we're givin out people everyday it seems like this transfer. We went to MLC and there have been a few changes that some people aren't thrilled with, but they are in reality not bad at all. The Hansen's have been having their family renunion so we had to leave for like a week. We're living with Elder Kennedy (White House) and Elder Pyper right now, we love those guys, some of my best friends ever, it's been great. We gave our investigator a blessing (fellowshipper did it) to stop smoking and afterwards he was like, "Woah, is baptism this powerful?" so it's looking up. We were on our way to the temple from Rupert and Blum was driving but Johnson sarcastically told him to take this one exit that was the wrong one and he did it and it was a wild goose chase out to Declo on the Pocatallo exit and it took forever to get back on the right road. We saw this other less-active who is struggling to make ends meet, just went through a divorce and while we were visiting with him, this big strong guy, he just broke down and said how great it was for someone to just listen to him, it was way spiritual, glad we were able to locate him. Had some good splits with Bro. Smith, it turned out to be his last time, we got a new WML in that ward Bro.Winmill. Everyone LOVED Zone Meeting, it's the best one that I've ever done. We had awards after, I'll have to attach the paper in the email. We haven't had anybody sign for dinner for this week so we had this microwaveable chicken in the church kitchen. Well, thank you for the updates and the package that I"m going to go pick up today, love you all so much! - Love Elder Bennett

July 29, 2013 Edited version Woooooooooooooooow, I thought that Jake's Baptism was this past Saturday, like 2 days ago, I was in all in a ruffle not thinking the video was not going to get there on time and that your chastisement would have fallen upon me and my posterity. Yeah, I felt like the video turned out pretty well. There's someone here that knows Kelli Jorgensen way well, last name Hawkes. Yes, I did that Zone Vision, my companions have been commenting on my nack for creativeness. They do celebrate the 24th Celebration here, in fact, we had a huge one @ the Bishop of the Star 2nd ward's Pond, tons of space with a Zip-line, water-slide, rope swings, fields, pavilions, etc. it's pretty impressive. Commentary on Tanner's post, I wrote in a sassy time of the day, I got to do two baptisms in the last little bit here.One was a way funny like Phillipino kid and the other was from New York and he was like so spiritual and was able to socialize so well. We went to see this lady who nobody like even knows about and at first she just peeked her head out but wouldn't come all the way out, but after we started talking to her more she came outside and we had a conversation with her. She lost her job, was running out of medication, sad story, after we talked for awhile I asked if we could have a prayer and she wanted me to say it and afterwards we looked and she had tears rolling down her face, she felt the Spirit and she felt loved. It was a way good experience for all of us, namely her and Bro.M he brought it up in a Ward Council and he got choked up and said that this drop-by made the whole night worth it, all the rest of our appointments weren't there or cancelled. That's the cool thing about a mission, you get to see stuff like that all the time.So I was sleep-talking and Blum told me that I was saying all this stuff about calling people and also "There are some Skeptisms about exchange forms, Porras (Elder Porras AP, love 'im) and other churches", huh, interesting stuff to say, he even asked me if I knew what I was saying and I replied confidently, "Yeah" and then went back to sleep. We were able to convince this one district in our announcements that we couldn't wear blue for the month of August because of Gang Activity in the area and that was their specific color. Each time we have "announcements" in a District Meeting we always give the right ones, but slip a fake one in as well. With that Dance Festival here there were people from all countries the Koreans were at our place for breakfast and Sister Lee from Korea was able to converse and probably curse us with them in her native tongue. We spoke in sacrament. It went well. Someone broke into Morey's Steakhouse restaurant and tried to steal stuff and he had a prompting to go and check on it at 4 in the morning with his wife and the guy was still there, CRAZY stuff. Yes, we had the baptism was on Sat, it was great for me to be able to perform that. In the box I sent home, the marble piece is a piece of the Boise Temple (marble) that a member gave us Pencil box is from Russia, wanted to keep it for memory sake About 80% of all of your letters is about all of you complaining about tumble weeds So at this last week's P-day activity we had a ton of people there and it was in Twin at this park in Shosone. Well, we're heading out, so I'll explain more as time goes on. Have a lovely week Love you all, Peace n Blessins' - Love Elder Bennett