Sept 16, 2013 С Днем Рождения! Я надеюсь, у вас есть замечательная неделя! (Basically, Happy Birthday and have a great week) That's good that you were able to help the guy in that motorcycle crash, daaaaaaang, not good for someone that age to be gettin hurt like that. Good to hear he is doin alright. I did get the peachies, I ate the peachies in like 3 sittings, it's been soooo long :) I'm sending your little birthday package today, nothing special but I think you'll like it. There is this waaaay good place that is on a bus, tasty Mexican-food. We like did a way good clean of the house we live in, it wasn't dirty before, but it became spotless. We played Dart-Wars and ofcourse, it's guranteed that you'll get shot in the eye and it reminded me of the part in Rango where someone gets a stick stuck in their eye. We went to the Raquetball club. I drew another portrait of Elder Johnson, it turned out pretty well, I'll have to get a picture to you some day. At District Meeting there was this huge box of Little Debbie stuff from the outlet and we were getting so fat from eating all of them. We helped out with K's drywall again. One of the kids there taught me a few of his moves, I think he does like Kempo or something. We had some delicious Snickerdoodles, ahhh so good. Had a slower start to our day, kind of a little bit of a cold or something, quickly got over it though. We went on splits with Sergio Revenderio. Hmmmm, I gotta get back to you we are going to the City of Rocks today as a group and we gotta head out, have a lovely week Love -Elder Bennett

Mon, Sep 9, 2013 Hello, Yes, McFarlane is headed back home on the 15th, but he'd be able to come back fairly quickly if all goes well. I'll probably be home before he comes back. The knee hasn't bothered me, I think It is a miracle that my meniscus isn't messed up right now. President Curtis was over on this side of the mission for interviews and we had ours in the morning before District Meeting, I love that guy, he's sooo great and inspires ya to just go out and get 'em. Elder Stoddard's District Meeting Training focused on the differences of qualities between Helaman's Sons and it reminded me of the time when President Cannon was like, "Ohhh, I hope we can just all be a bunch of good Shiblons" :) We had dinner at the Stake Patriarch's home. We had some pretty awesome breadsticks,and stew. We had a lesson at R's our tentative appointment, they had Frankenweenie on when we came in and I saw a few seconds of it, that is a weird show, Tim Burton's thoughts will not exist in the Celestial Kingdom :). As always, Ris awesome, he's getting closer to being baptized. Woke up bright and early at like 5 to pick up 3 other Elders and flip-flop companionships for the day so that we and the 3 District Leaders could go to Leadership Training Meeting in Twin by 8:30. We got a voicemail, way funny by the way, at 3 in the morning from Elder Mayfield, we could barely understand him, and he was explaining that he was puking all night long and had nothing left in his stomach and that he'd appreciate it if we could pick them up in the morning to take them to the "white house" so they didn't have to ride their bikes over like we had originally planned. We soon found out that Elders Kennedy, Loeber, Steimle, and myself we're feeling about the same and were all just sick together the whole day. We mainly went over policies and the reiteration of all of them and training on how we can be great stewards over our various wakes of leadership. Some of the policies though, some just did not get them, so we were beating a dead-horse for hundred hours of just pointless questions, it was tough to get through it, especially towards the very end when Elder Steimle wasn't feelin great, and then me. So Elder Steimle puked before all was said and done at the Mission Office and looked about as white as a ghost. I was on exchanges in Twin for the day and over night with Elder Hancock, ohhhh man, he is such a cool missionary, I was the one that took him out street contacting in Boise his first day here, so it was great to see him again and he's hilarious too, everybody likes him. I was on bike for a change. We had a good lesson with a claimed Atheist young man, M. he was waaaay funny though, reminded me of Elder Epperson in La Grande. His favorite thing in the world is Dragonball Z so we were able to connect on that level for a min :) The lesson actually seemed to make some head-way in his opinion and he knelt in prayer with us at the end. At dinner I was like, I know this is awkward, but can I just lay down on your floor, and they knew the situation and were just so hospitable, so I just layed like a clump and commented in the conversation occasionally. We had a good dinner lesson though, I missed the Bow-tie pasta, but I added my ten-cents in the thought and it turned out way good. My moment happened later, not as bad as his though, and it was just being postponed for the longest time so I followed the advice of a doctor that we had dinner with and stuck my finger down and just got it over with. Puked about 6 times or so at night and felt great, had some saltine crackers, took a shower, went to bed, new man in the morning. Maybe Tim would be jealous, I don't know, but the Hansen's have been canning like crazy and had this home-made cream corn that they gave us when we came home, it was good. I met a missionary while in Twin who is going to Bulgaria, the alphabet looks similar but still different, he says that the word on the street is that by speaking Russian I'd probably be able to understand 50% of Bulgarian. He very much reminded me of a slightly taller version of Elder Reed that I served with, voice and all. I got to do the Bishop's Store-house in the morning, fun, miss doing that every two weeks, when ever I've done it I've seen someone that I knew before. Elder Cardon is coming to our mission next month for a conference and we had to fill out this PMG questionare online. We watched this video on the temple during comp. study and it was way informative and explained why when Christ was crucified that the veil of the temple was rent (we get that a lot when people bash about temples). We picked up a new investigator named K. We met her while we were dropping some forms off at the Spanish Elders and saw her carrying out a dresser, so we helped and ended up getting involved in the remodeling project tearing down her bedroom walls. She has had a lot of negativity in her recent years and wants to increase her spirituality and says that baptism is a possible goal and is planning on church this week. I ate this mega-hot pepper that the Spanish Sisters got from this lady, it wasn't a good experience and lasted probably a half hour or so. F. who we are really trying to help give up his reckless lifestyle has not been trying as hard as he wants to, it's been frustrating but whenever we go over there we see some hope in him. The Hansen's had the video of the Twin Temple Cultural Celebration we watched a little bit of it. We got a package from Mom Steims, it was summer sausage, crackers, cheese, carmel pop-corn, it was good stuff. We had dinner at P's house it was fun, very missionary minded family. She made an awesome caramel cake, you've made it before, I forgot how much I like that. We are getting a fire goin with the 3rd ward and starting to have splits so things are pickin' up. We were able to teach K. in her home for the first time, went great, she definitely felt the Spirit strongly. Two soon to be missionaries getting ready to leave, one of which is Bob's son, we stopped by the house after church and had a little lunch outside with family and friends, it was fun. High Priest guy who we had dinner with is hilarious. Well, I'm gonna get goin, but hope that's enough info for ya, Love Elder Bennett

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