Ben

Ben

Week 5 8/31/15 - 9/6/15

Week 5 8/31/15 - 9/6/15
Monday
Pday! We actually got $$$ today! So no more creative top ramen meals. We bought some food to put in our empty cupboards, that's a good thing! Yesterday we were starving, so we borrowed from milk from the other missionaries so we could make up the last of our pancake mix. They came over and we were going to have pancakes for lunch. My companion says that he's going to make them so the other 3 of us just kinda sit back and relax. He yells for us that they're done and ready to eat. We set the table and sit down to eat. First bite all of us spit it back out. They weren't that good... He had used salt instead of the sugar. I don't know how, and he doesn't either, but we screwed up the pancakes from the last of our pancake mix. So we were extra grateful to have $$$ to buy food. 

We didn't do much for pday. We went to the church and my comp brought some piano sheet music so we tried to play it for a few hours. That was really it. Our ride dropped us off at the church and had to go get their oil changed in their car. So we basically kept to ourselves the entire day.

We just had dinner with a really nice couple! He races street bikes and follows MotoGP even more than we did... Anyway, we got to talking and he took me into his garage and showed me his brand new KTM RC390. It's a really nice bike! He has races basically once a month and he showed us some of the GoPro footage from his last race. Way cool! So dad, I can still stay kinda caught up in MotoGP, just can't watch the races.

Tuesday
It rained all day today. Which was kinda a bummer, cause it was bad enough that biking is really tough in it. So we stayed inside most of the day and called a bunch of referrals and transferred more records from the paper copies to the electronic copies. It's was just a bummer day altogether. We did go to mcdonalds today for lunch with the other elders. The McDonald's down here are so much nicer than they are in Utah! My gosh, it's crazy. The burgers actually look kinda sorta like the pictures! 

Wednesday
We were in Zone Conference all day today. It was way good! I was able to learn so much from everything that was said. President and Sister Drake are amazing! So cool to be able to see them again. The APs are amazing too! They are such great missionaries and set a perfect example for us. They truly are wonderful and dedicated missionaries.

We had a meeting with R tonight. There are 10 days left till his baptismal date and he's totally going to get baptized! There is no doubt in my mind or in his mind or in my comps mind. He's doing everything necessary for baptism and he's willing to keep all the things that we have committed him to so far. He's asking questions and the ones he doesn't ask we are still answering. At the end of each lesson, he's looked at us funny and asked us if we were like reading his mind or anything. Throughout the lesson, at random times he'd look at us and ask us how we knew that he'd been thinking about this certain topic or that we'd just answered and expounded upon a question he had during the previous day... The Spirit does talk to man. Revelation does happen, even today! It's amazing and it's something I've experienced before, but not really. If that makes sense. I truly love helping people. I love bringing them to the Atonement. I love them. I love the doctrine we are teaching. I love keeping the commitments that we are inviting them to keep. I love my Savior. I .love proclaiming His gospel and o know that through Him and His Atonement, anything and everything is possible. I'm so blessed to be out serving my Lord. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that He chose me for such an important responsibility, but He did, knowing full well that I am completely inadequate of such an important task. 

Thursday
Well we made pancakes this morning. Or I made pancakes this morning. I wouldn't let him come close to them cause ya know, salt and everything. I have a completely newfound love for pancakes. I love them. They are amazing. I liked them before I came out, but now I love them a lot. Pancakes really are one of Gods greatest creations and I've decided that there had better be pancakes in Heaven or it won't be Heaven. That might be a tad blasphemous but it's true. 

We have a meeting with the Ward Mission leader today. His name is Brother H and he's awesome! He coached high school football for 35 years or so. Everybody just calls him coach. And he's crazy good at Simon says. We played with us 4 missionaries in our correlation meeting a few weeks back. I got out in 10 seconds. And I wasn't even the first one out. We all were out by about 30 seconds. He picks on individuals. And he's crazy good. 

It's raining again. We are waiting for it to calm down a little bit so that we can do what we are supposed to be doing... Just finished weekly planning and it's been raining for a few hours. But it's getting progressively lighter, so I think that means that we are good! See yall later!

We had dinner with a nice lady and then spent a few hours knocking doors. We met some really nice people, but nothing solid. I can't help but think about how many people pass by salvation each day. They reject happiness. Who does that?! Who, in their right mind, would reject peace and happiness and the gift of the Holy Ghost? They just don't know what the Lord has to offer them. I haven't met anyone down here yet who has a Mormon friend who doesn't think that friend is the happiest and kindest person on the planet. That they have something in their lives that brings that happiness. If we, as members, truly understood that importance of the Gospel and the Atonement, we would share it with as many people as we could find, without hesitation. If we understood the enabling power of the Atonement, we wouldn't fear anything or anyone. Why would anyone not want to forgiven and remissed of all their sins? This life is to know joy! So partake of it. Don't get so caught up in the sorrow. There is always something to be happy about. Always. Don't wallow in self pity. Find someway to use your situation to help others. And if you can't find someway to help on your own, ask your Father in Heaven. Or just ask Him first, might save time...;) 

Friday
Well we had district meeting this morning and it was all about planning! All the Sisters are really good at it and the Elders aren't, go figure. So the Hermanas taught it and all the Elders are sitting there looking at each other like yep, we should actually do that. And that. And that. And that'd be good to do too. We should probably incorporate that into our planning. Somehow. Yep... 

That's how district meeting went...;) it was great! But we actually learned so much and it was amazing!

Got home from district meeting and I had a package!!! The first snail mail I've gotten since I've been in Texas! Thanks Mom!! I love you! It honestly made my day:)

Anyway, after that we decided to redo weekly planning and actually try to plan stuff...;) yall know how I am. I don't plan. Anyway, we actually sat down and started to plan. And we planned and planned and then decided to go talk to people, cause that's what we're somewhat good at and biking actually feels like missionary work. Go figure. So we spent the rest of the day riding around Beaumont talking to people and teaching them about the Restored Gospel and how it can bless them and their families on an individual basis. We have found that people are more receptive to hearing a message about family than about hearing a message about how our Church is true. But if you can start with the family and eventually work your way towards how the Gospel blesses families and how our church is centered around families and show them The Family: A Proclamation to the World that was put out by a modern day Prophet of the Lord, they are a lot more receptive to a message about the restored Gospel. Make sense? That's what we've learned in the last week or so. 

Saturday
So today I'm supposed to be on exchanges with the ZL, but that didn't happen last night. We got a phone call saying they weren't going to exchange with us... Go figure. Elders. Sheesh;) but that's ok! Cause now my comp and I get to teach Robert, who is totally getting baptized! W had an awesome lesson with him and the Spirit was so strong! 

Something that's hit me hard this week is just how much the Spirit is in our lives. If a thought comes and it prompts you to do good, then it is the Holy Ghost prompting you to do something. Nothing that prompts you to do bad or have bad thoughts or actions will ever come from God. I'd invite all yall to watch the Mormon message titled Patterns of Light. It's a 3 part video but it's super good cause it's done by Elder Bednar. 

Just finished biking through yet another rainstorm. The weather here is almost worse than Utah, one second it's raining and the next it's super sunny, then it's raining again. There's just no difference or sudden drop in temperature. I think we are actually supposed to be getting some tropical storms or hurricanes or something in the next month. Could be fun! Lots of service opportunities and it'd be cool to just be in one. But, our apt is the bottom one, which means it'll flood a lot faster than the ones upstairs. And there are no hills or mountains to run too. But Beaumont is kinda sorta inland, so there might not be so much flooding as there is destruction. Or we will all evacuate. The big announcement at zone conference was that we all need to stock up on water and don't drive with less than a half tank of gas. So yep! I'll keep you posted on that sort of thing! Apparently we are in El NiƱo this year. But I have yet to see what a little boy has to do with the weather...

Everybody is so nice! Sure we get the odd one or two that come to the door and politely tell us to go away, but everybody else is so happy! They know exactly who we are and what we are doing and they keep telling us that everybody needs to hear about Jesus and that there are so many people who don't have Jesus in their lives. We have yet to find the ones that don't. Everybody has some form of Him in their lives. 

We just met an 89 year old man who has pet geese. He was sitting in his yard with a bunch of geese around him. We stopped and talked to him and he's way cool! We started to go over to shake his hand and these geese started hissing at us... Attack geese. I'm 95% sure. So we talked to him for a while (without shaking his hand) across his yard, cause ya know, geese and such. It was difficult cause the geese were honking and his guy is basically deaf and he was sitting about 25 feet away. Anyway he's telling us that he's been on national television a few times with his geese and that these geese follow him around everywhere. He told us a story about when his geese basically attacked this dog cause this dog started walking behind them on the road. He was out walking his geese... No leashes though. But this dog ended up running away with its tail between its legs. I've decided that I'm gonna get me some geese when I get older and retire. But this guy visits the hospital 4-5 times a week, just to say hi and talk to patients he's never seen before. But he leaves his geese at home when he goes to the hospital. Super Christian. Has a very strong belief in Christ, but not interested in our message. Too bad too. He says that his geese are going to outlive him cause they live for quite a few years. 

Sunday
Church here is so different. Testimony meeting was a little bit strange. We had a member that stood up and started just straight up preaching to us... He started praising the Lord and it was just weird... I think he is a new member that just converted from some Pentecostal church. But it was just like something I imagined seeing at some Pentecostal church... So offense intended.


-Elder Allen

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