And the 1st area/assignment IS.......Ephraim, Utah =)

Hi Everyone! This is Elder Bennion's mom, Dayna. He didn't have a chance to write a letter this week, but I did get a phone call from him on Wed. morning 4/27/11 at about 6 am as he was on his way to the St. George Mission office. He flew out of Salt Lake and then directly to St. George Airport. He was supposed to be to the travel office at the MTC at 4 am ... apparently that didn't happen LOL. Cameron didn't hear his alarm, and didn't wake up till 4:30 am. When he called us he only got to talk for about 30 min because he was so late arriving at the airport. It was so good to hear the excitement in his voice. He was really looking forward to going out and meeting new people.
Just today I heard that he was greeted by two special people as he arrived in St. George! ...His Grandfather Rex Bennion and Aunt Crystal Bennion both somehow found out when he was flying in and got to greet him as did his Mission Pres., Pres. Lenord and Sister Lenord. I am sure he was totally shocked! I haven't spoken to him since he arrived, but I hope for the chance to talk to him on Mother's Day.
So, Ephraim is approximately 65 miles south of Provo. The current weather there is mid 60's and they are typically sunny. Cameron will of course LOVE that! Here is a link to the city website http://ephraimcity.org/
Cameron can receive mail a couple of ways. You can still write him at Dear Elder http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/home   but it costs .44 now because he isn't in the MTC, but I think it will get there faster than regular mail since they are located in Provo.
His mission home address is
Elder Cameron Bennion  (Even if he gets transferred mail will get to him if you send it here)
107 S. 1470 E. Ste. 304
St. George, Utah 84790

or Elder Cameron Bennion (  This is his current address )
    85 E. Center St.
    Ephraim, Utah 84627

I know he would especially love to hear from all of you. It's a whole new world for him being out on his own...away from the Missionary Training Center.

Week 8 Yo Sé Que Vive Mi Señor

 ¡Que onda familia, amigos, y amigas! Mi tiempo aquí en el CCM es casí terminado y ¡estoy muy animado por St. George! No sentio como he estado en el CCM or dos meses usualmente. ¡Es muy loco! Espero que hubieran una buena semana. Mamá, diga Kodi a escribir me por favor. Quiero saber como su español es.

This week was pretty good overall. It was pretty uneventful in comparison to some of my previous weeks. I suppose the phrase calm before the storm rings true in this situation. I've stayed busy trying to learn the ends and outs of Spanish. We have basically covered all the tenses in class with the exception of the passive voice and the conditional tense. Now it is up to me to practice using and refining the tools I've been given. I believe there are 12 verb charts with 6 different ways to say that one word in each chart. As you can imagine practice is key in memorizing all these things. ¿Ha Kodi enseñó el subjuntivo y subjuntivo pasado ya? The rate at which we have covered these topics is astounding looking back on my time here. The gift of tongues is so true. I wouldn't be where I'm at right now with out the Lords help. The gift of tongues does not come with out effort though. You mush struggle and have faith that you can do all things which are expedient unto the Lord.

Tuesday evening was great this past week. We did not get an Apostle but we got the second best thing. Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the seventy spoke. If you remember he had spoke last year during April’s General Conference about how missionaries are called to serve their missions. I clearly remember how special that talk was. I had only been baptized a couple of months before Conference and the talks were centered around missionary work. Anyway, his talk at Devotional was awesome. He definitely had a knack for public speaking.

Thursday evening was pretty awesome. In fact I would probably say it was the highlight of my week... I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS! I was so happy when I got those. I fly out on April 27th out of SLC at 7:52 am on Delta and arrive in STG at 9:01 am. I guess for such a short flight they pin point the time down to the exact minute. There are 5 other elders and one sister in my travel group. I hope everyone behaves themselves while we are at the airport. I was assigned as the travel leader of our group so I'm at fault if anything goes array. The only bummer is I have to be packed and at the travel office by 4:00 am! Talk about sleep deprivation. :(

Thursday night I was late getting to bed. I felt pretty bad about it. I had spent a lot of time talking to Elder Warlleven. (I probably misspelled it but it means "good life" in German.) He is an Elder on our floor from Germany and he has always been so nice and happy. I just love that kid. He has been getting bullied by some Polynesian Elders and he has been having a really hard time. Luckily the situation was resolved but it disheartens me that Elders can pick on another child of god. ESPECIALLY here in the MTC. 

The other day I was in the cafeteria and it has been crazy how many people there are here from BYUH. The lame thing on my part is I don't remember any of them. I feel bad that I don't remember anyone yet they some how remember me. The Mormon bubble is much smaller than we realize at times. :)

Well I better wrap this up. One more week and I'm on to doing what I want to do most. Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really appreciate all the letters I receive and all the prayers that I am kept in. It really means a lot to me. Pray for me to learn the language so that I might be able to preach according to the will of the Lord. I feel like Moroni in Ether 12 at times. My linguistic skills are atrocious in Spanish. Remember to make today the most glorious day of your life. Serve God, serve your fellow man, and endure to the end. I bare witness that this is the ONLY true church on the Earth today. Pray to know for your self with a sincere prayer in your heart and you will be able to know the same exact thing. Vaya con Dios.

Sincerely,

Elder Bennion

P.S. I love Utah. Bennion is so much more common here. No one messes up on pronouncing my name. :)

Week 7

Voy a la cuidad de Eldorado!

Hola! Estoy terminando con una màs semana aquì en el CCM. (That's MTC in spanish) Esta semana fue bien y tengí unas buenas experiences. Este semana recibir´e mis planes de viaje y estoy muy animo por esa día!

I can't believe Vancouver got snow this past week! I hope Kodi is taking advantage of all the fresh powder up at Mt. Hood. I'm jealous I can't ski right now.

Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to be an usher for the Devotional which was really fun. I don't know what is so special about being an usher but I think I enjoyed it because it is a change from the mundane day to day activities. Things can become boring when you have the same schedule week in and week out. Again we had no GA's come and speak at Devotional. I'm really hoping for one before I leave. I got a package of cookies and it didn't have a return address or a note. I was reluctant to eat them but they turned out to be really good. I still don't know who sent them. I'm assuming the cookie fairy maybe??? :)

I got a good workout in Wednesday. I feel so lazy 90% of the time here. I am not used to sitting still for so long. I go insane from time to time and just want to run. I had the opportunity this week to be a new missionary host. It was a lot of fun to help the new missionaries and reminisce about the day I came into the MTC. Two of the Elders I helped were cool but by far my favorite Elder was Tandric Bench! Elder Bench lived in the same dorm right next to mine at BYUH. He is going to the Arcadia California mission and I'm super excited for him. I just love California. If you read this Eric, I asked him about what you told him... HAHAHA... and he said he forgives you. :)

Thursday was a dificult day for me. I felt like my language skills were not progressing, I was tired, and I was not comprehending the subjunctive tense/ noun clauses. I prayed to my Heavenly Father and he gave me little boost throughout the day. The first great thing that happened was I saw my friend Zach Reeves while I was cleaning a stair well! Seeing Zach was like seeing my brother. When you have been firends for 17 years you basicall are family. I also recieved a letter from sister Bowman. Sister Bowman arrived at the MTC the same week as me but since she is English speaking she is already in St. George. She and her companion have already had one baptism and plan on 8 more this month! I cannot begin to describe how happy I was when I read this and saw her with her investigator getting ready to be baptized. I cannot wait till I have the opportunity to bring people the happiness I have recieved from the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of 2Nephi 9:39 it says Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal= S.M.I.L.E. :) That is what the gospel does for families! It makes them happy and smile. The gift of the Holy Ghost truly is the greatest gift we can ask for and the happiness I have felt here at the MTC is not something I can put into words. I'm changing.

I hope everyone has a good week. I know this time of the year is crunch time for a lot of ya'll. School is almost over and things start to get really stressful. The MTC is no different. With two weeks left here things are difficult for me. When I don't think I can take it I turn to my Heavenly Father and ask for help. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." I admonish you all to do just that. Heavenly Father is amazing and I know His son, Jesus Christ lives. God is love. Vaya con Dios.

Elder Bennion

Here are some links to the talks Cameron was referring to :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwHmjd70cso  Richard C. Scott's talk. This was Elder Bennion's fav. =)



http://www.youtube.com/user/MormonMessages#p/c/7559338FDD487087/8/OBxbEfui6h8   Quentin L. Cook's talk


http://www.youtube.com/user/MormonMessages#p/c/7559338FDD487087/21/6ASimq1BOds  Russell M. Ballards Talk

Week Six: And I couldn't ask for more...

Hasta semana fue
Conferencia General y espero que todo el mundo vieron muchos discursos. Nunca
vi toda Conferencia pero hay es muchos buenos discursos durante sabado. Henry
Bennion Eyring me cae bien. El tiene un gran espiritu sobre el. Durante el
reunion de sacerdocio Presidente Eyring fue muy fracioso. El es mi favorito.
Sorry there are no accents. I don't have time to turn the Spanish keyboard
setting on.

I really hope everyone
was able to enjoy General Conference. I have never watched every talk given
during General Conference but I was so glad I finally had the opportunity to. I
think Conference is magnified as a missionary. There was so many good talks
given, I particularly loved Richard G Scott's talk. It centered around family
and love as did a couple other talks. I loved his talk because you could feel
how much he loved his late wife and family. That is something we all should
strive to do more of. Several other talks that touched me were M. Russell
Ballard's talk and Quentin L. Cook's talk.

This week I will be
going on my sixth week in the MTC. Its crazy how time flies when you are
progressing so rapidly. I am hoping this week will fly by. Next week we get our
travel plans and I cannot wait for that. I feel like I gained a lot of
knowledge this week. My ability to teach gringos en espanol is a lot better, :)
but I don't think it will be a walk in the park teaching native speakers. I had
an opportunity to teach a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ Friday night
with my companion and it was a lesson we had never practiced before so I was
nervous. I said a prayer before we began to teach and I knew I was an
instrument in the hands of the lord. My Spanish was much better than normal, I
knew how to teach the principals of the lesson, and the spirit directed me how
to answer the questions I was presented with. Richard G. Scott once said that
if you actively seek the spirit it will be present even during role plays. I
know this is what happened. I was so happy after that lesson I ended up dancing
all the way back to our residence hall. I did end up getting some funny looks
from other Elders.

My knee is doing
better. President Craig's blessing was of great comfort to me. I still try to
ice it as much as possible but I don't think I will need an MRI. Dr. Brown is a
great doctor and he listens to me what is rare for a doctor. I swear you know
everyone mom! :)

Since I haven't been
playing basketball I've been lifting weights more. They have a "wall of
fame" in the gym for various records and I'm determined to set the bench
press record. I benched 150 lbs. 70 times but the record is 106 so I have some
practice to do before I can accomplish that feat.

Saturday was mostly
spent watching conference. I loved several talks, especially the one by L. Tom
Perry. His talk focused on following the Savior and becoming meek like
children. Children do have divine attributes that have not been tainted by the
world. We all should strive to have the love and faith children have. Try to
show kindness in all that you do, for these are the things which Jesus would
do.

Sunday was spent watching GC as well. We woke up to two plus inches of snow on the ground
though. I was completely shocked because for the three days prior it was sunny
and warm. I took some good pictures and videos of the snow.

I hope everyone has a
great rest of the week. Hopefully Vancouver has dried up some just in time for
spring break! Its crazy school is out in a month! Do great things. God is love.
Vaya con Dios.

Love,

Elder Bennion