Goodness glaciers! Two transfers in the field are over and I've been on my mission 5 months already! I sometimes stop and wonder where the time has gone. It doesn't seem possible to almost be 1/4 of the way done with my mission. If you look at it in that perspective it doesn't seem real. A return missionary that is now home and living in Cedar called me on my birthday wanting to get lunch and go out teaching with us sometime. (shout out to ex-elder "Caleb" Duncan) He said he has been home 13 months already! It freaked me out because he was the Elder that gave me my baptismal interview! Mission time fly’s!
Instead of waiting till the end I will start with the big news first. Transfer calls. Transfer calls came last night and... I'm headed to the oven of Utah... St. George speaking Spanish! WOOT WOOOOOOT! I'm going to be follow up training an Elder Leguizmon. I'm excited to be out with someone that is fresh and will have that drive to work. I'm also really excited to be going back to the city. I really was enjoying the small town life and I hope to come back to Ephraim but I'm ready for "the big city" again. What they did was they closed Ephraim Spanish and made Mt. Pleasant bi-lingual. Maybe in a year I will be ready to come back out here and they will be ready to reopen this area to Spanish work. That is my goal anyway. The one bummer is (and don't freak out mom!) is that I'm going to be in one of the only walking areas in the mission… In St. George of all places. We will see how that goes, but I have faith that it will all work out. This is the Lord's work after all.
This week was actually full of exciting news. The best news by far this week was Mauro is getting baptized this Saturday! I started jumping up and down when I heard the news! Mauro was a big reason I was sent to this area and even though I won't be here to witness his baptism, the knowledge that it is happening fills me with overwhelming joy. He has a really great boss, friends that are members, and a desire to be a disciple of Christ. I couldn't be more proud of him.
This week a lot happened in the form of baptismal dates for others as well. This transfer has been a rough one for me as far as putting people on date to be baptized. We had only one person on date but she was not progressing and that is one of the most frustrating things to see as a missionary. Faith is a verb. We must have action with our belief in order to show faith and a desire to be baptized and that was not happening. This was really frustrating/ saddening to me but as the old saying goes, better late than never. Here in the last week of the transfer we found a total of 4 people who are ready and wanting to be baptized. One of them is a young man named Ronie. He is from Peru and is 20 years old. He also works for the same man as Mauro. It is ironic how for the coming 3 weeks we have a baptismal service set up and now it won't be Elder Cram and I holding the baptismal service. Sometimes life is full of tricks and I wish I could be here to see the baptisms. Although, knowing that I have done my part in the Lord's work is a reward in itself.
This transfer there was a picture on my planner that is of David slaying Goliath. I put that picture on there as a reminder for myself that we are all going to be faced with challenges that seem insurmountable in life. I had a felling this transfer would be a trying time for me but I didn't know what it would exactly be like and what I would be faced with. I'm sure most everyone knows the story of David and Goliath. David was this small sheep herder who went and fought the giant Philistine Goliath. In 1Samuel 17:33 it says, "And Saul said unto David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth." Then in 1Samuel 17:37 it says, "David said moreover, The Lord will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee." There are a lot of people, especially the adversary, that are going to tell us to quit, to give up, we will never make it. There will be times the climb to our goal may seem impossible but I know that if our goal is righteous and of pure intent, the Lord will provide a way. I am just like David, and only a youth, while Lucifer is a man of war from his youth. The battle for righteousness is continually getting harder. Heaven WILL prevail. This gospel is true. I love it with all my heart. Vaya con Dios.
God is love,
Elder Bennion
P.S. Thank you for all the birthday cards, packages, and wishes everyone! I really appreciate it.
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