Monday, January 7, 2013

Semana Noventa y Ocho: Kings Of St. George


Semana Noventa y Ocho:

Kings Of St. George

Dear Family,
Well another week has flown by. I got the Jesus post card you sent mom. It took till Friday to get here though and you sent it before New Years. Kinda strange. I'm excited the holidays are over and we can get back to a normal teaching schedule. It was hard to make appointments because everyone was busy but things should get back to normal. We had a lesson at the temple visitor center yesterday in the afternoon and I saw The Morgan’s. Sister Morgan said she talked to you. My biggest question though is how did you get her number?

As difficult as New Years was to teach, it was also a lot of fun. On New Years Eve we went to this beautiful new house in the Southgate community of Bloomington Hills. It had gigantic 14-foot glass windows everywhere that looked out over downtown St. George. In one room the light fixture is all hand blown glass just like they have in the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was impressive! The family made us dinner; brought us ice cream, and we got to watch the Lion King 2 in their theater. I feel so out of place in places like that because I'm used to trailer parks and modest houses but that's what makes the mission fun. After that we had Elder Cacia and Elder Earle with us. Elder Cacia wanted to visit a family up in stone cliffs so on our way home we dropped by. Just to get into the neighborhood you have to talk to a guard at the guardhouse. My voice recordings will explain more but that was a fun night!

New Years day was fun as well. As a district we had an activity at the Stewart's again in Washington Fields. We decided to do "missionary Olympics" but it turned out pretty to be less of a test of who was the fastest or the strongest- it was more of a test to see who could eat the grossest thing. The first game the sisters made up was called fear factor. My name was picked and so was Elder Hawkins so our companions had to join us and see which companionship could drink the most liquid the fastest. It makes me wonder how none of the sisters names were picked? Especially, considering they knew it was made of some sick combination of salsa, applesauce, skittles, hot sauce, and other nasty stuff. I drank the most and got a lot down before my gag reflex kicked in. Unfortunately, I think there is a video of that floating around. Afterwards we some other games but for the sake of time, saving face, and this being public; the recordings will explain it all. We finished Tuesday night though with two new investigators making that a total of eight solid new investigators over the past two weeks! I'm doing what President Leonard asked of me and getting the branch off of life support one step at a time.

Wednesday during the day I felt sicker than a dog. I've been semi sick for a while but it finally hit me on Wednesday morning. Sister Carpenter has been really sick as well and she wanted me to take it easy but it just doesn't work that way out here. We went out and taught in the evening and I'm glad we did it because we invited Nathanel and Ana to be baptized and they said yes! Another blessing is that the Oliva’s family is so prepared to learn. Sister Olivas took her Book of Mormon to Las Vegas over the New Year and read. It has just been so neat to see people start taking baby steps back to return back to the presence of Our Father in Heaven.

Friday was just unreal how good it was. Dinner with Elder Cacia and Elder Earle at Texas Roadhouse was a blast, people were extremely generous to us, our lessons were perfect, and the spirit taught me a lot of things during studies. What more could I ask for in a day? After Friday night I just felt like the king of St. George. To everyone who laughs at missionaries called to Utah...I can just laugh inside. I wouldn't want to be called to any other mission in the world!

Sunday was stake conference and we had investigators come. I think that was a first for me on my mission. I had to basically baby sit for two hours but whatever it takes for our investigators to feel the spirit I will do! I've felt really worn out and fatigued lately from lots of stuff I think. I think having a young companion keeps me on my toes but it also has meant more work. We are going to the temple today, which will recharge my spiritual batteries and keep me sprinting to the end. I've learned so much out here. I love the temple. You don't have to go Israel to walk where Jesus walked, just go to the temple. I love you all. Remember to replace fear with faith. I'm truly livin' the dream! Vaya con Dios.

Dios es amor,

Elder Bennion





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