1st Full Week in California

What is up guys, this week has been a super good week. I have had doors slammed in my face, I have had people yell at me, I even have had people lie straight to my face. But thats part of the work. I hope you enoy my email. I know its long but it's worth a read. 

-Sunday 12/17-Today was an amazing day. We started out with choir in the Loomis 1st ward, then went to there sacrament meeting. After there sacrament meeting, we went to there sunday school and we just watched videos about christmas. After that we went to our MCM, (Missonary Corelation Meeting) We met with the members and leaders and bascially talked about the missionary work going on. We then had the Loomis 3rd ward sacrament meeting, In the meeting the bisop asked me to come up and introduce myself. If you know who I am, you know that I had people laughing. Afterwards we went to their Sunday school and ate cookies and talked about the birth of christ. We then had another choir practice and I sang my little heart out. On our way home from church, we stopped at a house that's down the road from our apartment. We had a strong impression to stop there and talk to them. When we got to the door and before I knocked, I wasn’t sure what to say. But in the MTC, they taught us that if we just open our mouths, the spirit will fill our mouths. And so when we knocked and they answered, I opened my mouth and the spirit told me what to say. We talked for a bit and she is interested in learning more about the church. So hopefully we make progress with her. We then finnaly made it home, and had our 1st wards MCM. After we went to dinner, then shared a christmas video with them. We then came home and planned our week, studied and hit the hay.

-Monday 12/18- today was p-day, we started out the day by going to the gym with the other elders in our zone. Trying to gain muscles🤣. We then went to the good Ole Walmart to get groceries and other items we needed. We had the other elders in the zone with us, and man let me say they are just the funniest elders ever. After we went to Walmart we went to Bass Pro Shop and just kinda hung out. We then took them home, and went and got ready to play pickleball. We then picked them up AGAIN🤣. We went to Lincoln, and met up with other companionships in our district and played pickleball and it was a blast. We then had dinner at a member's house and then came home and did study. In our study we listened to a podcast and the thing I took away from it was. When you feel like you have plateaued, always look for a way to become a better person/missionary.

-Tuesday 12/19- Today was a pretty good day, we had MLC which is Mission Leader Conference. My comp went because he's the district leader. And I went with another set of elders so I was in a trio. We went to their apartment and did personal study. I may or may not have studied the back of my eye-lids. 🤣 We then went to a Mexican restaurant and had lunch and it was super good. After we then went tracting and didn't really have anyone interested but it's cool tho. Although we found a guy who totally bashed the church and the gospel, it's okay cause he was all wrong. I hope he can get the right info. I then got back with Koyle and we went back to Loomis. When we got back we went to this really rich guy who has a private jet, and owns a huge law-firm that's all over the country. He also owns the iceberg franchise. We had dinner with them, then came back and studied. That's my day really, just bashers and rich people.

-Wednesday 12/20- Well, today was an amazing day. We had our mission wide Christmas party/devotional. We did a service project where we made cookies and wrote notes for kids in foster care. And then….. Our mission president, President Basha and his wife, (who are really awesome) Surprised us with going to the movie theater!!!! They rented out a whole theater for the missionaries, we watched Wish. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you watch it. After the amazing movie, we did a thing where us missionaries had a category within the book of mormon and we had to create a rap to explain it. It was honestly so much fun. We then had dinner which consisted of Tri-tip steak and funeral potatoes and it was super good. We then had a devotional where each district went up and sang a song, The Loomis district/my district sang “Silent Night”. We then headed home and studied and went to bed. So overall a super awesome day but I'm super tired.

-Thursday 12/21- Today was an interesting day. it was like a roller coaster. It had its ups and Downs. We started out by doing our studies, then we went to Lincoln and did our district council and learned alot. We then came back home and went to a Bible study with a lady. It was honestly super fun, we read out of Ezekiel. We then did a podcast with 2 other missionaries and we talked about the birth of christ. After the podcast, we went and looked for people that we haven't taught in a while. Our first house we went too was kidna sketchy and so we left and went to another house and it was an old lady who was getting ready to sell her house, so we gave her our number and asked her to call us when she needs help with moving. After that we called one of our bishops and he was being kinda weird and rude so after that call, me and Elder koyle were not really feeling the vibe. But we decided to one last house cause why not. Let me just tell you, God works in mysterious ways. The house was in a gated community. And luckily the car in front of us had the code so we followed in behind them. (Don't tell the cops, cause I think that's illegal). Anyway we then got to the house and it's a really nice house, we knocked on the door and the lady who lives there invited us in for dinner which is great cause our dinner canceled on us. Her family does a tradition every year, where they watch the polar express and the grandkids interact with the movie. So for example, in the hot chocolate scene she gives her grandkids hit chocolate, and in the ticket scene at the beginning her son dressed up as the ticket person and punched everyone's ticket. The whole thing was super duper cool and the food was just as good. So that's Today in a nutshell, awesome moments and moments of wanting to give up, but I learned as a missionary to NEVER GIVE UP!!!

-Friday 12/22- Today was a pretty good day honestly. We started out with playing a card game called Unstable Unicorns 🦄. Then we got ready, did our studies. We decided to go to “Main Street”, it's called Taylor but it's basically main street. We went and talked to alot of people, none of them were super interested, which is okay because we are going back tomorrow. After we went and did our weekly planning at the church, we basically talked about our goals and what we needed to do this week. The other elders showed up, and so we all threw out ideas that we had on how go help those around us. We then went to dinner with a member to a super good Chinese restaurant. After eating a lot of amazing food, we went back to the Church for our “social media” block, that's basically where we are on Facebook looking for people to teach. We also share things as well, one thing that is coming out really soon is a music video my comp and I are doing. It will hopefully come out sometime this week. After we played and practiced our song, we came back to our apartment to homemade bread and cookies, that a family friend back home dropped off for us. We spent the rest of the night studying and going to bed. That's it for today, nothing crazy just talking to people and singing.

-Saturday 12/23- Started out the day by playing more unstable unicorns 🦄. Then I did my studies, I studied 1 Nephi 11. It talks about the tree of life in depth. We then went back to Taylor rd. It wasn't super busy, we tried talking to people, but nobody wanted to talk. We only had one conversation with 2 guys at ACE hardware, in the parking lot. We got there contact info, so hopefully things work. One of the highlights of today was when we were contacting people on Taylor, some old lady got mad us cause we wanted to talk to her about Jesus, she held up her cross on her necklace and said “ I already got my Jesus”. We then came back and ate lunch cause missionaries are always super hungry. After lunch we had some time in out lunch break, so we played UNO and I crushed it. After lunch we went to our former/ people who we have contacted in the past, and contacted the houses around it. We actually talked to a lot of people. One of the houses we went to, after we pulled up to the driveway, a car pulled into the driveway and they lied to us. They said they were coming to vist the people and they weren't sure if the people were home so we decided to go find out and nobody didn't answer. As we were at the door, we thought why would you go to someone's house if you didn't know if they were home? Anyway, when we walked back to the car, we noticed they walked through the backyard into their own house. So the most creative excuse goes to them. We then went to a girl's house named Alexis, she has met with the missionaries in the past, we talked to her and I see potential for her being baptized. We then went to dinner, and it was all green, like salad and this extreme healthy soup. It was good, just different. We even had pumpkin pie for dessert. After dinner we came back home and studied and went to bed.

-Sunday 12/24- Christmas eve, we woke up 30 minutes late, (Whoops). We went to our choir practice for the 1st ward, then had sacrament where we sang our song and other groups/people sang. Then after 1 hour church, we did our daily planning then went to the second coir practice. We then did that performance in that sacrament meeting. After Church, we went and talked to formers, (basically peeps we have come in contact with in the past). While talking to formers we were also tracting, while tracting we went to a house that we knew were members, just to see if they knew anyone who could use a christ centered message. When we knocked on the door, the lady said “Elder Bennett, my daughter knows you because she lives by you.” I was kinda confused, she said the last name and I did not recognize it. Well come to find out I use to mow her preschool. (It’s also in the basement of the Straw Market in PV. I only communicate with the guy who owns the building). So of course she took a pic of me next to their pet bear (pictured), and sent it to my mom. While we were there, we played a Minute to Win it game. We also shared a message with them about christmas. We then left there house/Christmas party and went to our dinner appointment. The peoples house we went to did a huge christmas party and have done this every year for the last 30 YEARS!!!! We had Mexican food, there were tacos, tamales, taquitos, enchiladas. You name it, it was probably there. We talked to alot of people while we were there. After we went to the church and practiced our song for Facebook, while I was there I tried the organ and man that was so much fun. We then came home and did some studying, after studying I had a cup of Hot Chocolate and Oreos. And went to bed, because tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!!!!

-Monday/CHRISTMAS!!!! 12/25- We started the day at 6:00 AM California time. I video called my fam and opened presents with them. It was so much fun, even tho my little bro was upset, because my parents were talking to me more then him 🤣. I then talked to my family more and caught up on the home life, which seems like they are having a party. After I called them, my comp and I went to our “Landlord's” house/ Upstairs, and we played games, laughed and talked. We also ate brunch with them. It was honestly super good, it was cinnamon roles, a ham and egg casserole, and super duper HOT Hot Chocolate. Like I took a sip and spit it back in my glass cause it was SO hot. We then went back to our apartment and cleaned up our mess from the morning. We then went to the church and produced a “Music Video”. Its on facebook so check it out on my page (Carson Bennett). We then went and talked to people/Formers, and wished them a Merry Christmas. We then came back to our place and did personal study. We then went to dinner, at a members house. It was super good, it was ham and potatoes. We then played games with them, and had ice cream. We then came back and studied and did nightly calls, then bed. So overall today was a super great day, Christmas and hanging out with a lot of people. I also met a family friend back home at dinner tonight, so that's twice in 2 days on the same street.

-The scripture for the week is Helman 5:12. “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” I know that this is a super common scripture but I have shared this scripture with a lot of people this past week. I would like to share with you why I love this scripture, I love this scripture because it reminds me that in times of darkness and craziness like we live in now, we will be alright if we stay strong and build our testimonies. We will be blessed and saved because we have god on our side. 

-I love you all and I hope you guys had a great christmas and remember that god loves you and that god is always there for you. All you have to do is just pray and talk to god. I invite you to start reading the Book of Mormon in the new year. I am trying to read the Book of Mormon right now. My mission challenged me to do it in 90 days. And I am only 8 days in but I am already learing so much. YOU GOT THIS!!!! Anyway till next time, peace out and FULL SEND!!!

PICTURES-

1-  Pretty rainbow

2- Old truck

3- Mirrior Pic

4- Elder Koyle and I being funny with homemade sourdoughbread.

5- Hot Cocoa and Oreos on christmas eve.

6- Turkeys/My neighbors

7- Sunset 

8- My group at the Movies!

9-  Call me a tree hugger!!!

10- The Cute Bear