There's a Mouse! And I'm in Jail!

 Howdy, this week was a super good week. The weather is awesome and so are you. Enjoy another episode of Elder Bennett's adventures. 

2/12- P-Day!!! We started off the day with studies and I cleaned the apartment because it was kind of dirty. And plus I don't like being in a dirty area. We then went shopping, I bought a lot of things but it's okay because I needed everything I got. We then got back and went to a member's house. His name is Brother Clements, and lets just say he has a lot of hobbies. One of those hobbies is making pens with the missionaries. I am making mine out of olive wood, its gonna be super pretty. Unfortunately we couldn't run any of the power tools. But it was still super cool to watch him work his magic. We then left and went to the church, I practiced the piano a little bit and called the family. Then the Lincoln ½ Elders showed up, we played lots of pickleball and hung out. We then came back to our apartment and had lunch. I also finished my last email and sent it out. We then played a lot of ultimate frisbee with the Lincoln Elders, since they were still over. After I made some yummy chocolate chip cookie dough. While I was making the cookies, I looked closer at the measuring cups and realized that I was using the 1⁄3-2⁄3 cups vs the ½-1 cup.😳🤦‍♂️ so after some quick thinking, I wasn't going to ditch the cookie dough so i tried fixing the cookie dough. It wasn't the best cookie dough but it was kind of edible still. I then packed for my exchange over in Lincoln for the Zone Leaders. We left and met up with the Zone Leaders, and started our exchange. I went to the “Hype House” with Elder Mallory from St. GEORGE. We made lots of phone contacts and had dinner. Afterwards we played Skull King with the other Elders who live there. (It's a 4 Elder apartment) I took 2nd place like a pro! We then hit the bed, since all of us were exhausted 😩.

2/13- I started the day with writing in my journal about yesterday. Elder Mallory made Rice and Sausage, it was super good. I showered and got ready for the day. (BTW, their shower head is super low. Like it's mid back to me). We did our studies and daily planning. Then we did some facebook work and interactions. Interactions are basically where we add and friend random people on facebook, then we chat them up and hopefully get something out of them. I did 20 and Elder Mallory did 20 also. But come to find out, that what I did for interactions count for the area I'm in when I did them. So I gave them 20,😠😩!!! We then had lunch which was more rice and chicken. After lunch we went to a service project in Sheridan. The 4 elder apartment that I was in and the other Lincoln Elders came with us. We picked mandarin oranges, and I probably ate just as many as I picked. It was pretty fun, and the house we were at had like a petting zoo 🤣. They had goats, horses, mini horses, and these massive white dogs. They were all super cute animals, we even got to feed and pet them. After our service project was over we stayed and we were playing Rotten Orange Dodgeball through the orchard. We even played baseball with them. It was a blast and I hit Elder Picanco right in the stomach. But it was so fun, because when the oranges would hit something, they would just blow up. We left the service project and on the way back I had my mentor call and learned alot. We got back to the apartment and changed back into proselyting clothes and went to our dinner, or we thought 🤔. Come to find out our dinner was scheduled for the next Tuesday. So we talked to the family for a while and left to go to our lessons. We had two lessons, we taught the restoration at both of them. One of the peeps is On Date to be baptized and the other one is just starting out. They were awesome lessons and the spirit was there. We then came back and had dinner, which was Elder Mallorys famous stir fry. We then played Skull-king some more and went to bed.

2/14/Valentines Day ❤️❤️❤️- Happy Valentines Day!!! We started off the day with breakfast and studies. After our studies we went to Auburn for our District Councils and interviews. We met up with the zone and Elder Koyle. Elder koyle was nice enough to bring me my new tie my mom sent me and my suit coat. We did our zone role plays and then we split up to do our District Council. Elder Pollister and Elder Bigham did ours. It was about patience which is always a great thing to have. And then President Basha walked in, which only meant one thing, my turn for the interview. It was actually really good. And I really enjoy President Basha. After that it was lunch time, so President Basha took us all to lunch at this super good restaurant. It was a small restaurant and our whole zone took up the whole thing. It had to be the most righteous building in Auburn. After lunch we went back to the Church, and I played the piano and hung out while Elder Koyle was in a meeting for all the leaders. We came back to my favorite town ever Loomis. I unpacked my bag and finished my laundry from P-Day. We made some contacts after that, we went to our dinner and had heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphys. It was super good, they gave us chocolate and sour patch kids. They even gave us heart shaped headbands. They have 3 girls so it makes sense. We then went to mutual and hung with the youth. We came home and called it a night.

2/15-Pretty solid day, I woke up kind of late because I was super tired. We did our studies and had breakfast. After breakfast we had our studies and did our daily contacts. After it was already lunch time so I decided to make and perfect my grilled cheese. Ya let's just say it needs some help. After lunch we went street contacting and nobody was interested. We then went to the Nissan Dealership to get our car fixed. It had a Recall with something in the electrical system where when it decides to go boom, the car won't start at all. So we got that taken care of, we were at the dealership for like 2 hours. While the car was in the shop, they noticed that their had been a mouse camping out inside of the engine bay. And it got hungry and ate some other wires that controls a fancy auto start/stop system. So we have to go back tomorrow to get that fixed. Also while we were at the shop we did a lot of interactions. Like 50 of those puppies. We came back and did some tracting and nothing crazy happened, besides we knocked on what we thought was the front door but really wasn't. And the guy came running out of his actual front door like all scared. It was an interesting site to see. We went to dinner, and on the way we came across a dodge truck that somehow wrecked. There was no other damage besides his truck so i dont know. But there was steam from the radiator everywhere and he was not a happy camper. We then had our dinner and visited a member on the way back and went to bed.

2/16-I don't remember all that happened but we did service like lots and lots. Which was wonderful. And then we went to the dealership and sat there for another 2 hours while they fixed the mouse problems. While we were at the dealership, I got put in facebook jail because I messaged too many people too fast. It thought I was scamming people🤣 We came home and did some tracting and had dinner and went to bed.

2/17-Today we started out by cleaning the church. We then went and helped the elders quorum out with splitting wood and delivering to the elderly people. We came back to our apartment and then we got THE CALL. The bishopric wanted us to speak in church less then 24 hours before we talked. So of course we said yes, so we spent our study time writing fire talks. We then had a lesson with some awesome people and had dinner with my favorite service missionary Elder Johnson since he came with us to the lesson. We came home and went to bed

2/18- Today was the big day. We went to church and spoke in the 3rd ward, I will put the talk at the end of the email. It went super well, I noticed that I don't get nervous when I speak in other wards. So on Friday night, we do a sports night with the youth. So we play sports with them, and they bring their buddies. So anyway, one kid showed up, and I hit it off right away with talking to him and getting to know him. We played together the whole night. Well yesterday him and his mom came to church. They are a less active family, and I spoke in church. But that's for a different time. Anyway, after his mom came up to me and said thank you, then started balling her eyes out. I was like, in my head thinking, I don't know you, and plus my talk wasn't that great. She thanked me for being super nice and friendly to her son who doesn't wanna be apart of the church. And come to find out I relit his fire to keep coming. So I saved a family by being nice to their son. So long story short kindness goes along way. We then went to the other ward and it was pretty good. We then came home and made some fire quesadillas. After lunch we went and made some contacts with people who are interested. They went fairly well. We then went to the church and had our daily studies and had a companionship council. We then went to our dinner appointment and the people we went to, their daughter lives in Pleasant view and is friends with my mom. We had this thing called Mississippi Pot-Roast. It was super good, they made it with Elk meat. They ended up giving lots of Elk, Deer, and fish meat. He is a big hunter, and I love to hunt so it was fun to chat about hunting and telling stories. We then came home and did our weekly planning, this week is going to be a fire week. 

 

Talk-How to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

        Good morning brothers and sisters, my name is Elder Bennett. I was asked to speak about becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. But I should probably introduce myself, since you are all probably wondering who this good looking missionary is! Like I said earlier, my name is Elder Bennett. I am from Pleasant View, Utah. It's a town 15 minutes north of Ogden. I am the oldest of 4. I have 2 younger sisters and a younger brother. I have owned and built up my own lawncare business. I love riding quads and working on cars. I have been on my mission for 3 months coming up on Tuesday. You guys are my first ward I have covered and you guys have given me the best welcome to California. Anyway enough about me, let's talk about becoming disciples of Jesus Christ and what that looks like.

      So to start, what is a disciple of Jesus Christ? Growing up, when I heard disciples of Jesus Christ. I would often think about the 12 disciples. But as I have gotten older and now especially on a mission I have come to realize that everyone is a disciple of Jesus Christ. This years youth theme is I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That theme comes from 3 nephi 3:15 and it says “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.” As missionaries in the Roseville California mission, that is a scripture we memorize and we recite it everyday, and in meetings with other missionaries. Now this scripture doesn't apply to only missionaries. It applies to every single one of us in this room, and even those watching virtually. In it, it says I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life. Now, the first part of that phrase, “I have been called of him to declare his word”. To be called of God doesn’t mean you need one of these fancy black name tags. We were called of God when we came down to earth. Each one of us were called to help bring his kids back to him. So what does that look like? 

Well in my eyes, one way to be a disciple is to serve. I love to do service, and in fact this past winter in Utah we got over 800 inches of snow. It snowed everyday, all the way from thanksgiving to Easter. Since my job was to do lawn care and that fun stuff, when it would snow I would be out working. I would get my normal clearing route done, then drive around looking for driveways that needed to be cleared. I would constantly have people offer me money, I would turn it down everytime. I did it out of the kindness of my heart. I tell people that I spent more time in my truck and serving others than I did in school. I know that is an extreme example of service but service can be something small like doing chores for your siblings. I mean heck you can even bring your neighbors trash can in. Elder Massimo De Feo Of the Seventy said in his April 2018 talk, “True disciples love to serve. They know that serving is an expression of true love and a covenant they made at baptism. Regardless of their callings in the Church or their role in the community, they feel an increasing desire to love and serve the Lord and one another.” So with that being said In D&C 4:3 it says “Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work” I invite you to look for ways to serve others this week. 

So besides serving, what other ways does being a disciple of Jesus Christ look like? Well, Elder Massimo De Feo, continues to say that “true disciples love the Lord more than the world and are steadfast and immovable in their faith. They stay strong and firm in a changing and confusing world. True disciples love to listen to the voice of the Spirit and of the prophets and are not confused by the voices of the world. True disciples love to “stand in holy places” and love to make holy the places where they stand. Wherever they go, they bring the love of the Lord and peace to the hearts of others. True disciples love to obey the Lord’s commandments, and they obey because they love the Lord. As they love and keep their covenants, their hearts are renewed and their very nature changes. Pure love is the true sign of every true disciple of Jesus Christ.” I love that he said true disciples love to make places they stand holy. In this world where we live, there is craziness and bad things everywhere. But those who choose to be true disciples of Jesus, strive to make every place a holy place. I also love how he said “Pure Love is the true sign of every true disciple.” I love it because Jesus Christ loved everyone. Even our prophet, President Nelsen loves everyone and so do his 12 Apostles. One of my favorite hymns is 308, Love One Another. The last half of the song says “Ye are my disciples, If ye have love One to another.” So I give you another challenge, Will you love one another? 

      I would like to end my talk today, by saying that I know we are all disciples of Jesus Christ. It is also pretty easy to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ, just think celestial and find ways to serve and love others. And plus if you are wondering if you should serve a mission. Honestly just do it, I have only been out 3 months but it has been the best 3 months of my life. A mission is not the easiest thing I have ever done, it is definitely hard. But you get to be set apart as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You get to meet people and serve people, you also get to share the gospel with them. I want to bear my testimony that God lives and loves everyone of us. In the chorus of the 2024 youth song “Im a disciple of Christ” it says “I’m a disciple of Christ; And I will never leave Him. He is the truth and the life; He’s the strength in my weakness. I will shine ’til the whole world sees, he’s the light that will set us free. I’m a disciple of Christ.

God will always help us when we are struggling. Remember that God loves you, and you are all disciples of Jesus Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen!!!

Pics

1. Heart masters

2. Dinner with Elder Johnson

3. Selfie with a bear

4. Mirrior pic

5. The Meat we got

6. FRIED rice

7. The wires the mouse ate

8. Pen halfway done

9. Aftermath of orange fight