July 25, 2011

Hello!

 I loved that video with all the littles up in the canyon! Made me cry, haha. darn it.
It's been a pretty good week for the work. Things are moving along and people are getting closer to baptism. We had one really solid guy that we've been working with, but he had to go back to Shanghai this past week and we can't get a hold of him... BUT hopefully he'll come back soon! We're also working with another guy, Jin, he should be baptized in a couple weeks. He walks for 50 minutes to meet with us and takes an 1 1/2 hour bus to get to church on Sundays... he has great faith. It's been awesome to see him accept the message and apply it!  This week we've had to drop a couple of investigators because they just won't read the Book of Mormon, and I can't figure out why. I've been studying about it all week and I keep being led to the fact that people have their agency... it's just frustrating that people aren't willing to try sometimes.  But we're here as missionaries to find the people that ARE willing, and they come when we're doing whats right and striving to find them.

This week while street contacting, a pigeon dropped a huge duece straight onto my head in the middle of a contact. how does that even happen!? Not pleasant, but definitely a keeper in the book of memories, haha. Also we were hit on by a gay hobo (homohobo).  Los Angeles is like a different world... so many crazies here, haha. I love it.

So jealous you guys are all going to see Death Cab! That will be awesome... they were great last time I saw them. And it's a perfect first show for EJ! haha.

Well I'm almost out of time on this computer, so I hope you guys have a great week! You're always in my prayers and I love you all!

love, ben.

Email from Ben to good friend Bryson who is serving in the Washington D.C. North Mission:

     MAN it is so dang good to hear from you! hahaha I  love hearing about your companion. He sounds like an awesome guy. Good to hear things are going good for you over there! And about Elder Davie... love that guy. He's gone through a lot to get to the point he's at!

Right now I'm serving in the northern most part of the mission, we cover Arcadia and Pasadena and Temple City and San Gabriel and San Marino and Rosemead and WOW our area is huge haha. One Chinese companionship covers 1/4 of the mission cause there's only 8 of us.  My companion's name is Elder Au. He's from Hong Kong, pretty funny guy. I love Asians so much! Especially when they're learning english... so dang funny. By the way I teach english as a second language for service every week, and we give them all an english name if they don't have one already. There's like 3 sets of Bryson's, Jordan's, and Scott's hahahaha. it's so much fun. I killed my trainer last transfer and this is Elder Au's last transfer, 2 kills in 4 transfers! Elder Au has been trunky for about a year now, haha, but I'm making him work. Also because his mother language is Cantonese we have to go teach all the Cantonese lessons around the mission... my Cantonese is coming along pretty well! haha. I love mandarin, though. Sometimes i feel overly obsessed with it. There's just so much to learn because speaking it and writing it are so different! I love it, it's become such a pretty language to me.

Elder, my testimony has gotten so much stronger as I've been out here and learning about our relationship with God. It's the most incredible thing. Sometimes it almost feels tangible, like i can grab it.  Does that make sense? It's just been so awesome to set things aside and just focus on what the Lord would have us do. I love it, I've learned so much!

Anyways brother keep up the good work in the east and I'll take care of things in the west... Scott has got the south :) I freaking love that we're all out here doing this, the thing that we all promised we'd do when we were young. We all followed through with it! Nearly all of us in that deacons quorum are serving. Austin G is going to the Chinese people of Australia, Trenton is coming to California with the Spanish people, just so awesome. I love you man! Can't wait for the glorious day where we all talk about our amazing mission experiences! keep up the good work. and PAY THE PRICE for revelation!

Love, Elder Dixon.

July 18, 2011

Sounds like you guys had a fun weekend with all the family over! It's been a pretty good week for me as well. We set some goals this week that really stretched us, and it has really paid off. This week was Elder Halpin's last week with us. He's left a really positive impact on me, and I haven't really realized it until these past few days. His desire for the work and the love that he has for God is so strong. He kinda realized that this week was his last chance that he had to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and he really took advantage of it. This week was one of my favorite parts of my mission so far as we bore sincere testimony of the Restoration to every single person we talked to. I really felt God's satisfaction in my days work every single night in my prayers. That is happiness! There is no other feeling in the entire world that could substitute the feeling of God being satisfied with what you do.

This transfer it'll be Elder Au and I. It will be a little rough, I'm the designated driver and he got his phone privileges taken away... but, I know God always provides a way to accomplish his work. This is his last transfer and he's been trunky for about a year now, but I feel like if I can just keep focused and always remember just exactly why I'm out here, things will go well. Find, teach, and baptize. That's what we're going to do. President Becerra has already made some big changes in the mission. He has gotten rid of Senior and Junior companions with the idea of it providing more companionship unity. I'm excited for more things to come!

I'm so grateful for you guys! All those family traditions and things we've done that dad was talking about really have influenced me so much. The family really is the most important social unit we have in this life... I'm just extremely grateful for the things that I've been taught from you. Those are the things that strengthen my testimony that God really does have a plan for us. They will carry on for the rest of my life. I love you, family! Also thanks for the package mom! Right as I was running out of tooth paste and deoderant I get some in the mail... you know me so well!

Love, Ben

Better Late Than Never!

Our missionary, Elder Ben, has been out for 6 months now! It is hard to believe! We are inspired by his emails every week. I am a bit late starting this blog, but I decided that it's better to be late than not at all. What a joy it is to have a missionary serving the Lord. Ben is serving in the California Arcadia Mission and is teaching in Mandarin Chinese... we love and miss him, but we know he is where he is supposed to be!

(Here he is with his little Brother Ethan on January 2, 2011 after he spoke in Church)