November 28, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for all of you!

    We had a pretty good thanksgiving week. Our ward had a big pot luck and sang kareoke haha. I wish so badly you guys could see asians sing and dance. It's probably the funniest thing of my life. It was a mix of american and chinese food, who knew stinky tofu and turkey was a good combination? but yeah, it was a lot of fun.

    I kinda feel bad about that letter i wrote you now mom! haha. If I had time i would have totally written this: Mom you are the greatest mom ever, i'm grateful that you raised me the way you did, making me sandwiches, making me practice the violin, writing my award winning essay in 4th grade, buying me clothes, letting me grow my hair out, letting me grow a beard, mustache, handlebar mustache, and dying my mustache black, letting me go on road trips, letting me play the loud drums whenever I wanted, and other things of the sort. Most of all though, I'm grateful that you and dad always showed your love, even when I messed up. Even when I felt that I didn't deserve it. I love you for it! thank you.

   Being with Elder Han has been a different experience than my last few companions. He's the first companion that I'm not training or sending home. He is an awesome teacher, IF he is put into a teaching situation. He doesn't really love his mission, but we're working on that.   My chinese has gotten a lot better with him though, cause his english is pretty bad. Forces me to speak chinese, which is what i like!

  Jake is in the MTC?! Goodness thanks for letting me know, i've been waiting to know where he is going forever! haha. Whats his mtc address?

   I love you guys, freaking love you guys. I mean it! If I don't show it i'm sorry! haha.

Have a good week!

love, ben.

 

 

Thanksgiving 2011!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

   They are having a boy! man. I don't think our family will ever have girls. But thats awesome! I'm way happy for them. Make sure he can say uncle Ben before I get home! haha.

   This week was transfers and... I'm staying. It's official, I'll have served in the Mountain View ward until my year mark :) Elder Wong was transfered to Hacienda Heights and Elder Han came up here with me. I don't mind staying here, I love this area. I'm way excited to work with Elder Han, he'll be my first companion that isn't going home soon or that I'm training. He's an awesome teacher and has the coolest conversion story. We should be getting a lot of good done here. Elder Tryon is coming up to serve in the Mountain View Ward with me now as well :) I'm way excited, I love that guy.

   For Thanksgiving this week our ward is having a big party. Our ward has a lot of single members and people with no family here in America, so they decided to just have Thanksgiving as a ward activity. It should be great! This past week we had another baptism, Sister Y--. She's made a lot of friends in the ward and the transition has been smooth for her. Our ward has stepped up so much lately, it's pretty amazing. Yesterday morning, Elder Johnson and I (He's going home tomorrow, I think you have been emailing his mom?) were able to meet with the Pasadena Stake Presidency to talk about the possibilities of having a new Chinese branch. We've pushed really hard for it, and they've decided that it's a good idea and they are going to try and start it soon. It's so exciting! We'll have 3 different units to work in instead of just 2, and we'll be getting more chinese missionaries, and we'll be able to get more people to church. There's no reason why we shouldn't be baptizing every week once we get everything settled and going. That's the goal, at least. :)

   I pretty much peed my pants reading Noah's aspiration letter you sent me! hahahaha that was so dang funny! He is so weird. He looks so grown up in the picture you sent me, stop it noah! No big deal though, i'll still be able to beat him up when I get back. I gained weight when I was with Elder Wong. He's kind of a big guy, comes from a loaded family and is always hungry, so he bought me a ton of food, haha. Well, I look and feel like i've gained 20 pounds but I weighed myself this morning and I was only 3 pounds heavier, what the heck. I talked to Elder Vance (from Lehi) a couple weeks ago and he's gained 20 pounds, but looks exactly the same. Why can't I do that.

  I still see 747 like crazy too! In fact I probably see it more here than I did back home. That's funny that Scott mentioned that haha. Well I better get going, I love you guys! have a good Thanksgiving.

(Ben and his best friend Scott, who is serving in Colombia, have their "number"... They would see it everywhere, and now they are both seeing it on their missions--)

 

Ally's Home-- November 14, 2011

   Can't believe it! She's already home. I'm sure she was an awesome missionary...

I'm so glad Joseph and Jordan got their calls! They will be awesome missionaries as well. What language do they speak in Ghana? Portuguese? Either way, black people are cool. Amy's boyfriend sounds like a good guy! And Ally looks great. Send them my love!
    This week has gone really well. We're being blessed with people that are more people that are prepared to receive the gospel. This week we taught a lady who had heard so many bad things about the church that she thought she would never even think about associating with us. But, she went on a business trip to Salt Lake and went to "Music and the Spoken Word" and was completely moved. She was treated so well by everyone that talked to her in Utah as well. So we took her on a tour of the chapel on Friday, and she feels that she needs to start coming back to church. She explained how she's felt lonely for a very long time, and was scared that if she died nobody would even know. We assured her of the family she has in the eternities as well as a ward family for her right now, she accepted a baptismal date right after that. The next day we took her over for dinner at a members house, we had 6 recent converts and all of their home teachers there, it couldn't have been a better environment for her to feel the spirit. She's now diligently studying the Book of Mormon and is loving what she sees so far. We have another lady that is preparing for baptism this Sunday. She experienced Christianity in China, but never had the time to really learn and accept it. She came here from China to "settle down", and feels that now is the time for her to accept Christ in her life. All these people have so many different backgrounds, but they all came here for the same reason, which is to accept the true gospel. So dang sweet! I love being apart of it.

   This week I've been thinking a lot about what a good life I have. The family I've grown up in was perfectly tailored to my needs as a son of God. The friends I have and had before my mission were and are perfect for me, and they shaped me into the exact person I need to be to be able to serve this mission today. God really does know us so well, his tender mercies are manifest in so many ways. I'm so grateful for all of them. I love you all so much, and please let all my friends know that as well!

Have a good week!

Love, Ben.

November 7, 2011

 (Ben and his first companion teaching English... One of his favorite things to do!)

Hello!

 This week has been pretty crazy. We're not as busy as we have been the last few months, but we still have much to do. Theres only 2 more weeks left of probably my favorite transfer yet. So much good and many miracles have happened the last few months, it's been awesome. We have 1 more baptism set for this month so far, Sister Y_. She's from Fuzhou, China, and she's loaded. She is determined to take us to China when we're done in California, haha. She has a mansion and lives in one of the "prettiest cities in China". Man if she's paying I'm totally going, even if she is a little weird. But yeah, she's scheduled to be baptized on the 20th. For our appointments we teach her english for a half hour and then the gospel, it works out pretty well. Lately she's been wanting to learn the gospel more than english, so that's good. We've hardly done anything to help her gain friendship with the ward, they are all still excited from the success we've been having that they are starting to love missionary work more and more and doing it themselves. :) I love it.

  We had the opportunity to help a new family move into our ward yesterday, they're from Beijing but have lived in Provo for the past couple years. They said they went to the church in Beijing for a while, but I'm not sure what their story is just yet. I'll have to find out. But yeah, they'll be a great addition to our ward. 2 more Melchizedek priesthood holders! That's exactly what we need if we are going to make a branch in Alhambra soon. litterally 5 minutes after we had finished moving them in, there was a crazy storm, it was so awesome! They were so grateful Heavenly Father had allowed them to move in at the time they did. They are a very humble family. I miss having variety in weather! haha. The streets were pretty flooded and stuff, it was cool. It didn't last very long, but it was still awesome. It's getting pretty cold down here, I'm excited to start wearing a jacket. The afternoons are still hot, but it gets way cold at night. Maybe it'll snow here someday... but that's dreaming. haha.

  I was reading in the New Testament this morning when Jesus was talking to the lady Samaritan at the well, after He had told her that He was the Christ she went into the city and everyone came out to see him. His disciples came back with the meat they had bought, but he replied that he had meat already, and that meat was the work of fulfilling his Father's will. He looked out at all the people and told the disciples that "the field is white already to harvest." Then it continues to say how many of the Samaritans believed on him from that time on. It made me think about how the Lord really has prepared these people through his own means, and we are just his disciples for the "harvesting of souls". But if we cannot see that these people are prepared, then we will not know. Thats why we, like the disciples with him at that time, have Him to help point them out to us. The church is true!

I've thought of some things for my Christmas list. A simplified character learning book (I'll let you know which one) and .38 size pens and pencils. You can't buy those in America, and they're perfect for writing chinese. Thanks! I love you guys, have a good week!

love, Ben.