Happy Birthday...2012!

Celebrating Ben's Birthday at Tucano's last year!  Lots of laughter and memories... oh we miss him!

 Happy New Year! 

Man I can't believe it's already been this long. Yes, it does feel like just yesterday I was standing on that chair at Tucanos celebrating my birthday last year, hahaha. Good times.

   Got transfer calls this week! I'm staying here for another transfer. But some changes were made... Elder Han and I got a new companion. We're now in a threesome. His name is Elder Bench. He has been serving in english work for his whole mission, and President decided to switch his call to Chinese. He's from Indonesia, but his mom is from China so he can speak a little chinese. It's a little less than MTC level right now, but we're working on it! He's actually been a huge blessing to our companionship. He's so humble and has such a strong desire to learn the language, he brings the spirit. And he's teaching me Tai-Chi and some Indonesian, so thats a bonus too. Last night we had our first appointment with him, it was a very sweet start for the transfer. We ate dinner at Sister Song's house, and some other members came as well. After eating  we had a testimony meeting/family home evening. Sister Song told us her conversion story and all the experiences she's had in the church, it was just so awesome and spiritual. Then all the missionaries told their conversion stories and testimonies as well. When it was Elder Bench's turn, he just started bawling. About 2 minutes later in really broken chinese he said "I know Heavenly Father loves me" it was so touching, everybody was crying!

   For my birthday we're going to Sister Jiang's (the one that was baptized a couple months ago) house to eat Jiaozi. I'm way excited. Then I think we'll go out as a District to eat dinner on P-day 'cause 3 of us in the district all hit our year mark on the 5th :) Me, Elder Tryon, and Elder Su.  pretty cool stuff...

  I love you guys! Thanks for everything that's happened the past 20 years... I wouldn't be here without you guys, and I can't imagine life in a different family. I'm so grateful for all the things I've been taught by my parents. Some things taught by word, but most things taught by example. I've gained such a strong love for the scriptures and this gospel because of your examples. I love you all so much.

have a good week!

love, Ben.

December 2011

 

Hello,

   okay first off, mom I'm fine stop worrying :) I never went to the doctor because I never felt that bad. And the senior missionaries were worrying about me just as much as you were so thats probably why they said I went to the Doctor, haha. They're so funny. And thank you for the meds, I've been scarfing down those vitamin C's, They're so good! And I got all the packages as well :) I opened up the CD's because I just couldn't wait for new music... I love it! I love Kalai. And Hillary's cd was a little surprising but I like it... yeah. I feel like the family looks so different in all those pictures! Brad and Ty are catching on to how cool it is to have a beard... I think when we get old we're all gonna look like Mom's brothers with their beards. haha. I keep forgetting that life is still moving forward while I'm out here, it doesn't feel like it!

   This week has been pretty awesome. We had a mission Christmas party on Wednesday, it was so much fun to be with everyone. There was a talent show too. I was signed up to sing and play the guitar with another Elder, but we backed out because of me being sick. I'll do it next year though, if I'm there! Sindy was baptized this week as well, it was a really good baptism. All went smoothly. She's awesome, definitely one of my most favorite people that I've taught. We're kinda struggling with investigators right now. Lots of chinese people leave for the Christmas season, including our  most solid investigator currently. But hopefully she comes back soon.

   I'm gonna be honest, I'm kinda hoping that for Christmas I get a transfer call, haha. It's not that I don't like my area... I'm just craving change! Variety! but we'll see... with the way things are right now it doesn't look like there will be any change in the chinese work. BUT AH i've been here so long, nobody has ever stayed in the same ward this long, haha.

   Well. I think I'm just going to call you guys on Christmas, not Skype. I was going to use Skype because Elder Han has to use it to talk to his mom, but he's calling on Friday so it'll be less convenient if we have to find another member on Sunday to use Skype I think. And I'd rather talk to you guys personally than all at once :) So I'll probably call Linda's phone. We only have sacrament meeting on Sunday. I'll probably call around 3 or 4 I think. So be ready this time! :) well cool. I better get going. Talk to you guys soon! :) love you all.

 

 Ben.

A Difficult Week

We were able to call Ben last week, as we had to break the news to him

that his sweet cousin Leah had passed away.  It was so hard to hear him sobbing on the other 

end of the phone.  Leah and Ben had a very special relationship.

Here is his email from this week... It seems he had quite an adventure with some severe winds in California!

Family,

   Yeah, it has been a difficult week. Looking at all the pictures from the funeral and just thinking about Leah is making me cry. That came as a huge surprise to me. I've been praying for Linda and Al all week, I hope everyone is doing okay. Make sure they know I love them!

    Honestly, this has probably been the craziest week of my mission. I don't know if you guys have heard about the wind storm in southern California... but I live right in the center of where it hit. We were out of power for 4 days! It hit Wednesday night, I didn't sleep at all haha. We woke up in the morning and looked out of our apartment, it didn't look super bad, just some flower pots broken and a broken umbrella is all we saw, so we didn't think much of it. When we left our apartment though... that's when we saw the damage. Tons of trees were fallen over, tons of road closures, and absolutely no power anywhere. It took us almost an hour to drive to the church building that day because all the lights had to be treated as stop signs and all the road closures. So that night we came home and used a candle to plan and stuff. And to top things off, the next day we were driving and our car broke down, so we had to have some other elders drive us around for a while. It was an extremely ineffective week, and I just felt super weird all week. But that's okay, things happen! But yeah, they say this kind of storm hasn't hit this area in a way long time, so I do feel kind of cool to be apart of it. Yesterday at church a member brought a generator, and we lit the primary room with lamps that some members brought from home and had sacrament there. It was a really touching testimony meeting, everyone talked about how grateful they were for the food storage they had saved up and how nobody was hurt. The sacrament meeting ended up going for 2 hours because so many people wanted to share, it was really sweet. Our high priest group leader told a story, after the wind storm his wife wanted to go out and find a place to charge their cell phones, so she and his son left. When he was shutting the garage, the wind caused the garage to shut really fast and it clipped off one of his fingers... at that time there was no electricity and his wife had his cell phone, he couldn't even call 911! But his son had a feeling to come back, and they were able to take him to the hospital in time. Crazy stuff.

   Well I love you guys. I hope everything is going alright. I got a confirmation in my prayers that Leah is in a better place. I'm grateful for her.

Love, Ben.

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.