February 6, 2017

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week was neat. We had our exchanges with the district leaders (yes, leaders, our district is so big that we have 2 district leaders, crazy, right??) and they drove up Monday to have P-day with us. D and K were going to Dunedin for D's knee surgery and had asked for a blessing so Elder R and I cut p-day short and drove to the Chirstensen's to give D and then K a blessing. It was such a sacred experience for me. I've loved being able to see the two of them grow in faith and testimony. 

I spent a couple days in Gore and we taught a couple lessons so that was neat. We also spent quite a lot of time helping the some elders move out of their flat. I don't think it's been cleaned since the missionaries moved in 5 years ago. It was pretty unpleasant at times, to say the least. 

While I was on the exchange, one of our investigators committed to baptism! He doesn't have a date yet and he still works Sundays so there's some challenges to overcome still but we're really feeling good with him. We called him yesterday and he's sick but he's been reading! 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

January 30, 2017

Kia ora whanau!! 

What a week. As I'm sure you all know (or surely will know soon) we had a world-wide training broadcast this week with the missionary executive council. It was such a good broadcast. I learned a whole lot about the Doctrine of Christ, my purpose as a missionary, and other things. One of the things that stuck out to me the most was how remarkable the Apostles are. Elders Oaks, Bednar, and Anderson are all a part of the council and their remarks and teachings were given with such humility, spiritual power, and wisdom. I know that they are called of God. 

After the broadcast, we all went to the Beckmans (a senior couple in Gore) and had waffles! I miss American breakfast so much. Oh my life it was good. Then Sister Christensen had made cheesecake for my birthday and I was in heaven. 

On Saturday, Sister McLean made me a cake as well. So it was a pretty neat week for food. 

We spent a day and a half in Alexandra this week so that the Elders there could teach us the area. It was good to meet the few people there,

but it does add to my stress because there's almost no work happening there right now. They don't have anything of a teaching pool so we'll have a lot of work to do when we take over.

I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Benjamin

January 23, 2017

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week was pretty neat. It seems like one of the only things on my mind and that we've been doing is planning the consolidation of our area with the Alexandra elders' area. I'm getting pretty excited for it and I'm really hoping that we'll be able to work more productively and have more success. 

We had a lesson with S again this week on Tuesday morning and he's so much fun to teach. It's really different. He doesn't have much of a Christian background (he's really only known about Jesus Christ for a few months) and we take a lot of time for him to read what we want him to know in Vietnamese and then talking about it in English. He's excited about the Book of Mormon though and he read from the introduction to 2 or 3 chapters into 1st Nephi! 

We saw D as well this week. He and K just reapplied for permanent residency (they've sent in over 30 visa applications since they've been here in New Zealand) and we're hoping things work out. They're still having a pretty rough go of it but the end is in sight, things will settle down, and we'll be able to start teaching K

again.

On Thursday night, or Wednesday night a number called that we didn't know. It was Elder Micheli!! So we went to meet up with them and spent about an hour talking. It was so much fun to be able to talk to them for a bit. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

January 16, 2017

Kia ora whanau!! 

A couple days ago, President Hudson texted us and said, "Please call when it's a good time for you." Then, of course, the thoughts followed of, "What did I do wrong? What does he want? I haven't done anything wrong. But what the heck does he want to talk about?" Then we called him. And guess what. We're consolidating with Alexandra!!!!! Alexandra is technically a part of the Queenstown branch but they meet separately because of the distance. When we do consolidate, it will take us 2 1/2 hours to get to the furthest town of our area. Like, what the heck. Planning is gonna take on a whole new meaning. And we'll be in the car all the time. 

The biggest thing I've felt though, is a sense of peace. I've just felt that this is what God wants to happen and that everything is going to be alright. Such a blessing. 

I've been pretty stressed recently about how big my area already is and so I would've thought that doubling it's size would double the stress but the opposite has happened. It's the coolest thing. 

Not a whole lot else to report on this week. It was a bit slow. 

But I did make chocolate chip pancakes. 

And we got fed 3 times!! 

So yeah. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

January 9, 2017

Kia ora whanau! 

What a week. It was pretty neat.

On Wednesday, we drove clear down to Gore (it takes 2 hours to get there, my district is bigger than some missions) and then we took the mission trainers back home with us.  I'd served with both of them before so I was excited to see them again! They gave us a training (surprising, right?) about our focus and priorities in proselyting. Basically, they told us to work with members, less-actives and part member families, and then investigators and stuff. It's all stuff that I already knew, I guess I just needed the reminder to work with our members first, then go out onto the streets. 

My companion has been pretty sick this weekend. We were able to go to church because he felt well enough Sunday morning, but then he got worse after church again so we spent the rest of the day in the flat. We spent Saturday in the flat as well. 

So I guess the week wasn't very eventful. But that's okay. I actually figured out that between things like sleeping, studying, language study, meals, meetings and travel time, we only spend 5% of our time proselyting. Crazy right?? 

But that's all good. I'll have more to share next week about all kinds of things like new investigators and baptismal dates. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

Transfers

Kia ora whanau!! 

Well, I said goodbye to one of my friends this week. It surprised me how hard it actually was to say goodbye to Elder T. I didn't realize how much I loved him. I'm excited for the change though. 

It felt like, because of the holidays and transfers, there wasn't much we were actually able to do. We spent about 12 hours in the car and in the airport this week. So that was rough. 

On Saturday, we had a lesson with our investigator from Vietnam. We finally got the Vietnamese Book of Mormon and pamphlets so he is just now beginning to understand the Restoration. He also said the closing prayer in his language instead of English and I could tell by the spirit in the room as he prayed that it was more meaningful to him. 

My new companion is great. He's from Samoa, just like Elder F, and he's just as loving. He's already cooked us dinner, told me he loves me, and he shared his testimony on Sunday. I'm real excited. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

 The wind was blowing so hard I thought I was gonna fall off the mountain

Christmas

Kia ora whanau!! 

So the week went by real quick and it's a bit hard to remember what we actually did. It seems like we spent quite a lot of time preparing the area for the transfer. Elder T is going up to Hawkes Bay to cover a Samoan ward and I will get a new companion.

On Tuesday though, we drove down to Gore for our Zone Conference. It was all about the Savior, which was fitting. We talked about a talk by Elder Oaks called "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" and one of the things that struck me is that a large part of faith is trusting the Lord's will and timing for us and being willing to submit to them. In the words of Neal A. Maxwell, "Indeed, when we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God's timing, we really are suggesting that we know what is best." 

This Sunday at church, we had to use literally every chair in  the building and there were still people standing so that was pretty neat! I always love all the visitors coming together to worship with us. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

December 19, 2016

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week was pretty neat. My companion wasn't feeling well so we ended up spending a couple days in the flat. I think I spent 4 or 5 hours this week napping. #WinningTeam 

We also watched heaps of church history DVDs.

We had a branch BBQ and went carolling at an old folks home so that was neat. Made me feel like a Twitchell all over again. 

D was baptized this Sunday. He came down for church and we had the baptism after the service. Elder T baptized him and I was able to confirm him. I'm always humbled by an opportunity to use my priesthood. 

As D was sharing his testimony, he shared a few things that we had said and done to help him and I was overwhelmed with such profound joy. I was able to feel that I'm a successful missionary and that I've helped my brother come unto Christ. 

I love you all. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

December 12, 2016

Kia ora whanau! 

Every once in a while, everything in the week will just go right. This was one of those weeks. I kept telling Elder T, "Things have been going so well. Almost too well. I give us about 2 more days before something goes wrong." But we're still being blessed with things going really well! So I'm pretty grateful. 

What has gone well? 

Well, D is ready to be baptized this Sunday! K hasn't been coming to lessons because she's been working so she will be baptized, just not now. In a month or two. President gave us permission to baptize and confirm him on Sunday after church because of the distance and we couldn't be happier with how things are working out. He's so spiritually mature. I'm always impressed at the things he tells us. 

While in town on Friday, my companion stopped to tie his shoe and two girls ran up to us and asked, "Are you the Mormons??" 

"Yeah that's us!"

"Can you tell us about Mormonism?"

"Yeah of course we can! Should we go sit down?"

We then walked to a park bench, sat down, and taught them for about an hour with literally hundreds of people walking past. It was pretty neat. 

Also. We had a mission tour with Elder and Sister Nielson. It was one of those spiritual highlights of the mission where you come out of the 6 hour long meeting ready to turn around and do it all again. I know that Elder Nielson is called of God. I also know anew that God lives and loves us, that Jesus Christ is his son, and that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of God on the earth today. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

December 5, 2016

Kia ora whanau!! 

Another great week. We found 3 new investigators this week!! Such a blessing. Two of them are from the Philippines. They used to be Catholic but they left because they don't believe it all. The Gore elders found them during district finding and taught them the 4 minute Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon. We're going back over this Wednesday! 

Another is from Brazil and as we were teaching her the Restoration, she told us that she had been taught about 15 years ago in Brazil and that she had even read some of the Book of Mormon. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson and she said, "Yes I would love to. I read some of it in Brazil and I really liked it. I guess I'm pretty easy!" 

On a down note, we had one person tell us he was bored in our lessons and we had another who said, "You have not answered any of my questions" after about 5 lessons with him. That was pretty humbling. 

Brother B received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday and was ordained a Priest. Elder T ordained him and he did so well. I was and still am so grateful for the pure joy that has come as I've been able to help Brother B on his spiritual journey. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

November 28, 2016

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week has been pretty neat, I tell you what. 

One of our investigators was out street performing on Saturday and he's so good! We were trying to street contact by the lake and he's jammin out with his guitar and singing reggae music in his poncho and so it made it real difficult to hear people but I still can't get over how good he was. 

We went to a dorm/hostel for a lesson with Tommy (from Nigeria) and we sat down in the kitchen and living room so it was kinda weird because there were 3 or 4 other people in the room too. In the middle of the lesson, a Vietnamese man came in and sat down and asked, "Do you understand the Bible in English?" 

"Yeah we do!" 

"Can you teach me more about Jesus?" 

We have no idea how he knew that we were there but we taught him on Saturday and then on Sunday, we taught him again and he brought his friend with him! 

So we're winning the missionary game. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

November 21, 2016

Kia ora whanau!! 

I don't have much to say, but if you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true. 

Really though, we just did a lot of finding this week. Visiting formers and potentials, street contacting, putting our names on a list a funeral home, all the good stuff. We meet people from all over the world here and it's such a cool thing! Egypt, Nigeria, Tonga, Samoa, India, Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany, France, Sweden, Korea, China, Australia, Colombia, Canada, USA. So I'm basically a tourist, in a white shirt and tie, in one of the most beautiful places on earth, teaching people about Jesus Christ on the streets, trying to be louder than the street performers. It's so much fun. 

This week, I was called on to use the priesthood. The experience is too sacred to share but suffice it to say that I know that the priesthood I hold is real and that it came from God. I know that it was restored to the earth through Heavenly Messengers to the prophet Joseph Smith. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Mosiah 18:30

Kia ora whanau!! 

P was baptized this week!! The font was a portable one in an industrial part of town so that was real cool. It was one of the most peaceful baptisms I've ever been a part of. My companion baptized him and I was able to confirm him on Sunday. Such a blessing. I'm so grateful to have been an instrument in the hand's of God. 

We saw D again this week. At the end of his lesson, he asked us how he can continue progressing. 

Today is the first day of transfer 2 in Queenstown! Elder T and I are still here together. 

Sorry I don't have much else to say. I literally can't remember what happened last week. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

Mormon 9:11

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week was *literally* the fastest week of my life. It drives me crazy that the time goes by so fast! It almost feels like I don't have enough to enjoy it. And to top it all off, I had a dream that I was coming into the SLC airport at the end of the mission and Matt, Stockton, Preston, Tyler, Isaac, basically everyone from Viewmont was coming home at the same time and I spent what felt like 30 minutes just wondering where the time went and being so upset about it being gone. 

But then I woke up and it's P-day so I'm still winning the missionary game. 

We got an on-line referral this week! We went to go visit her and we found her and her husband. They're from Columbia and they're looking for a church and to be a part of a community more than they are. They were so excited to "listen to the word of God" ( aka the Restoration)! It's amazing how well God prepares his children. And I couldn't help but think, "Ya know, I bet Austin and Phillip had stuff like this happen a couple times every week in Peru." 

We've been working with P quite a lot but he's always sleeping when we go see him.  But when he was awake, he told us, "Just wake me up!" Then we realized that we could've had about 4 more lessons with him over the past 2 weeks if we would've done that... soo.... but HE came to church this Sunday as well!! HE stayed for the whole thing even though he wasn't feeling well and he should be getting baptized this Saturday. Pray that things go well. It's also a bit difficult because the closest font is 2 hours away and the lake is too cold for him so we're looking for options. Pray that things work out! 

The work is good. God is good. Elder T's cookies are good. 

Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

1 Nephi 1:20

Kia ora whanau!! 

Such a fast week! I tell you what. We had zone training in Gore, we moved flats this week, and we had a Stake Conference in Dunedin! 

Zone training was great. We talked about teaching skills and Faith in Christ. One of the questions we were asked was, "What are you going to do because of your faith in Chirst?" Elder T and I talked quite a lot about that on the way home and we both felt a strengthened desire to give everything we have to the work. 

We taught D and K again this week and tried to set a date with them. They're so ready. They were a little weary about how soon we wanted to baptize them but they said they want to pray about it. They've been praying about it all weekend. We're excited to see where they go. They're so well prepared. 

Because Dunedin is so far away, they try to broadcast stake conference but the broadcast didn't work out so we drove up and spent most of Saturday and Sunday at the meetings and travelling. IT's about 3 1/2 hours from Queenstown to Dunedin. My favorite part of the meeting was being able to see all my friends from Oamaru again. I saw the Smiths, the Kaufanas, the Kautais. It felt like coming home. I love them all so much. It was such a blessing to be able to spend a bit of time with them again. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

October 24, 2016

Kia ora whanau!! 

This week went by so fast. It all seems like bit of a blur. I went on an exchange with Elder Richardson in Gore, the country music and brown trout fishing capital of New Zealand, this week. While there, we taught a lesson to a part-member couple.  M is investigating and has a baptismal date but told us that she was worried about what her family was going to think. We taught her about the Atonement and how her Savior had the Spirit withdraw from Him so that he would know how the rest of us would feel when we're forsaken. 

We also taught that opposition allows us to exercise and grow our faith and that God won't let us be temped more than we can withstand. 

We told her that it has to be her choice and we asked her what she wants to do. 

"I think I want to be baptized." 

It blows me away that I was trusted to be a part of her progression. It also surprised me how much love I felt for the both of them. I know Heavenly Father loves his children. 

On Saturday, we were street-contacting and that was neat. We meet people literally from all over the world: Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Nepal, USA. We ran into a lot of members and one family shouted us lunch. Another brought their left-over groceries to church and gave them to us. So basically, the church is really true in Queenstown. 

We were teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a member family, and one of their sons said the third part is, "Baptism by emergency for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

October 17, 2016

Kia ora whanau! 

So we had a pretty neat week. I tell you what. 

On Wednesday when we got back from district meeting and were at our chapel for a minute (or maybe it was Thursday..), we felt like we should go and see P. He just moved to the old-folks home on the street the chapel is on because his health is failing. He's not quite 50 so it's sad to see him so sick but I believe that his afflictions have softened him up a bit to the gospel. While we went in to visit him, after talking for a minute he said to us, "I prayed to see if your church was good." We asked how it went and he said he felt like he wanted to run and jump like a little boy because of the joy that came into him. You know where the feeling came from? The Holy Ghost. 

D and K came to church again this week! They told us earlier in the week that they felt like they should put more emphasis on reading and on Sunday, because they had, I could see the difference in them. They had questions, they felt the spirit at church, and they even had some of the answers! Doug had done some reading online about us and had a question about the Word of Wisdom so that's what we taught them during second hour. You wanna know the best part? They were already living it. "Will you keep living the word of wisdom?" So cool. 

We told D to be careful about the anti-mormon stuff on the internet but he said, "Oh yeah I'm not worried about that. I think you can tell about an organization by the enemies it has." 

We had visitors in church from Perth and I thought, "Hey that's where Annie served! Maybe they know her." So I told them that Sister Tanner had served in Perth and they said, "She got married didn't she?" 

"Yeah to Elder Gardner from the same mission!"

Then the mom said, "He was the one that found and taught me." 

It's a small world and Heavenly Father loves his children. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin 

Queenstown

Kia ora whanau!! 

I tell you what, it's one of the most bitter-sweet weeks I've ever had. Saying goodbye to Oamaru was harder than leaving home. Especially saying goodbye to the Kautais. I was pretty emotional for a few days. I feel good about the work I was able to do there and I know I gave it my all. 

On Wednesday, I spent about 5 hours in the car. Elder T was born in Hamilton, NZ, grew up in Gold Coast, Australia, and played a year of Rugby at BYU before the mission. He's been out for 3 months and I'm his second companion. He's the man. I'm pleased to say that we get along real well. 

Queenstown is the most beautiful place I've ever been. Wow. I feel like I'm on vacation here. 

You know my favorite part about being here? We have a teaching pool! Three of them came to general conference. We have four of them committed to baptism.  Then we have several others. We taught a young

man last night and he stopped us and invited his mom to sit in with us.

I felt really strongly in General Conference that me being sent here is blessing. 

I love you all. I know that President Monson is a prophet of God. 

Love,

Elder Benjamin

Transfers

Kia ora whanau!! 

So this week was a little bit different. It's school holidays and it seems like every single person in Oamaru left. We were trying our hardest to get our talk withs this week and so we would walk up and down the main road for ages and only talk to 7 or 8 people. Just a fairly slow week. Then on top of that, a lot of our members went down to Balcutha for a youth camp. 

The church is still true though, even when we don't have many people to talk to about it. So we're all sweet. 

This week has also been the least contentious of our companionship! So I'm really pleased about that. 

My time in Oamaru has come to a close. I'll be moving to Queenstown (which is wild because it's in the same zone so I'll be driving there) and I'll be serving with Elder T. That's about as much as I know right now but I'll be sure to fill in the gaps once I transfer down there! 

I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Benjamin

Ether 12:27

Kia ora whanau!! 

Elder M and I won the missionary game this week. Let me 'splain. No no no. too much. Let me sum up. 

President Hudson gave our mission a baptismal formula a few months ago. The first part of it is to talk to 150 new people every week that aren't members. I don't know how that sounds to everyone else but for me, things like street contacting and door knocking are the single hardest parts of the mission. They're also the parts which make me the most afraid. We were able to go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders at the beginning of the week and they're both really good at talking with people and so Elder M and I got a bit more practice with that and we caught fire. For the rest of the week, we talked with everyone in our path. It was still just as awkward as we thought it would be and we were rejected quite often but instead of feeling like we were told to go to outer darkness or stop harassing people (which both of them happened this week) we felt like we were fulfilling our purpose and pleasing our Heavenly Father and our Savior. 

I just feel like, because I overcame my single biggest fear of the mission this week, that there's nothing I can't do with enough faith in my Savior. 

I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Benjamin