Serving in Kentucky: New Comp

July 13, 2015

Dear Family,

I'm still in Corydon. My new companion is Elder Shelley. He's been out for 8 months. He started in Louisville, then he went to Frankfurt, and now he's in Corydon. As far as everything else, Corydon's doing great. Elder Shelley is a more laid back guy than Lynch. He's been out for 8 months. He'll get home around Kylii's year mark. We both like soda :)

Transfers were kinda hard to get through. I had to say goodbye to Elder Lynch. That was tough. The day before transfers we took one of Elder Lynch's suits to Pres. Sodders house to blow up. Pres. Sodders bought a few half-pound explosives and put them in the suit. We then stood back as he shot the suit. It exploded. We also blew up another Elder's suit who went home. I have video of both. I need to see if there's a way I can get the video to you. We burned the remaining shreds of clothing with diesel fuel. I'm glad you got to meet Elder Lynch. I'm sure the PB bars will blow his mind away. I didn't think you would have met him already. I guess I lost track of time. That happens out here. I've been out 3.5 months and it feels no where near that long. By the time I'm an RM I'll be asking "Where did the time go?" a lot.

Here's the full story of the couple (M & R) we taught. Elder Lynch really liked them. Here's their story from the beginning to now... We met M the day we had the first session of Stake Conference. We coordinated with another family in the branch to meet us at a local Walgreens and drive us up to the stake center. They were a little late so we decided to get out and talk to a few people in the Walgreens parking lot. After a few no's, we saw M step out of the Walgreens the second the family we were to meet with got there. We decided to talk to her and she said she and her husband/boyfriend R, would be interested in hearing our message. She happens to live near the border of our area, kinda in the middle of nowhere. We probably would have never tracted out her house because of that.

A couple days went by and we met with them for the first time. Elder Lynch was almost emotional during their first lesson. When he got to the part about the priesthood M said, "Well, I guess that means we need to be baptized then." The second time we met with them we followed up on their BoM reading and they were 8 chapters in. Since that point we have had powerful after powerful lessons with them. The first time they came to church we weren't really expecting them to be there because they said they had been sick. They happened to come on fast and testimony day and at the end M got up and bore her testimony. She said she knew the church was true because of how she felt the moment she walked in and how nice everyone was. She also said she's looking forward to becoming a member. I was about blown away when that happened. Later that day we went over to their house to talk about church and they described their experiences in detail. They said the second they walked in they felt like they were home. They felt the spirit more strongly there than at any other church they've ever been to. R said he has a friend who's a preacher (different preacher than the one later mentioned in the story) and he never feels that good or comfortable in his church. So a few weeks go by, we teach them some more lessons, and one morning a Baptist preacher comes and knocks on their door. There isn't a whole lot to that part of the story. Simply what happened is he started bashing on the LDS church. To this day I don't know exactly what he said. I thought I would have to go in with my "Anti Defenses" so I reviewed every piece of "anti" that I've come across in preparation of explaining things to them. Later in the day when we asked about the preacher, she said she didn't care about what the preacher said. She pointed out how God wouldn't send someone to bash on anyone. Even if they're wrong. To her, the preacher was a testimony builder.

So that's M & R's story. It's pretty cool isn't it? They're still investigating but I haven't seen them in a week or so because they've been sick again. M has 5 college degrees and she's working on her 6th.

It's hard to prepare someone for a mission. There isn't really an effective method. There isn't really a special trick to it. Sure, things like seminary/institute/mission prep classes etc. help. But the only way to really know what a mission is going to be like is to experience it. Throw yourself into it. Just do it. Even if you have no idea what you're doing, just get up and walk. It's a lot easier for the Lord to guide moving feet than still feet. If Kylii has the opportunity to go on splits with the missionaries I'd suggest she go. To me, that was the best mission prep I received. Because it was legitimate missionary work before my own mission. I got to meet real people who are investigating the gospel before my mission. I got to experience what it was like to have appointments fall through before my mission. I got to be a missionary before my mission. That was the best way to prepare. I'm not talking about material preparedness. Clothes, scriptures, shoes, suit cases, etc. I'm talking about mental preparedness. In the field you learn to forget yourself and work. Your investigators needs become your own. You spend all of your effort trying to help others. I know Kylii will do great. I could tell how much this means to her from the video you sent. If she ever needs help I'd be happy to give, I'm sure Spencer wouldn't mind either. There are a lot of people in our family who could help. Good luck Kylii! Just put everything, both physically and spiritually, in the the hands of the Lord and you'll make it.

It was a fun/sad week. But I guess that's life for the next little while. Thank you for all the support. It means a lot :) It won't be long before I'm home.

-Elder Ben