Serving in Kentucky: Transferred

Sept 28, 2015

Dear Family,

Yes I'm getting shipped out of Corydon on Tuesday. I don't know where I'm going. I'll find that out on Tuesday. I've spent 6 months here. I'm a little sad to leave but I guess I'm needed elsewhere right now. The branch is sad to see me go. Half of them wanted to feed me right then and there.

It's crazy to think I've been out here for (almost) 6 months! I already have the tie I'm going to burn picked out. Elder Lynch left me with the ugliest tie I've ever seen. So I'm going to free the world from the pain of looking at it :)

When I saw that Elder Richard G. Scott died I was like "What the? Another one?" He was only 86. He has a quote at the end of my favorite Mormon Message. Speaking of which, I showed that Mormon Message to the members who own Max, the dog, (DON'T GET A DOG!) and they cried. I didn't think they would cry over it. If you ever want to watch it it's titled "Enduring Love". It's about 4 minutes long. I think it's one of the best examples of charity I've ever seen.

I don't know where I'll be for conference. I can watch it on my iPad though. I watched part of the Woman's Conference on it. And with the new iOS 9 multitasking features I was able to watch it AND do missionary work at the same time :). Speaking of which, we have permission to use Skype now.

I had a good District Meeting on Thursday. Elder Money trained on effective goal setting. In "The District" videos you should have seen missionaries talking about "Key Indicators" (Goals). Up until this District Meeting I didn't think much about them. They were just numbers. Now I view them as a means to further the work. It's kinda silly it took me that long to realize that. I understood I needed to have a name behind every number but that didn't sink in until this meeting. Elder Money helped me realize that the goals you set should be the Lord's goals. You pray to God and ask Him what goals you set and the numbers you get are what the Lord want's for that week/day. The cool thing about knowing your goals are the Lord's will is you know you'll be able to achieve them. He'll be there to help you.

Goal setting is a principal that is highly universal in everything you do. In order to achieve something, you need goals to get there. You need to work your way to what you're working for. In missionary work, it's baptisms. You need to find people and teach people in order to get that. In life, you need to achieve something one step at a time. And when you set goals that are the Lord's will, He will help you achieve them.

There was one moment where I felt the Spirit strongly in that meeting. Elder Money asked us to think of our life's greatest accomplishment. He then asked a few members of the district what theirs was and all the answers he got were school related. The answer for me was my Mission. I consider my mission my life's greatest accomplishment. Everything, including the drum performances, and the Eagle Scout, is second. I realized how much this mission has meant to me. When I was thinking about that, I felt the Spirit very strongly. I knew God was pleased. Although I'm not a perfect missionary, I know God is well-pleased with me.

Sorry if this email seems all over the place. My mind is everywhere at once with the transfer meeting coming up.

Keep being an awesome family!

-Elder Ben