Prideful Obedience

December 22, 2015

Hellow :)

The Rodenbergs invited us over on Christmas but they said "come whenever". I should have a lot longer to skype this time than I did last time since I'll be using my own iPad and the church's free wifi. :) This will be Elder Walker's first call as he's only been out for 4ish months. He has 19 siblings, 11 adopted and 9 biological. He's a good guy. He was just companions with Elder Gunnel, the guy I ate steaks with on that one exchange in Brandenburg. He's a bit of a clean freak. I'm the designated driver. I hate driving with the tiwi. Last night I had to drive from Bardstown to Campbellsville in pitch black Kentucky back roads in the rain. That drive is up there with the scariest drives I've done. Elder Walker was having a heart attack. 

Elder Jensen was transferred to English Indiana which is in the Corydon district. I consider Engligh the Sulphur Well of Indiana. The area's huge, and there's a ton of boonies.

This week was a fun week. We were very productive and saw some blessings come out of it. A lot of this week was taking Elder Walker around and introducing him to everyone. He just came from Jasper, Indiana where President Brough expects "5 baptisms a month". He also was just companions with Elder Gunnel, one of the most active missionaries I've met. To come from there to here, Campbellsville, was a bit of an adjustment. No matter how hard you work, this area can't produce numbers like Jasper can. On the first day here Lucy asked him to be Santa for the Christmas party. That was funny. The branch Christmas party was a huge success. There were a ton of less actives and non members there. The program itself was great. Everyone who participated did a fantastic job. There was a homeless man that Lucy invited named Joseph. He loved the program and said he'd come to church on Sunday. He came to church and loved it. After church we taught him and his mother Mary (appropriate names for the season right?) the first lesson and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. I thought that was a great experience.

Yesterday we had the Christmas conference. It was great. We had a lot of fun there. I met Elder Ashcraft there. Elder Ashcraft is friends with Dan, the other friend I made at JCW's. We played some pretty funny games that are well documented on the mission's facebook page. I was forced to eat at Mellow Mushroom (Heck) because Carrabbas was apparently "20 miles out of the way". I honestly don't know why so many missionaries like Mellow Mushroom so much. It has a cool atmosphere but the food there is not good at all.

The prideful obedience thing is something I observed with several other missionaries. Much like the contention thing I went off on back in Corydon. Speaking of contention, look up 3 Nephi 11:28-30 

"28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.

 29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

 30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away."

I'm about half way though 2nd Nephi on my BoM highlighting activity I started a couple weeks ago. It takes me an hour to go through 2 or so chapters now. I've been getting far more out of the BoM than I ever had before with this activity. I want to apply it to all other scriptures. I really like what you said about Laman and Lemuel last week. They always fascinate me whenever I read about them.

Well, I'm nearing my 9 month mark. January 1st will be the day. This has been probably the hardest year of my life. I'll always remember how hard 2015 was. 2014 was a cake walk. This year wasn't. This year's been hard! I feel absolutely, mentally and spiritually beat up. I can understand how missionaries who are at the end are just exhausted. I could go on about the specifics of what made this year hard but I'm not going to do that. Instead I'll talk about how they've built me. I have become significantly stronger and more capable to conquer life on earth. I have realized how true the gospel is and how much it can help in life. My testimony has exploded in strength. And I've learned what is truly important. I've realized what truly has value. I can think of only 3 things that carry over from this life to the next. First, knowledge. Second, your personality or who you are. Third, your relationships with others. This world is a temporary world. It will pass away. The eternal world won't however, and there are only a few things that are here on this world that will carry over and they all have to do with your personal progression to perfection. It is absolutely vital that we focus on these. That we allow the gospel to mold them into the attributes they're supposed to be. I'm thankful for the mission. Being a missionary has been the hardest thing I've done but it's been well worth it. 

Thank you. Love you and see ya Friday!

-Elder Ben

PS - One of the members at church said Star Wars was a "perfect movie". Only 15 more months until I can see it. *cries deeply*

PSS - I think it would be AWESOME if Austin got called to the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission and I became his trainer!

Here's the tie you gave me last week and a blue tie I picked up at Mitchell's
because it caught my eye. It's a nice dark blue with white stripes.

From left to right: Elder Walker, me, Elder Caldwell, Elder Hammond,

Elder Charlton, and Elder Sharp. Elder Sharp is in my district again.

This is the pizza someone at my table ordered last night.
I just bought a slice of cheesecake and drank water.

The kids were funny.

That's me, Elder Irwin, Rod, and Elder Bennett on Elder Walker's lap.