God's love

July 20, 2015

Dear Family,

It sounds like another fun week at home. I'm happy you're going through Preach My Gospel. It's practically considered scripture out here. Technically it is. I didn't know how good it was until I came out here. It simplifies the gospel and helps the missionary understand what their role is. 

The Ecco's are holding up great! I shine them every week. Every time I shine them they look good as new. I switch shoes every day. Weather doesn't really make a difference since they're both waterproof. I like the look of the laced ones better but the laceless ones are easier to deal with.

I'd say the highlight this week was the exchange I went on with Elder Gunnel. He just barely came out when Elder Lynch left. He's our district leader's companion. I got to lead out for a day here in Corydon. I've taken the lead before but I've never done it with someone who just came out. As young as Elder Gunnel is, he taught me a lot. He was, by far, the best missionary at contacting I've ever seen. He was the best at being bold, yet loving. He was fearless but he also understood when the answer was "no". I was impressed. He taught me a lot with contacting being one of my weaknesses. We balanced each other out though. He was strong at contacting, I was strong at teaching. Since then my own contacting has improved. My mind has been clearer and I've been taking "no" better. Not that "no" ever seriously bothered me, I'm just more comforted by the fact that I did my part. 

I have some talks for you to listen to. You'll have to look these up. They're all really long but they're worth it. The first one is "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. The second is "Bill Carpenter's Conversion Story". And the third is "The Belief Window/Self Worth" by Hyrum W. Smith. "The Belief Window" is the longest one (70 minutes) but it blew my mind. When you listen to it have some paper and a pen out and write down what he says. I have a feeling you would really like it because it deals with human needs and how the gospel relates to them. 

I don't know if I've told you about Emery's yet. Emery's is a little ice cream, soda and candy shop here in downtown Corydon. There's only 1 Emery's in existence and it's here. They sell a lot of old candy and old soda. Their ice cream is the highest quality ice cream I've ever had. I haven't had a flavor I haven't liked yet. The sell Nehi's too. Nehi is an ancient soda brand that you don't see too often. I'm sure Dad knows about them. Nehi has a peach flavor. Peach flavored soda is rare. Nehi Peach soda is the best fruit flavored soda I've ever had! For the love of me, find a way to get Peach Nehi in Utah! 

I'm still learning, I'm still growing and I'm still working hard. Elder Shelley and I have had to drop a lot of investigators this week because they weren't keeping their commitments. I've tracted a lot these past few days. We've somewhat lost contact with M & R this week. I'm worried they dropped us. Because they live so far away, we can't just drive up and check on them whenever. We have mileage limits on the car. They were progressing fantastically until I mentioned they had to be married before they were baptized. As far as I know they still want to join. They're just not answering the phone. They have been sick lately so that may be it. I seriously doubt they'd stop investigating the gospel at this point. We'll try calling and we may have to swing by at some point.

I'd say the lesson I learned this week was how to be more confident that I did my part. I have a lot of subjects that I'm constantly pondering in the back of my head. One of the subjects this week was if I'm doing my part or not. I often think to myself, "In that lesson did I say something that helped them? Did I teach clearly? In that contact was I bold? Loving? Did I give them a clear choice?" A lot of the time I feel like I MOSTLY did my part. This week I realized I'm doing more to please Heavenly Father than I thought. I'm not perfect but I'm trying my best and I'm always looking to improve. This week I was on exchanges and even though we didn't teach a whole lot I felt that Heavenly Father was pleased with the effort we put forth in trying to do His work. 

Here's something cool that I realized this week. I had these questions running through my mind this week: "Why does God love the sinner?" Why does God still love those who turn their backs on him? Why does God refuse to give up on ANY of His children?" I had these and other questions similar to them in my mind all throughout this week. One of the biggest things I've learned about the nature of God on my mission is that we call him "Heavenly Father" for a reason. He is literally the Father of our spirits and He is a lot more similar to an earthly father than most people realize. But the answer "because God is our Father and He loves us" wasn't satisfying my questions. Then I remembered what happened in the pre-earth life. There were two plans presented, Jesus's plan and Satan's plan. Satan wanted the glory but Jesus wanted the glory to go to the Father. 1/3 of the hosts of Heaven chose Satan. 2/3 chose Jesus. All those who chose Jesus's plan got to come down here to earth. When I remembered that I realized that everyone on earth chose to love God and follow Him. Imagine if your child came up to you and said "Father, I love you. I want to follow you. I'll do everything you ask of me." You'd probably be a little shocked. Ultimately you'd do everything you could to help you child grow. Heavenly Father didn't "cheap out" on anything. He gave us a very clear path to grow and to return back to Him. He gave us a way to be forgiven when we mess up. He wants everything for us because we chose to love Him before we came to his earth. So... why does God love the sinner? Why does God love everyone on earth? It's because everyone on earth chose to love and follow God before they came here. 

Thank you for you!

-Elder Ben

Sis Brough: The Zone Conferences were centered around "Planning for Investigators."
What do they need to help them progress towards baptism?
The Lexington North Zone had the cleanest apartments and the Louisville Zone had the cleanest cars.

New Albany Zone Missionaries singing "Army of Helaman" and "Called to Serve"

First haircut of the mission and the back of Elder Shelley

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

I figured out the Viper knot. It starts out exactly like the Eldridge knot.

All my sharpie pens

Glow-sticks and black lights

Bro Cox, Elder Lynch, Sis Cox
"It's nice to see that you all (I'll never use "y'all") still look happy"

Fun Reward

July 6, 2015

Dear Family,

Thank you for the boldness advice. I have been getting better at it. So far everyone we've challenged to be baptized has fallen through. We've probably set 20+ baptism dates with people in the 3 months we've been here but we've had no success so far. I'm not discouraged at all though. Every day I try to improve on something. Some days I think about teaching, others I think about praying. The list is endless. The principal is, I try to improve every day. 

Last week I was talking about how difficult the week went because I was in a lot of arguments/debates with people who are very hard hearted. However, the pictures will show the reward I got for faithfully enduring the hard times. Here's my "lesson for the week". If stand your ground and fight for your beliefs in the service of the Lord, He WILL reward you. This week was FAR better than last. I don't think I'll write a hugely long email this week. That's because I have a series of pictures Elder Lynch took of me that'll blow your mind. Enjoy the pictures:)

Love Elder Ben

P.S. I would like for you and mom to make Elder Lynch peanut butter bars for his homecoming. He showed me the "White Chocolate Wonderful" peanut butter.

Elder Sharp and Elder Money helping me slip into this black body sock thing.

Making adjustments 

Getting ready

Still dressing

Suiting up

Starting to come together

Final adjustments

Ready to serve the Empire

Stop!

Stormtoopers in Louisville!

How cool is this? Stormtrooper Elder Cox

"Let me see your identification."
The man who owns the armor is named Steven. Steven's neighbor happened to pull into their driveway
when I had the armor on so Steven told me to go out and ask for identification. 
The neighbors were next to dumbfounded. 

"These aren't the droids we're looking for."
Steven's neighbors told me to go around the truck and talk to the kid in the back. He was speechless.
I extended my arm for a handshake and it took him a good 10 seconds for him to extend his.

"You can go about your business.
Move along... move along."

No words can describe how awesome I felt!

This was so fun!

"Hi."

Let me explain the importance of these Certificates. They certify that the armor and the gun I had were printed off of the original molds used in the original 1970's Star Wars movie "A New Hope". They are the very next best thing to having one of the original sets from the movies. For how accurate they are, they aren't as expensive as I thought. Steven only paid about $1500 for the armor and the gun. For some reason Lucas Films has an import ban on the U.S. Steven had to buy the armor and have one of his friends in England send it to him. 

Tornado...!

June 29, 2015

Dear Family,

I actually really like getting email from the family through the week. I check every day. It's not distracting at all. I check it when Elder Lynch and I are updating the AreaBook Planner App at the church. In "The District" you see the missionaries use paper planners and area books. With the iPads they gave us an app that combines both digitally. They actually have videos of how to use the app on Gospel Library. They're confusing and not very well made but at least you'll get an idea of the tools we have now. The videos should be under the Missionary section in Gospel Library. 

It's been pretty hot lately. I still don't like humidity. I don't have anything too profound this week. It was a harder week than most. That's because I'm growing and Satan doesn't like it. That's just further proof that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Corydon was kinda rough this week. I've had more people question/mock/persecute the Church and my beliefs this week than I've had my entire mission. The weather was also kinda rough. Over the past few nights there have been pretty strong storms and apparently one of them was an F1 tornado that went right by our apartment. There were some pretty good sized limbs and trees that were broken and on the ground. One limb in particular was about a foot and a half wide. That thing snapped right where it attached to the tree. It was literally just behind our apartment. I won't go into the people part since this email would just be full of complaints. *sigh*... I just don't like the larger presence of negativity this week. 

I think I know why this week was more negative than others. Lately, the mission leaders have been putting an emphasis on being bold. Being bold is both a strength and a weakness on my part. I'm bold with large crowds but much less so with individuals or small groups. With that, I read somewhere that being bold is a spiritual gift you can pray for. So I did. And the first time I tried that I got a lot more negativity than normal. I don't consider that a coincidence. As frustrating as it is, it's all a learning experience. I'm still keeping my head level and I'm still having just as much fun as ever in the mission field. This week has just been rougher than normal since Satan realizes I'm trying to grow in ways he's not very happy with. In the words of Elder Spaulding "Man... I hate Satan!"

There were some pretty funny things that happened. Elder Lynch was helping someone get a bee out of their car and he did that by using his planner to swat it. The bee was stuck to it. Another funny thing was Elder Lynch and I went to Subway and their soda machine was completely out. Everything tasted like soda water/club soda. Elder Lynch said "Well, that's just a sign you need to let up on soda." 

I still don't like dogs. Just last night I went to a member who has the huge dog. That thing was jumping all over me and it wouldn't go away. I'll have to get pictures of the thing next time I go over which as far as I know, will be next week. 

Sorry for the short email this week. Pictures are on the way

Thank you,

-Elder Ben

Sister Brough, Elder Lynch, Elder Cox, President Brough
at Mission Home, April 14, 2015

The best peanut butter in existence.
When you go to Elder Lynch's homecoming, I want you to make a batch of peanut butter bars out
of this peanut butter for him. Any other peanut buttery thing we make as a family
WILL be made out of this peanut butter from now on. 

In the car...

Cool picture

Indiana countryside

More Indiana countryside

Fake babies...
The wife of one of the members here makes these highly realistic, silicone babies for fun.
She charges $2000 for them. Some people buy them for comfort items. 

Yep, still fake.

Weirdest week so far...

June 22, 2015

Hello Family,

It's always good to hear from Mom and Dad. I'm happy Mom gave a talk. I am really looking forward to reading it. Thank you once again for all the support you give me. I'm learning the art of being bold. I've had some experiences this week that have helped me be more bold. Mainly going on exchange with Elder Sharp again. I found out that he's actually really good at street contacting. He's good at talking with people and becoming their friend. Another example I look to for being bold is the Savior Himself, since He was the perfect example for everything. There were several times where He had to be bold but He was always loving. 

This week was by far the weirdest week so far. Early in the week we heard it was supposed to rain a lot and Elder Lynch said he doesn't like the rain because it messes everything up. And it does. Rain messes everything up. It's hard to describe but it just does. I have to go day by day. I can't think of a better way to describe this week.

6-15-15 Monday

Today was another fun P-Day. We ate at Emery's again and spent most of the afternoon watching bible videos and started entering information into the AreaBook Planner app we got today. That's the app the church designed for missionaries. It combines the Planner and the Area Book all on one tablet. Later, we met with a Ms K and helped her burn a giant grass pile in her back yard. There was smoke everywhere. My clothes smelled like smoke for a while.

6-16-15 Tuesday

Today I went on another exchange with the ZL's. This time it was Elder Spencer. Pretty much everything fell through and some of our investigators dropped us by text message. We met with a couple and they've made a lot of progress with the WoW. They really want to join and have given up smoking, coffee, tea and are on the last of their tobacco. When they run out, they'll never buy more again. To end the day we ate at Pres. Sodders home again. At the end of that he pulled out some of his guns. I took pictures. Even though a lot fell through today, the ZL I was with was impressed at how well I knew the area and the people in it. 

6-17-15 Wednesday

Today was the first day we got soaking wet by the rain. We decided to park at the church and walk about a mile up the road to see some people we were meeting with in that area. No one answered and right as we turned back, it started raining. Hard. After we were good and soaking, someone in a truck stopped and offered a ride. We took it and since we were all in the car, Elder Lynch and I asked him if he'd be interested in the church. He said "no" in a very kind way. When we got the church, we entered more information into the AreaBook app. Later that night Elder Lynch interviewed Brenda. The Corydon Hermana's (Spanish sister missionaries) have been working with Brenda for quite a while now and she's finally getting baptized.  

6-18-15 Thursday

Today was fun. Brenda's son's birthday was today. I had a lot of really thick waffles. Her son asked for a "How to be an Elder" book so we gave him the old 1970's BoM I got a few weeks ago. Then we had district meeting and during the meeting we took "funeral" photos for Elder Lynch and Elder Spaulding (one of the ZL's) since they're both going home (dying). After that I went on exchange with Elder Sharp again, only this time I stayed in Corydon and got to drive around. I don't miss driving. We met a really solid potential, Mr A, who we're meeting tomorrow and we got caught in the rain AGAIN. This time we had to go back to the apartment and change. Later that night we had a dinner appointment with Bro. Larson and his family. He's the kind of person who's incapable of being mean. After dinner he went out with us to an appointment with Ms K. We taught a powerful Lesson 3 (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) but she still won't commit to baptism. 

6-19-15 Friday

After we exchanged back we went to see Mr A, the potential Elder Sharp and I met yesterday. We taught him a really solid Lesson 1 (The Restoration) and he understood everything. He told us that he's been looking to change his life for the better and we pointed out how right after he made that decision he met us. We actually meet a lot of people like that. People who realize they need to change and soon after they decide that they meet us. That's just a further testimony builder that God places people in your path. Later as the rain was about to start, we met with another less-active family and right after we got in with them, the rain started pouring again. If we hadn't gotten in with that family we would have been soaked again. And just before we left the rain stopped. Later that night, the former Branch President Bro. Blackburn and his family fed us. They fed us some of the best lasagna I've ever had. They also gave me a copy of Spencer W. Kimball's "The Miracle of Forgiveness" to borrow. I had heard several things about that book. Mainly, it makes everyone who reads it feel like a wicked sinner and that they need to speak with their Bishop to repent. Since the Blackburns read a ton of books I thought they would be good people to ask about it. So I did and they gave me a copy to borrow. 

6-20-15 Saturday

Today was the weirdest day in the weirdest week. About half way through the day, we arrived at one of our investigator's small apartment complexes. They lived on the top floor around a corner at the top of the stairs. When we got to the door we knocked and no one answered. Right after that we heard the downstairs door open and someone walking up. We thought it was our investigators but it was actually someone else. When they got to the top we saw that it was a man and a woman. When they stopped, they looked at us, and the man said "I'd like to invite you two to dinner." There was a bit of a pause and Elder Lynch and I looked at him like he was some weirdo. Then he added "I'm a member, and I served my mission here back in 1999." Elder Lynch and I were kinda mind-blown. He said his name was Bro Flam and his wife was Sis Flam. They were in the area doing an anniversary/mission tour and giving every companionship they met a free meal. They said they saw us right when we walked into the apartments. They asked when a good time to meet for food would be and since we had an appointment just barely fall through we said that right then would be a good time. They took us to O'Charlies and I ate this really well-made cedar plank salmon. They said they'd be at church tomorrow. After we ate they took us back to the church and we parted ways. The last half of today is where it gets all over the place. Tonight was Brenda's baptism in the New Albany Stake Center. At about 5:30 the person she asked to baptize her called us and said he couldn't find his white pants and asked us to be backups. We accepted the offer but because we were in New Salisbury at the time that required us to drive all the way back to the apartment in Corydon to get extra garments and drive all the way back to New Salisbury by 6:00 to meet Pres Sodders who was our ride to the baptism in New Albany. The baptism started at 7. As we were driving back Pres Sodders saw a doughnut shop he's always wanted to try, but it's always been closed every time he's driven past it. He asked us if we would like doughnuts for breakfast and we said "yes." So we stopped for doughnuts. We had to drive from New Salisbury to Corydon again and right before we would have gotten to the apartment, the Corydon Hermana's called us and asked us to "deal with a really big black snake right outside of their apartment". The snake was no more than 12 inches or so. It was the smallest garden snake. They are the biggest wimps with snakes I've ever seen. They live on the 2nd story of their apartment complex and the snake was on their top step. After Elder Lynch and I dealt with it, we finally were able to head back to the apartment.

6-21-15 Sunday

Sweet glorious Sunday! We had church, and church is relaxing, and this week wasn't relaxing, and I needed something relaxing. Bro and Sis Flam showed up at church. They're a really nice couple. Not a whole lot happened missionary wise today as once again, everything fell though. At night we ate at Pres. Sodders house again. The Hermana's and the Flams were there. After dinner Pres. Sodders took us on a tour around his 30 acre plot of land. That was actually the 2nd time I've had that tour. It was the Hermana's first time. 

That was this week. This week was weird. Rain makes everything weird.

Missionary work is becoming fairly routine now. But every day is still different. That's probably my favorite thing about the mission field. Every day is different. Even though I might teach the same lesson over and over again. Even though I may read a scripture over and over again, I can still pull something new out of it. Something I've come to realize is things like Scriptures or the whole Gospel itself has something I call "Eternal Value". I don't know why this never clicked with me before. Even though the scriptures are ancient they hold just as much value today as they did yesterday. Arguably more value today than yesterday. They were written by Prophets who were called by God to be basically God's mouth piece. Essentially, God wrote the scriptures. Since God is an eternal being, time doesn't hold the same value for Him as it does for us. And since God doesn't change, His teachings won't change. Something he revealed to a Prophet thousands of years ago holds the same value today as it did then. The scriptures are written in such a way that no matter how many times you read them, as long as you're reading them to continually find new things and learn new things, you'll always get something new out of them. I find that most material written by Prophets and Apostles, anciently and modern day, have this same trait. You could read a talk by Gordon B. Hinkley a million times and still get something new out of it. You could read King Benjamin's sermon a million times and still get something new out of it. The point is to always be searching for something new. Something you didn't apply before. Emphasis on apply. I feel like that's the biggest difference between an average member and someone who's truly converted. It's one thing to live the Gospel standards. It's a completely different thing to apply the Gospel itself. 

Thank you for sending me the viper knot picture. Unfortunately I can't go on Pinterest. I think if you just send me screen shots of an instructional video I'll be able to figure it out. Thank you for sending me all the temple pictures. They all look very pretty.

Thanks a million!

Elder Bennn

How am I already 10% through? #TimeFlies #NowhereNearTwoYears #Missionary

P.S. The church wants us to become familiar with their "Hash Tag campaigns" for the iPads. I never through I would use hash tags but I guess the church wants me to. 

Just some of Pres. Sodders guns...

He realized something...

Fiesta... we're with some members of the Spanish Branch.

"Funeral" photos

Here are some of the district meeting/funeral photos.
Names from left to right: Elder Rasmussen, Elder Koenig, me, Elder
Spencer, Elder Money, Elder Sharp, Hermana Bennett, Hermana Bateman,
and the two laying down are Elder Lynch and Elder Spaulding.

"No comment"

The Hermana's gave us food so we set up tables to eat it at our District Meeting.

Learning to be bold... more dogs

June 15, 2015

Hello Family! (don't get a dog) It's so good to hear from all of you! (don't get a dog) I'm happy that Ammon e-mailed me! (don't get a dog) Camp Helaman sounded like the perfect place for him. (don't get a dog) I think it's funny they won by pulling an "Anti-Nephi-Lehi". (don't get a dog)

For some reason I have dogs on my mind. I told Ammon about a fun dog experience (they're demons). There was another dog at a less-active's home that tried to get me to pet it. You know how Tessa will rub her head against your arm and make animal noises? Well, this dog was doing the exact same thing to me. It wanted me to pet it. I refused and it started growling at me. It tried threatening me by opening its mouth and pretending like it was going to bite me if I didn't pet it. I never petted it. 

Another funny experience - we had an appointment with a less-active family that fell through so we decided to tract around. As we walked up to a house, we got about half way across the lawn when this monstrous St. Bernard came out from under their porch, unleashed and ready to eat us. When that dog came out, I said "Absolutely not!" turned around and left the lawn we were on. I swear that dog came from the pits or outer darkness itself. It was as big as Beethoven (the dog) and the dog from Sandlot combined! 

Last Tuesday some pretty funny stuff happened to me. Elder Lynch and I had by far, the most awkward lesson we ever had. Here's what happened. We had an appointment with a lady and when we got to her trailer, we found her sitting down in a little blow-up pool about 50 ft away from the sidewalk. She was facing away from us and from our perspective we couldn't see her top. The pool sides were covering the bottom half of her back but we couldn't see any straps on the top half. We called out and asked if now was still a good time to meet. She turned around and said "Sure! Just pull up a chair." We kinda looked at each other and discussed if we should go because we couldn't tell if she was wearing a top or not. She noticed that and said "It's fine. I'm wearing a top." We still didn't see a top. We got some chairs and set them up about 10 ft away from the pool. She was leaning against the side and she still didn't look like she had a top on. It wasn't until half way through the lesson I saw her very low top. Just imagine giving a home teaching lesson without knowing if the person you were teaching was topless. 

I'm going to talk about the food this week. We went to the Buttiglieri's again (he's the master chef who made those amazing pastrami burgers) and they fed us more burgers. But these ones were fried egg bacon burgers. The fried eggs were cooked in the bacon grease. I don't know if you've ever tried a fried egg on a burger but it's actually really good. It kinda tastes like a breakfast biscuit. They also gave me two 2 liter coke bottles to take back to the apartment. I don't know what it is but it's a lot easier to get soda down here. 

I have a knot request. If you could, I would like you to find instructions for the "Viper Knot". It's too extreme to use daily in the field but I'd like to learn it for missionary Christmas parties and things like that where crazy tie knots are acceptable. There's another knot that I can't remember the name of but it looks like two double Windsors on the same tie. If you look up "Viper Knot" on YouTube you should find instructions for all kinds of complicated tie knots. I'd also like to learn a "Double Eldredge". It's also too extreme but I want it for the same reason. To use for missionary meetings where crazy ties are allowed. During one such meeting we had, there was an Elder who had a fish tie. The knot was the tail, the middle part was the body and the normally diamond shaped end was the head. 

Now for the spiritual stuff... I don't know if I've told you but we seem to tract into a less-active at least once a week. Pres. Sodders recently told us he feels that less-actives need to be a bigger priority and the fact that we keep tracting into them is sign enough for Elder Lynch and me. We walked by a lady and she gave us an abnormally friendly "Hello." We stopped and talked to her and she said that she was already a member. I couldn't believe it because we found her in a trailer park where we had already found like 5 other less-actives. It's kinda crazy how many less-actives we tract into. 

As you're well aware I've been having issues with street contacting. This week we had a zone meeting and the theme of zone meeting was being bold. What better way to start off a lesson about being bold than by role playing the law of chastity with other missionaries. The role play was about asking the bold/awkward questions without sugar-coating it. i.e. asking someone directly if they watch porn with a firm, clear and direct voice. As awkward as those role plays were, they helped me become more bold. The second half of the zone meeting was about role playing street contacts. I kinda sucked at it but it also built my confidence in being bold. The following morning I happened to study boldness in Preach My Gospel without realizing it. One of the scriptures I read was D&C 63:57-58 which reads "And again, verily I say unto you, those who desire in their hearts, in meekness, to warn sinners to repentance, let them be ordained unto this power. For this is a day of warning, and not many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days." 

As I pick apart this scripture, a few things pop out to me. I really like the part that says "for this is a day of warning, and not many words." I think too many missionaries (kinda including myself) are worried about offending people. They worry about saying something that'll turn someone off from the gospel. According to that scripture we're supposed to be bold and unapologetic. If anyone is offended by us preaching the truth then it's their loss and there isn't really anything you can do to help them. We're not supposed to sugar-coat anything. We're supposed to tell it as it is and if that offends someone, then just move on. 

I know that God does try to help you as much as He can. You just have to be diligent in searching Him out. I've been trying to solve the whole "what to say" issue for a while. Now that I've read that scripture and have a better understanding of how He wants me to teach, I can gain more confidence in that I'm doing what He wants me to do.

It really is a lot like chess. You say something, the other person says something but just like in chess what you say/do may offend someone. The difference, however, is someone who is willing to play the whole game will gain a better understanding of the gospel, whereas, someone who doesn't play and flips the board off the table after you've taken one pawn away will never know of the gospel. 

Thank you all for the amazing support you've offered me. It really helps. 

Elder Ben

PS - Dad asked me about dogs. I still hate dogs. Don't let Dad get a dog. Don't let Tessa get a dog. Don't get a dog. Don't do it. I won't come back from the field if you get a dog. I'll apply to become the 4th Nephite and never come back if you get a dog. Please don't get a dog.

Elder Lynch's B-day!

Can you guess what that is...?
RED VELVET CAKE with Cream Cheese Frosting!!

Just me with a lovely Prince Albert tie knot, studying and drinking soda :)

Elder Lynch showed me these pens. They hardly ever smear. Sharpie pens are the best!

Tree for sale...

Prince Albert tie knot - ok for Elders

Viper tie knot - crazy!

A gift from the Buttiglieri's - Coke and those really good pretzel peanut butter things. Speaking of peanut butter.
Next time you're at Walmart, pick up a jar of "White Chocolate Wonderful" Peanut Butter. The company that makes it is "Peanut Butter & Co." It's sold in smaller jars but it's absolutely amazing! Any sort of peanut butter bars or peanut butter Hershey Kiss cookies need to be made with this peanut butter. 

Best Dinner Appt EVER... and Dogs...

June 8, 2015

Dear Family,

Yeah, "The District" is pretty much what life is like for me now. We'll be doing away with the planners and area books soon now that we have i-Pads. The Area Book Planner app should be coming out today. If it does, then all that fun stuff will be on the iPads. 

I don't even know where to start with this week, but whatever, here I go!

There was this guy we met at like 8pm who was just drunk out of his mind. He was asking us questions like "Why is dog spelled 'dog'? Who named it 'dog'? Why would they name those things 'dogs'?" He later asked us questions about obedience like "If your prophet came out and said that every member had to stand with their legs apart and kick each other in the privates for 30 minutes, would you do it?" He was a really weird guy. 

We had a lesson with a 19 year old who just graduated and is looking to major in political science and minor in social studies. We gave him lesson 1 and I don't know what happened or what was different but when we showed him a 4 minute clip of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove, the Spirit just exploded. I had to tell the Spirit to "calm down" in my head. It was absolutely intense.

Yesterday was Elder Lynch's 21st birthday. It was an extremely good day for both of us. Except the fact that it was Fast Sunday and I suffered my way through most of it, but some really good things happened. At church, some investigators came that we weren't planning on coming and later that night we had the best dinner appointment EVER! We ate at the Bowen family's home. They're a part-member family who really like us. They made us Chicken Parm, Salads, Spaghetti, Chocolate Cake, and RED VELVET CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING! Here's our story with them. We first met them when we found out they were doing a 5k fundraiser for their son. We asked them in what ways could we help with that, so they said we could help direct people on the trail. The day of the 5k came, we helped out and after we helped, they gave us cookies. Not just any cookies, but those peanut butter Hershey Kiss cookies I love! A couple weeks after that their son graduated from High School and we went to their graduation party. We ate and talked and somehow the subject of Elder Lynch's birthday came up. Sis. Bowen asked what he wanted for a birthday dinner and he said chicken parm. She also asked about what cake he wanted but he was hesitant on that request. I jumped in and said "I like red velvet". I didn't think she would actually make it. Elder Lynch said he liked chocolate. Yesterday at the dinner appointment, we find out that she made BOTH. After fasting for as long as I did (about 22 hours), I was almost in tears at how good everything she made was. The food was extremely well made and the cake almost compared to Mom's. She even gave us half the cakes to take back to the apartment. There's only one other person in the branch who makes food that good and he was the one who made us those amazing pastrami burgers. 

I... still hate dogs.... Every time I knock on someone's house, their stupid dogs won't shut up!.... There was this little, drop-kickable​ dog at some member's house that bit me twice. It didn't hurt at all.... There's another dog at another member's house that's big AND energetic. That thing jumps all over me every time I go to that members home. Just yesterday there was a dog at an investigator's house that hit me in the privates. That didn't feel good. There seems to be two kinds of dogs here. Little ones, and BEAR-sized ones. Seriously, some of the dogs here are absolutely massive. Imagine Mr. Guinn on all fours. That's how big the dogs here get. Elder Lynch's favorite thing that I've said is related to dogs. Here's the story. We were tracting in the smallest town known to man and as we walked by someone's yard, their 200 dogs started barking at us.. I said "I hate dogs". Elder Lynch said "Oh come on, they're man's best friend. :)" to which I replied "I'd rather eat them." 

I'm sorry to hear about the Anderson's and Grandma Eva. I'll definitely keep them in my prayers. Nana and Papa K. sent me some Sprouts gummy bears and mint M&M's. That was a great surprise! 

Street contacting is pretty interesting and going better now. The hardest thing for me now is starting the contact. I can talk to them easily after the conversation has been started. That's where we honestly get most of the people we teach. Out of every 100 people we talk to only about 1 or 2 will be interested in the church. 

I'd say the number one reason people don't investigate the church is they just don't care about religion anymore. There are those who aren't religious, who don't care to try religion, and there are those who are so complacent in their religion that they don't care to hear us out. Here are the top 3 reasons I've found that people won't investigate the church

1. Complacency. They're so stuck in their ways that they won't bother changing.

2. Lies about the church i.e. plural marriage, racism.

3. "The Book of Mormon adds to the Bible which Revelations clearly states is a sin". This one is so common it's not even funny. 

I've gotten pretty dang good at explaining those last two points. The one that's the absolute kicker is complacency. It's hard to get people to see the value of what we're offering them. It's something they have to experience but if they're not willing to experience it they'll never know.

That's what most of the people I talk to are like. But there are those few that are just absolutely amazing and extremely prepared. Yesterday during Church, a couple of our investigators came in. We weren't planning on them showing up because they had been sick for a while. It was fast and testimony meeting and one of them even got up and bore her testimony about the church saying things like "I'm not a member yet, but I'm looking forward to becoming one. "I know the church is true." Later, we met with them at their home and they said they felt more comfortable there than at any other church they've been at. They felt at home. The husband said when he walked in,  he felt something on his back. He felt like someone put their hand on his back and said "Welcome home". 

Thank you for all the things you both do for me. It really helps. I actually used those Isiah verses you sent me on an investigator later that day. 

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isa 41:10) and "Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;... For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour... Since thou was precious in my sight,... I have loved thee... Fear not: for I am with thee" (Isa 43:1-5)

I can't thank you enough for all the advice. It really helps. Thanks for keeping me up on all the major events.Thanks for the tie knots! I still need you to re-send the tie knot charts you sent me last week. The picture didn't come through all that great. 

-Elder Benjamin Kohkonen Cox 

I was about to send pics when the computer kicked me off. I'm a little squished for time right now. I should have more next week. There's an app that I can download to get pictures from my camera to my iPad. I don't know what the app is and I can't just be downloading apps off the App Store, so if you could find out for me, that would be great.