It was a Shocking Week!

Buried in the Gospel

Hello Everyone! 

So for this week we have our P-Day changed to today because Elder Cornish of the 70 came to the mission on our Regular P-Day, but i will talk about that later! 

So this last week has been full of many great things and lots of great experiences! We had many opportunities to serve some members in the wards that we cover and to teach people while tracting. 

Our weather here has been pretty good for the most part. The days have been in 80's and it is starting to cool off but i don't think it will get much colder than that. Everyone says that this is what the winters are like. We also had a really hot fall season, i guess it has stayed hotter longer later in the year than it has in the past. I keep on expecting it to get cold and snow here but i know that won't happen haha.

Earlier last week we went over to the Hollands and helped them change some of there smoke detectors. Brother Holland broke his ankle a while ago so he wasn't too keen to changing the alarms. We were more than happy to help them out. So while we were changing them i was on a step ladder working on them and the darn wires in the ceiling shocked me! It wasn't a bad shock or anything but it kept me on my toes for the rest of them! We like service, It gives us a chance to get out of our white shirts and get dirty. I have been able to help some people out by doing service and i love it, because i actually do like getting dirty and helping others out. 

So transfers are on like the 16th i think. I doubt that i will leave. I think they transferred me here so i can learn the area and then lead out the area because my comp is done with his mission. So i think i will be here for thanksgiving. Transfers are always a toss up though. It just depends on where President wants me. I have started doing a bunch of sit ups and push ups every morning. It is so hard to stay fit because the members feed us well!

Stormy day

So last week we had exchanges and Elder Holland and I went out to my area and we had a really great time dong the work. Elder Holland and i came into the mission at the same time. He is a stud missionary and we had such a great time! So one thing that i really love to do is to tract for at least one hour a day. Some days people answer the door and talk for a minute and some days we get nothing. So when Elder Holland and i began tracting hour it started to pour down rain. So here we are on foot, tracting, in the eye of this rainstorm. All i can say is that it was awesome! See video...We were soaked in 10 seconds of being in it but we kept on tracting! We were actually able to talk to some people and i think that we found some potential investigators so it was totally worth it! We had fun and i learned a lot from that whole experience! 

On Monday and Tuesday Elder Cornish of the 70 came to the mission! It was an amazing Conference and i learned so much from it. It seemed like the main theme was that if you set your expectations high you can accomplish it. No body is saying that we cant accomplish the goals that we set so if we work as hard as we can we will accomplish the things that we put out heart and mind to. One other point that he drove was that member missionary work is so key to helping bring our friends and neighbors in to the gospel. Simply put when people have a friend who is a member and that member introduces a friend into the gospel that will make there conversion powerful. There are so many blessings that come from sharing the gospel. It does not matter if you are a member or a full time missionary, sharing the gospel and showing love for those around you will bless your lives. I know that it has been blessing mine! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Ben Kestner

500 miles on the bike in 3 months!