It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The sites are looking rather festive lately. Each site has a tree decorated without lights on them & with popcorn, cookies &/or apples along with other festive frills. The first picture is of the Welcome Center on the Smith farm. You can see they took the large "Face to Face" statue & shipped it to Salt Lake but we have a small one in front of the window.

The second & other pictures are of the decorations in the Grandin building. The first one is on the main floor at the entrance - beautifully done! One is of the display in the window - the nativity & one is of the beautiful poinsettia under the Moroni 10:4 scripture on the 2nd floor.

We haven't had much time to get around to the other sites to take pictures but hope to do that this next week. Everything is looking like Christmas, even the weather - It's snowing at this very minute. However, the snow melted rather fast as warmer temperatures prevailed this last week.

We enjoy our work at the mission office. We associate constantly with the young Elder's & Sister's. We love their dedication & enthusiasm. Zone Conferences are this week so we will be busy!

We miss being at the sites & testifying of our Savior, the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon & what a blessing the gospel is in the lives of our Father's Children. We love the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!!

'Tis the Season!!!

It has been snowing here for the past week. We have had beautiful but treacherous snow. We awoke this morning with what you see in the pictures I have attached. We have the day off so we are inside, warm & comfy. It is soooooo beautiful this morning & so peaceful. What a fun beginning to a holiday season. What you are looking at: 1) What we saw out our kitchen window this morning, 2) Our house, 3) Smith Farm & Welcome Center, 4) Another back yard picture & 5) Elder & Sister Hamblin's house across the way from us. Enjoy!!

Transfer Week Is Here!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

What a strange week we have had! Elder Bennett got a kidney stone (so we think) on Tuesday night & struggled with it all day Wednesday. We finally got him to Dr. Nickell, then home to rest. He had a rough night but was free of pain by Thursday morning, sore but no pain. We took Thursday off, not knowing if he would be ok. It appears that he is going to be just fine now-yaaaaahh.

We are preparing for transfers this week & new arrivals tomorrow. We will meet with the new arrivals tomorrow night. We both have presentations - short & sweet (hopefully) - although, Elder Bennett‘s presentation is longer than mine as he needs to show a driver’s safety DVD (not hard). He is so worried about it that he was up at 4 a.m. Elder Sumptner will still be here & will help him, I hope. Elder Sumptner will be going home Tuesday so we had a “special ceremony” on Friday to turn the car job over to Elder Bennett. We even had our contact in Salt Lake on the speaker phone to witness it all. Elder Sumptner is so funny! He is an excellent Elder & we will miss him - especially Elder Bennett. We have gotten to know him well in a very short time & what a delightful pleasure that has been. Elder Sumptner named him “Papacaro” meaning father of the cars. Now I am not sure whether he came by that name because Elder Bennett is older than he is, a Senior Elder or just old but that’s his title now.

Our Thanksgiving is shaping up to be very different this year. We had a site meeting on Wednesday where President Hemingway spoke to us about being on the Lord errand & holding to the iron rod. Basically it was about obedience & obeying council. He is desirous of ALL missionaries - including the senior couples - going out into the community, helping in soup kitchens where possible, contacting shut-ins & meeting with new contacts, less active & part member families for both Thanksgiving & Christmas. We are desirous of obeying the council given so are now exploring possibilities of activity. Cami mentioned that that was how she spent her Thanksgiving on her mission & had a great experience doing so. The Lord never gives direction without providing the opportunity. We are looking forward in anticipation.

The weather has turned off cold. This week is predicted to be in the 30’s as a high & 20’s as the lows. It has rained all weekend & looks very much like winter. We know it’s coming but I am not looking forward to the cold. All is well here. We are healthy (finally) & happy in the service of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. How thankful we are to be in His service, to have His spirit to be with us and to have the MANY BLESSINGS He pours out upon us each day.

Love you all,

Elder & Sister Bennett

New assignment this week!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Well, this week has been an eventful one for us. On Monday, Elder Weston called us & asked if we could meet with Pres. Hemingway for our interview at noon instead of Saturday when it had been scheduled earlier. Of course, we said yes & met with him at that time. He asked us to go to the mission office for a while - who knows how long. Jokingly I commented that Willard Bean had been asked to come to the Smith Farm for an indefinite period of time & it had ended up to be 25 years. He assured me that it would not be that long. He said they needed us there so we agreed and started on Tuesday, (which was supposed to be our p-day). We work 9 to 5 each day with Saturday & Sunday off and we drive to Fariport each day - about 12 miles one way. We work in the Temple Saturday morning & Elder Weston wants us to work at least 1 day at the sites (so we don't get too rusty) - so we take a site shift on Sunday. That leaves O p-days - I am not sure just how we are going to work it out. It felt good to have the afternoon off yesterday (haven't had a day off since Oct. 30th). I got some cleaning & cooking done finally. I hope I get use to these longer hours because at the sites we had either a morning (9-1) or afternoon (1-6) shift with a p-day & sometimes an on call day each week. I almost feel like I have gone back to work-ha. I take care of the referrals & missionary stuff and Elder Bennett takes care of the cars. We have learned a lot & are doing some things all by our selves already. It's not hard, just busy. Elder & Sister Froisland are in charge of the office & have the brunt of the office work so we help them sometimes if we can. They are a great couple! There are 2 Elders assigned there also but we are being trained to take their place as one is going home & the other, out in the field, thus - that's why we are needed there. I guess the President requested a couple for the office but they got a call to the Florida mission instead - so he is still waiting. We will work there until they get someone on a permanent basis.

The weather has been fairly good but we have had a skiff of snow already. Today is supposed to be cold & rainy but so far it is fairly nice. It freezes at night sometime thought and promises to be cold later this week. We have boots, earmuffs & scarves so I guess we are prepared. I am not looking forward to winter!