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!

Cami & Scott's Family Visit

Cami, Scott, Parker, Conner & Tanner arrived on Oct. 15th. We were so excited to see them!
After their arrival they were absolutely bushed as you can see here by Scott & Tanner.

We visited Niagra Falls on Friday, Oct. 17th. It was COLD but really beautiful with all the colored leaves & water. Scott, Cami & Parker went into the underground tunnel call the hurricane deck. They loved it!


We went on a cruise on the Erie Canal. Again the fall colors were beautiful but it also was a very cold boat ride.

Visiting all the sites was the highlight of their trip. It was so fun to tell them all about the area & the history that is here. Gary told them about the Smith Farm, the Log Home & Frame Home and I gave them the tour of the Book of Mormon Publication Site, Grandin Press. The Hill Cumorah & the Whitmer Farm we shared the tours. We loved having Tenessa, Jake & Addie with us when we could all get together.

Conner & Addie became quite good friends & Addie just loved Parker. He was a really good buddie to her and OH! how she loved little Tanner. How fun it is to have family around!!

October 2008

We have loved Conference this weekend. We have had both Saturday & Sunday off so got to see all sessions plus accomplish some tasks that have needed doing for a long time. I can’t believe that it is October already! Time goes really fast here. We are looking forward to Cami, Scott, Parker, Conner & Tanner coming out on the 15th. They will be here until the 21st & I hope that the time slows down so we can really enjoy having them here.

We have a host of birthday’s in October beginning with Cami’s. Then there is Tyler’s, Sarin’s, Sabra’s & Carrie’s. These grandparent’s wish all of you a fun day!!














The leaves are turning & they are beautiful! I have taken some pictures for you to enjoy! We love being in such a beautiful and spiritual place.

Love you all,

Mom, Dad,
Grandma & Papa,
Linda & Gary
Elder & Sister Bennett

Seasons are changing in Palmyra

September 15, 2008

I am working on updating our blog page. There are several birthday’s this month - Lexie’s, Merak’s, Valerie’s & Becky’s. There are a LOT next month too so I had better get this up & going.

Today is Merak’s Birthday. I talked with him on the webcam yesterday so wished him a happy day - early.





Cami called & said that they have their fights to come out on Oct. 14th. We are EXCITED about that! They blessed the baby yesterday so you might want to check out her blog page because I hope she will have pictures.

We are filling our assignments each day at the sites. It has been slow but with the leaves turning they say it will get busier - also with the UEA coming up in Oct. in Utah it should get busy then too. We are getting time to fulfill our assignment from Pres. Hemingway to read the full Book of Mormon by next zone conference (6 weeks) - middle of Oct. It averages out 20 pages a day. So far we are right on schedule. We were in 3rd Nephi when the challenge was issued so we just continued, finished the book a week ago & started over to catch up to where we were when challenged. We are nearly finished with 2nd Nephi as of this morning. It’s amazing how much continuity you get out of reading this way. It DOES take some time & is a real push but interesting. We don’t have time to ponder, study or mark scriptures but we are keeping up & actually accomplishing it.

There is never much leisure time on a mission. We have been able to watch the BYU play football though. Elder Hamblin (Ray) along with some other Elders has persuaded Elder Weston to get & set up the Mt. Network at the Visitors Center so we can record all the games & either go see them there or see them later in the day or night if we are on shift. So far it’s working out great. Talk about a football party - lol!!!

We love the work & the sister’s we work with. It’s wonderful to be here where it all began!


September 7, 2008

We can not believe how fast this summer has passed! The leaves are turning color here in Palmyra. It is still more green than color but it looks as if the fall will be absolutely gorgeous. This is such a lush area with groves of trees & farms stretching for miles. The beauty is breath taking & will be ever so enhanced as the leaves change. We love the weather lately - upper 70’s most of the time with sunshine most every day. We have had very little rain lately where as we were getting rain almost every day in July & August. This is really NICE!

The pictures I have included here are fall leaves at the Whitmer Farm & fog over the Welcome Center & Smith Farm depicting some of the weather changes which occur each day in NY.

We are happy, well, busy & thrilled to be on this mission. We love giving the tours at the different sites. There is such a peaceful feeling here. Even the seasons change quietly.

Love ya all,

Linda & Gary (Elder & Sister Bennett)