Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Burlington, Kentucky

Hello Everyone!! 
 
I will try to refrain from saying "hey y'all" cuz im afraid its going to stick and i will end up returning home one day saying y'all and things like that. Ive already said it a few times on accident. Anyways, How is everyone!? I miss you all so much! like crazzy! I have so much to say and so little time to say it. I received my first package from home this week. It was amazing! Thank you for sending that to me family. That seriously was the best day of my life! i rubbed it in my companion's faces (not on purpose) but yeah thanks. One thing i'ev learned about mail is to NOT pray for mail. I prayed for mail probably everyday last week and the one day i decided not to was the day i got my package from home :) I wish i could write what happened day by day but that is just too much. This week was pretty bomb. Its hot here. Well not really hot just nasty humid. Everyday when we return to our apartment i feel like we just dove into a swimming pool and im not even kidding! its nasty. Everyone that asks me where im from thinks its just as hot here as it is in AZ but i just laugh. Lets see, a lot of you have had questions about my companions. Heres the low down  for ya. My trainer is Elder Ith (prounounced: eeeth) He has been out for 6 months and is from Utah! Our third companion is the Sr. Comp. and goes home next week. Hes annoying but i love him. He has ADD so i feel like were serving a missiion with a child. Its pretty funny. I cant wait for him to leave though cuz he is what we call super "trunky!" what that means is that he cant stop thinking about home and thats all he talks about. and when someone is super trunky that just makes everyone else trunky. So i keep thinking about home sometimes and it gets annoying. his name is Elder Holt, he is also from Utah. This week we actually have a Fourth companion! its crazy!? who ever heard of a quadruple companionship?? His name is Elder Webster. He is only seventeen years old and is only with us for a week because he is serving what is called a "mini-mission" so yeah, things have been interesting with us as you can imagine sharing a one bedroom apt. with two beds and a couch.

One funny experience that happened just yesterday was Elder Holt got super mad at Elder Ith and they went outside to talk and ended up screaming at eachother for like 30 minutes. It was funny. So the mini missionary and I were just chillin in the apartment. I told Elder Webster we should lock the door and not let them in til they hugged but i could tell they werent going to hug so we didnt do that. haha. Then when they both came inside i was playing the Ukulele (Elder Holt has one!! :))) and i was singing "Love One Another." So i played that in hopes that they would forgive eachother but i finished the song and we sat in awkward silence. hahaha. good times :)

Kentucky is a interesting place. Its actually really pretty! The rainstorms are awesome! cuz theres actual thunder and lightning. We actually almost had a tornado the other day it was so bomb! I will send pics of the clouds. They were basically touching the ground! The people are nice and EVERYONE smokes! its nasty. I get such a huge headache walking into peoples homes because first off its hot and then they top it off with nasty smoke. Even being outside it smells! ive settled with the fact that Kentucky in general is just a smelly place. One thing that i have found interesting with the members here in Kentucky is that there are a TON of inactive members. The reason... They married a nonmember! its so sad! Ive learned the importance of the scripture in Deuteronomy that instructs us not to marry outside the covenant. Dont do it people! Earlier in the week we were chillin at our apt. and we got a phonecall from a less active member, Chris. He is 21. So we got a ride over to his apt. and we could tell he was having a hard time. He invited us into his apt. which had no A/C no furniture, basically he had nothing. So we sat on the floor and he just started asking us questions about this book his bishop gave him a while back. He said when he reads the book he feels so calm and nothing else matters. He is free from the world. But when he puts the book down everything comes back. Anyways, long story short i was able to share a scripture with him (Mosiah 3:19) and i bore my testimony to him. The spirit was so strong! It was the first time i have been able to relate my testimony to someone, because he too used to work in a warehouse haha. Towards the end of the 2 hours we spent with Chris we asked if he would say a prayer (which he hadnt done in a while) and he said no. Then i jumped in and asked him why he didnt want to pray. He didt really know but i assured him that his prayer was between him and his father in heaven and that he didnt need to worry about what we thought of his prayer. So he decided to pray and offered a super awesome prayer. The spirit was so sweet! Then we invited him back to church and he didnt come. haha. pretty lame but the spiritual experience was worth it! I love teaching by the spirit. Im definitely growing out here.

During exchanges last week I got to go chill with Elder Whiting for the day and we walked all day! Our goal was to talk to everyone we saw and to hand out book of mormons. I was the only one to place a Book of Mormon! I stopped at a bus stop and talked to this girl. She was probably my age. Anyways, I taught her about the book of mormon and she was really interested. So i ended up getting elder whiting a new investigator!! (It wasnt just me though, Elder whiting did his part haha)

Two days ago Elder Ith and I decided to bike all day. It was so awesome! I installed my spedometer on my bike so i can keep track of how many miles i bike on my mission. We biked 30 miles in one day. Heck yeah im so excited. It was so much fun. Its really amazing to witness how many people recognize us as someone important. We get lots of funny looks. The Lord really helps us find oportunities to plant seeds in peoples hearts just by the way we look! We actually ran into some Jehovas Witnesses that day. Oh boy i wanted to throw down at them! jk we didnt say anything really, they were asking us if we knew any deaf people they could preach to. We did, but we didnt tell them hahah. Alrighty, well i think thats all for now. I love being a missionary. I want to thank everyone for their love and emails and letters and stuff. They serioulsy mean so much! and they really keep me going! i really wish i could respond to all your guys questions and stuff but ive gotta keep working! if you ever feel down or sad just turn to the BOM. It has helped me and i know it will help you. Enjoy the pictures.


 Love you all!
Elder Benavides











                                                             ^ I love this one. So typical! :)













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