Ben's Mission to Toronto

From Ben The Death of Elder Sorenson And so it goes! Elder Sorenson, my trainer, is dying. Carrying on. On Wednesday he'll have officially passed on from this life. I predict he'll be married before I come home.  But yes. Elder Sorenson is going home, and that means I will be getting a new companion, which also means I will be showing him the ropes of the Trenton area, which means I need to be on my A-game.  This week has been something crazy. Because it was Elder Sorenson's last week we were blitzing around our area and saying goodbye to a respectable amount of people. Because my phone has a better camera, I became the official traveling photographer to get pictures with Elder Sorenson and the members; which had me sweating buckets as my phone is caseless and feels as fragile as a phone would with a case, but without its case...  :) Our legendary friend, Boomie, unfortunately had a stroke earlier this week, so we came and dropped off some cookies. He is so grea...

From Dad - A good week Dear Ben, Hope you had a great week! For me it had some anxiety related once again to the lawn mower. I'm trying more often to take my cousin Mel's advice and ask myself "Why did I shout for joy for this trial". In my case, "Why did I shout for joy when I knew that my mower would break down every 3 weeks!". In some ways it is so I can learn patience and also learn new skills. I actually quite enjoy learning all the parts of the engine!.   This week I replaced the connecting rod that drives the piston as it broke inside the motor because I didn't put enough oil in the last oil change. I don't think I even knew what a connecting rod was. Then I got the joy of figuring out why when I attached the new one why the crankshaft wouldn't turn! Didn't used to know what a crankshaft was either. After some frustration and a good night's sleep I discovered that the crankshaft was scarred when the connecting rod broke so that is ...

From Mom - Rain At Night Dear Ben, After we chatted briefly on Monday, we got into the serious business of camping in beautiful British Columbia. It was hot, but happily it rained a little every night which is so lovely to listen to inside our tents while tucked in our sleeping bags. It cooled everything down, brightened the world, smelled great and made the trip that much better. Highlights include hiking to find some hidden lakes. Besides Mark and Todd’s huge full-grown puppies trying to knock us off the trail, our lives were NOT in danger in spite of the “bear-with-cubs-in-area” sign. There is some beautiful water and flowers to see, alpine air to breathe and it was rejuvenating in more ways than one. The girls loved the traditional tube rides.  We tried paddle boarding and loved it.  Did some cliff jumping. Sat around the fake propane fires (due to the fire ban). Found a couple of geocaches. (Mia may have converted the little cousins.) Ate a lot of junk food. But hone...

From Ben: Bless Boomie Alright, family and friends, there are some scary parts about a mission. You see some sketchy characters, you go to some dodgy neighborhoods, people give you that shifty side look. But. There is nothing as scary, as heart thumping, as tense... as teaching children.  Teaching Gospel doctrine and principles is not terribly difficult. It's pretty straight forward (so I thought,) but when me and Elder Sorenson sat down to teach this adorable 8 year old Vanassa, I realized that teaching the Gospel to a child is a whole different battlefield than when you teach it to an adult. Because their attention span is nil, you've gotta be both respectful of what you're teaching and entertaining.  Because they are completely honest in both word and facial expression, they give near immediate feedback that tells you how well you're doing (from Vanessa's face, I've got a ways to go still) And because their understanding of the Gospel is fledgling, you gotta ...

 From Mom - Heat Waves Dear Ben, I’ve been rethinking our oversight in not purchasing short-sleeved shirts for you. Can you get them somehow through the mission office? It’s crazy hot here right now. The kind of hot we haven’t seen for three years. And I’m feeling a little sorry for you because I know Ontario gets even hotter. Not as hot as California or Zambia … but still.  Your video was awesome, btw! I don’t have FB at the moment so Josh showed me when I was visiting with him tonight. I liked it a lot! Then I got a text from Pam Habing, who apparently saw it through a friend’s son. She was watching it out of curiosity and suddenly she was pleasantly surprised to see you in it! So it’s making the rounds.  Mia finished her last exam on Friday and we are in full summer swing over here. Bobby spent the weekend to take a little break from her life. She cooked fettuccini Alfredo for us and helped us shop for bathing suits and kept us laughing. She’s a long-time friend and it...

From Dad - A trip to Grandpa and Grandma's Hi Elder Smith! I imagine you are getting used to the title by now. We were excited to talk to you today.  It’s been a busy week this week. I was grateful this week to spend a few days with my parents. It’s been an uphill battle for them as Grandpa recovers and mom and I thought it would be good to spend some time with them and help out around their acreage. With Covid and not having anyone else around much I think they were getting lonely and started doing crazy things like buying a brand new Mazda CX-9 SUV.  We spent lots of time figuring out all of its bells and whistles.  It was fun to see how excited Grandpa was to buy Grandma a brand new car.  We got lots done around the place. Working with my parents was a real joy. There is relationship magic in working and creating together. We hooked up irrigation, started some new fencing  Put together deck furniture Visited great Grandma Smith. She is doing quite w...