Ben's Mission to Toronto

From Ben: The World Turned Upside Down This week, me and Elder Hamilton got hit with some crazy news.  We had been covering two areas till said news: Trenton as its own, then Belleville and Napanee as its own. Then, out of nowhere, we got some off the cuff news that the Belleville-Napanee area WAS GETTING PULLED FROM OUR GRASP BY SOME NEW SISTERS!!! We had not heard anything from the up-tops about this, we heard about it on Wednesday and they were taking the area on Friday, so we had our feet swept from underneath us.  They're actually angels, and, though unexpected, they will really help me and Elder Hamilton. We were struggling to organize ourselves for a while there covering three branches. But, it still took some mad moves to help them with the transition which was pretty hectic. And, when all was said and done, after we explained to them everybody they would be teaching, got them a mattress, and figured out some logistics, we looked at our list of people at Trenton... and...

 From Ben:  "I'm just so angry all the time!" - Hulk (but also me last Saturday) Something that I'm in danger of as a missionary is teaching doctrine or principles that I myself am not living. For example. We often teach people to follow the commandments of Christ, which includes not being angry with one another. However, for whatever reason, there was one day this week that had me running for my money. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or it was because it was the 5th day in a row I had Nesquik cereal for breakfast, or maybe my shoulder devil was fresh from Georgia and was having a hay-day on his fiddle. I don't know. Needless to say, that day, I was just angry. The weather had me going, I was in no mood for conversation, I didn't feel like singing any songs. T'was nobody's fault, I just struggled. Elder Hamilton had to deal with my angry silence and was patient with me throughout the day thank goodness. It was so wild! My logical mind was...

Dear Ben, Steph, Tyler and Bowie are FINALLY here. It could have been worse. It could have been Monday instead of Sunday, or even worse than that …. not getting their negative Covid test results in the allotted 72-hrs in order to cross the border and having to get tested again. There we were, at the Torrie Reunion, waiting for the Froelichs … and there they were, on the other side of the border, waiting for results. So they missed the Reunion, but ended up being 5 hours behind us on the road home. We’re just glad they’re here. Bowie is absolutely the cutest child on the planet and she just smiled and smiled when she came in, staying close to Steph at first but was already warming up thirty minutes later. We’re looking forward to the next couple of weeks with them around.  The Torrie Reunion was actually a lot of fun. And I say “actually” because I wasn’t anticipating it would be. It was HOT and we spent time on the lazy South Saskatchewan River on kayaks equipped with water shooter...

 From Ben - The Gift of Prophecy, Yo! Family and friends, t'was a hectic week.  We had a pretty radical schedule that included delivering an epic amount of cookies to a bunch of people, preparing to give a talk on Sunday and procrastinating it till the day before, heave-hoeing some food around for the Salvation Army in Napanee, and last but not least, sharing the Restored Gospel to people who were willing to learn.  A couple of notable moments of the week include...        Before going into a lesson with an older lady, she sent us a message saying "I have some questions, maybe you have some answers" Me and Elder Hamilton had not the slightest idea what to expect (this particular older lady has a tendency of throwing really difficult curveball questions, off the fly, in the middle of our lessons, so we were actually grateful she warned us beforehand) So, after trying to anticipate what things she was going to ask and failing somewhat, we decided to...

From Mom - Getting into Practice Dear Elder Smith, We heard a good quote in regards to journal keeping …. “The weakest ink is better than the strongest memory.” Ooooh. Nothing like a good quote to motivate a practice that should be habit. I wish I wasn’t a feast-or-famine-kind-of-girl. Currently, I’m in a journal-writing famine, but I’ll try to do better. Why? Because excellent, worthy experiences happen every day and I. Forget. Them! Ugh. Henry B. Eyring suggested the question, “How have I seen the hand of God in my life today?” and think about it and write it down, even if it’s only one sentence. Then, over time, to see the pattern of heavenly love.  Yesterday, it was sitting on an uncomfortable largish stone at the edge of the lake with Kurri. It was the Sabbath and I decided to avoid swimming in order to keep the day set apart. We were squished on this rock, with our feet in the water in an attempt to stay cool. Under our feet was a myriad of beautiful multicoloured stones whic...

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 ...