Brilliantly Serving the British: "Giving Some Good-Ole Thanks"

Brrrr...

Bit chilly out there, innit? Oh how one must love England.. Where it is either raining or about to rain. Not gonna lie, I definitely took summer for granted. The sun stayed up longer, the people were happier, and it was warm enough to not wear a jacket. Best day of the year for sure Heheh.. Well, just letting you know now that this should be a fun post to read. Maybe difficult for me to write up cause there are so many bits and bobs to mention, but let's just hope it all comes together well.

So yeah, as previously noted, the weather here has gotten absolutely brutal! Like the rain I can handle, but when it is dead windy too, that's when I hate it. Ha, just the other night we got stuck out in it. Too windy to use the umbrella so I just soaked in the experience, literally. It was then that I remembered what others have said about missions.. "It'll be fun!" they said. "You'll learn so much!" they said. Well, where was the realist person who began to laugh, "Hahaha.. Oh man, you're going to suffer big time!" ;) Ha, nah, missions are fun, and I've never learnt so much. I will love it til the very end. However, getting drenched did provide quite a funny memory for us! We went into a members home, soaked, and the young wife was kind enough to lend us a pair of dry socks. "Just toss them in the bin when you get back to your flat!" Okay..? It was a bit silly, because we both got super girly, pink socks, but it was a kind deed and how can one reject such a sweet offer. But then... after the tea appointment, we get on a packed bus, and something caught my attention! Mhmm! My companion's bright, girly socks were screaming for attention. Oh it was so obvious! I was struggling to hide my laugh, while at the same time, attempting to hide my own adorable footwear with my bag. I can only imagine what others were thinking when they noticed.. Ha, suffices me to say, I'll only be learning that lesson once.

Now, at other times, I don't mind getting some extra attention! For example, last Sunday during sacrament meeting. The young men's president gave a brilliant talk, and quoted quite often from a general authority who spoke at the last general conference. What was the
general authority's name you ask? Elder Randall K. Bennett. Hah. Let's see if you notice where this is headed.. He's up there, you know, speaking away to the congregation and then something catches my ear. "Elder Bennett continues with the third principle which is to 'counter
the natural man’s tendency to procrastinate, to put off, or to give up.'" Come again? Since when did I say that?! Haha.. It happened like three or four times! Each time, I could just feel that people noticed and looked at me. Well, what can I say? I must have some pretty dang good insights! ;) Or do I? Some may never know..

One thing I do know is that I am super thankful to be in this mission and particularly, the Liverpool ward! We've had two fantastic mission trainings over the past few weeks and a brilliant, ward youth musical that I must mention as well! Firstly, was our All-Elders Day. That was a lot of fun. President gave a powerful training on wearing the whole armour of God, and some other missionaries gave great trainings on more temporal, but much needed things. I loved it. Then we split up and everyone played whatever sport they fancied. There was frisbee,
rugby, football, basketball and American football. Yeah, that's what I have to call it for the next year or so.. haha. I didn't know some were playing basketball til the very end, so I mostly played football and was on the same team as my son/trainee, Elder Paulsen. Love that kid What a jokester. Our team did quite good too! Ha, President Ulrich even came out for a bit, and had a shootout with us all. That was good fun to see him having fun with his missionaries. I'm so grateful for my mission president.

As for the second amazing training.. that was at our Mission Tour with Elder Paul V. Johnson visiting! What a champ! I particularly enjoyed his visit because he is from my home stake, and has kids who are friends with my siblings! Haha, over the stand, his lovely wife even told half the mission that one of their daughters used to babysit me. No, not embarrassing in the slightest because he's amazing! Another reason I loved his visit, is because of what he used to do for the Church Education System. I found that utterly fascinating, and worthwhile because I love seminary/institute! He taught about how we can learn to submit to God's will over time, how to teach more efficient, and how we can choose why we should do what we should. My
favourite part of the Q&A he opened up was when President Ulrich bore a crystal clear, pure, and powerful testimony of God's love for who we are and what we strive to become. It's leaving me speechless. I can't put words to how profound that was.. wish you could have felt what we
had.. Oh! And we also had a catered, Thanksgiving meal for lunch that day! So that was a bonus! No worries, I did not miss out this year. Man, pumpkin pie is mighty fine!

Lastly, was the Liverpool Ward's very own, Youth Musical Night. Oh how I loved that! Bravo! What a performance! I was so proud of how well they did. My favourite performances out of the eight or so musicals they danced to was.. Sound of Music, Fame (never heard of it, but they
killed it), Annie, and Thriller. Ha, too great! They are so talented! No worries, I literally got their signatures, so I'm covered when they get famous. Not only that, but they had a cake auction to help fundraise money for the next time they go to FSY/EFY! Oh my goodness, now that was funny. One of the young men was the auctioneer, and didn't a brilliant job. He made each one someone had brought sound amazing. Haha, one of the cakes sold for about £40! You could tell that some really wanted a certain one, and so some people would purposely keep raising their auction number so the price soared up. Hahaha... too great. I heard they got well over the amount they had planned for, so that makes me happy cause I loved going to EFY! Overall, I just love it here so SO MUCH! Transfers are.. next week, so I am just praying, and hoping, and somewhat expecting to stay. The Christmas season has been going on for a while here because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and boy would I love to continue to enjoy the season in Liverpool.

To finish, I once heard that "God commands us to be thankful because He knows it'll make us happier". You are blessed, whether you realize it or not. Not a lot of people have what you have, and most of those things are probably things that matter most; ie. Family, the Gospel, a working body. Not many people even realize that they have a Saviour, Jesus Christ, on whom they can depend on always. How thankful I am.. for what He did in his mortal ministry and what He is now doing in His living church today. I testify that I would not be who I am today without my Redeemer. Words will never be able to express my gratitude. All things are possible with Jesus Christ. Tis the season, my lovely people.

Looking forward to seeing my family, who I am thankful for and love, in twenty and five days,

Love always,

- Elder Bennett