Letter to Lindsey and Jared

Lindsey and Jared,

I am having the best time of my life. There really is two types of missionaries. Cause Brazil's a one of a kind, that's for sure. The people here are crazy but are so humble and the best ever. They live in nothing but make the best of it. Letters take a week to get to you so I wrote this last Sunday cause CTM rules say you can only write on Sundays and P-days...my two favorite days. I totally love the Survivor recaps and yes Cokhran is a weiner, and I'm glad to see him go. Everything is going just dandy out here. I love the CTM but honestly this place breaks guys down real quick. It's a prison, there's barbell wire on the fence and right when you drive in thats what you see and then electronic giant fences and it really sets the tone. No games. Some guys just don't have the mental strenght to make it out here. Couple of guys have had there moments in my group and some guys just aren't who they were when they first arrived. I can say for myself it's making a change for the better. My testimony is growing for all people as I continue to strive to see people as Christ would. I still think Bambi's a little terd though.
This place is awesome though seriously, the Brazilian elders are the coolest people you'd ever meet. Even though I don't understand what they are saying and they I; we still have a great time. Some of their stories would absolutel blow your mind with the trials they've found in their lives. I'm a bit of a celebrity to them because they found out my first name is Parker so they all call me Spiderman now. We figured out how to say It's raining men in Prtuguese so everytime it's raining (which is everyday) me and my comp sing it to the lunch ladies. Some of them laugh and some look like they wanna kill us but we know they love it. Also tell every girl you've ever met my age to write me a letter and bathe it in perfume. Tons of ugly smelly guys out here all day and I swear those 6 ugly sisters I met the first day I got here keep looking better and better everyday.
Love you guys a ton! Tell Lily and baby K I said Hi, don't even tell Bambi I wrote.

Hallelula

Esta Chuvendo Homens!!

-Elder Bennett

Pictures from CTM (thanks to Sister Carrell )

Adam and Parker were able to see each other for the 1st week in the CTM before Adam left

Study, Study and Study some more!

Parker with one of the missionaries from his group

obviously there is some down time!

This California boy likes him some sun!

Part of his district

Elder Carrell, ? and Parker

I think there is some tie swaping going on because I don't recognize Parkers but I recognize one of the other elders ties as Parkers!

The District

another view of Sao Paulo from his building

some of the tagging that they see on a daily basis

4th email is here!!!

hey family
the holidays were awesome here. they gave us all of Christmas eve off so we got to just hang out and play sports all day. then later that night they let us watch a Christmas Carol from 1951 and the best part is that it was in english. cause we got to watch a muppets Christmas and it was in portuguese so we had no idea what was going on and it was terrible. that night was the best though. you should have seen the sky. they do not celebrate Christmas in sao paulo like they do in america. the sky was lit up for as far as you could see cause of the fireworks. at midnight they started lighting them off all over the city. were talkin random dudes just chillin in the streets with big fat fireworks that make the big explosions. basically missiles. so there was people lighting em all over the sky and at first glance we thought it was lightning or but we couldnt here anything cause it was so far away, then we realized that the same thing people were doing on our street they were doing all over the city. it looked like ww3 was going on. cause all you saw was one of the most massive cities in the world being lit up by fireworks. it was definitly a sight ill never forget. even though the mission rules say that youre supposed to be in bed by 1030 no one went to sleep. they even knew no one would. except one terd in my room who would not stop crying about all the noise we were making. we were like do you not realize ww3 is going on outside and its the sickest thing ever. i mean were only gonna be here once in our life might as well have fun while were here. the other day some kid said were here to save souls not make friends. he was also home schooled his whole life and has no friends so for him it works out. youd be suprised how uptight people can be except i dont know if this how they are or there under a lot of stress and breaking down. people here lose it real quick. and i dont understand cause this is by far the best thing ive ever done in my life and nothing will ever compare to this. ive learned more about myself in this last month alone then i have known my entire life. as a leader as a disciple of Jesus Christ as a person and as a man. my eyes have been opened to a whole new world around me that i never knew existed. not only physically but spiritually as well. weve had some good times though and the cultures still coming. one thing weve learnded is that you basically never call someone any kind of animal in this country. i called someone a dirty dog one time out here and my companion heard it and has used it ever since. honestly thats all he ever says or he says basketball jones all the time. anyways he called me a dirty cachorro which in portuguese means dirty dog and a lunch lady heard and she started laughing like it was the funniest thing on this planet. we had no idea why though. so when we asked our teacher about it he said cachorro means pimp or can also mean male prostitute in portuguese. now we know why she laughed so much. then he told us about all the slang in the language and started telling us about how when carnival comes up in febrero how crazy things really get. he straight up told us there will be tons of naked people in the street. he said scary naked people all over. we were all laughing then he said watch out for big groups of gang guys cause theyll beat you up and start grabbing your balls and possible moleste you. we stopped laughing real quick and then we were like seriously? he was like ya GAY guys (hes got a heavy accent) will travel in packs of 8 to 12 and they hate missionaries and will chase you down and beat the crap out of you and he told us straight up theyll rape you if they could. we started laughing so histerically. were talkin tears on elders faces because this is so ridiculous and he said especially around carnival time cause gays come out and party all the time and they absolutely hate missionaries so theyll just star beating you up. so one elder said i could take on 8 gay guys and our instructor said the gays guys here is brazil are not like your femmy gay guys in america. there big macho men here and they hate you so much. he said one time on his mission all the elders were supposed to meet at the church one night and one companionship showed up sweating really bad and when they asked them why they said a gang of gay guys started grabbing there balls and trying to touch them then tried to chase them down so he told us if we ever see gay people run away. i guess gay guys run the streets of brazil, who would have thought haha we got such a kick out of that though. we were laughing forever.
I'm sending a jersey to riley for his birthday too so make sure he gets it, im sending it today. i also dont know if you ever got my letter i sent or if i sent two i have no idea the days blend together so bad here.
This place is awesome though and i love how theres so much to do all the time. it really teaches you how much you can get done in a day. i really liked that little pizza gift thing you got me and so did my comp elder carrell or as the brazilians call him cahhell cause r is an h here and they call me bennettche cause thats just the way it goes so i dont try to correct them cause its there culture. side note some elder here knows how to do good workouts and has got me working out pretty good so im actually gainging weight cause they also feed me so well here. ive gained about five pounds so far so im weighing in at about 162. i know its still skinny but mark my words i will come back a big strong man.
Also, just something to leave you with, something that ive just picked up as im studying the language here. for Christmas we all had a little YANKEEEEE!!! SWAP!!!!! (read in micheal scotts voice) met that elder martinez guy here hes a pretty cool guy. hes got lil philly in his group though so hes a lucky man. woman dont come easy around here let me just say that so make sure that you tell every beautiful girl you see to write me cause elder petersen in my district gets a letter from a different girl every week and he just keeps going on and on so i need to shut this elder up. done made a bet with him who could recieve the most so please tell them to write. im desperate. haha i wrote in my weekly report that i miss woman and my branch president freaked out cause he thought i meant i wanted to be with woman. english isnt his native language so he misread it wrong. we also got elder costa to come to speak to us hes an area 70 and he spoke english spanish and portuguese fluently so he could talk to everyone in the crowd and translate for himself. it was amazing, someday i will speak spanish also after i learn portuguese. someday though. im getting to write a lot cause i am totally disregarding the rules and have been here for an hour. ya it happens. tell dakota to keep losing weight and that i love him too.thats awesome for dustin and ronni too! but seriously tell dakota i hmmmmm Weight loss! itll help him out so much out here.
Alma. in the book of mormon is a prophet whom you all know of that was a great missionary and was a great prophet. Joseph Smith was also a great prophet and and translated the book of mormon by the power of God. i say the power of God because there is no way on this earth that Joseph Smith, a man with a 3rd grade education could write such a testament of Christ on his own. in six months he writes a full 500 page book complete with hundreds of characters, dozens of prophets and as much wisdom as the soul could need. not possible. in todays world he would be considered an idiot. honestly though; a fully grown man with a 3rd grade education, thats as much as cambria, but with God he had all the knowledge in the world. he trusted in God and all imperfections he might have had God made whole. the book of mormon is also a record of the people that lived in the americas which is the native americans, incans or mayans or of the other people that lived here on this continent. brazilian portuguese is a mixture of french, spanish, original portuguese, and whatever language the natives in brazil spoke. i say that because Alma in brazilian portuguese means soul. its an acual word in there language. theres no way that Joseph Smith could have ever known that and theres no way he just got lucky and the very peoples ancestry record he was translating for just so happened to contain a word from there language. the Book of Mormon yet again proves itself to be true and always will be. if only the world could know of its message there would cease to be problems in this world, and everyone would feel of the joy that we feel everyday. thats why im here to bring others to Christ so they may know of his great plan for them on this earth. keep Christ in your hearts always. remember that you should always be sharing the gospel every chance you get cause i wish i did. i love all you guys and every time i write back i miss home, mainly my home none of you though, ya mainly just the couch and basketball but every once in a while i find myself missing you all also haha. love you so much. - Elder Bennett-

PICTURES!!!!!!

Sooo many wonderful things happened today. I was able to come into contact with two of the Moms of Elders serving with Parker. One is Lori Carrell, her son is Parkers companion. The other is Shauna Chambers and her son is in the same district as Parker. (District is just what they call the group of Elders that are put together when they arrive there at the CTM). They had pictures to share which was amazing and just what this mother needed! They also had the letter that we never got with the picture of the group the first day they arrived in Brazil. Here is the picture
Parkers companion is the second one over from him on the right, Elder Carrell.



Parker and his companion Elder Carrell. On left in front is Elder Chambers and next to him I have yet to know....Hopefully soon


What appears to be the caffateria




the entry outside the CTM


The CTM, Parkers room is on the 6th floor

A view from the window inside
Parker and Elder Chambers

First picture from the Mission!

What a wonderful surprise to find an e-mail this afternoon from Missionties.com.
We ordered a care package for Parker for Christmas that consisted of goodies, and a gift certificate for Mr Cheneys cookies,a large peperoni pizza and soda. I guess we weren't the only parents to do this.So Missionties was so kind and took pictures of them picking up their packages today at the cookie shop across the street from the MTC at Mr Cheneys! The email said find your Elder! After downloading pictures of people I have never seen there he was about the 10th picture. He looks pretty happy! Friday nights are "Pizza night at the Bennetts". It's been almost 3 + weeks since this boy has had some pizza!
The next is just a shot of his back side, he is the one in the middle! We are so desperate for pictures, we will even post the back side pictures!

December 20,2011 #3

Just a little frustration in his email because he got nothing last week and this week to many to read.

hey there mom and family!
Mom I don' t think you understand that we only get 30 minutes to email on p days so having two messages from you that would take 30 minutes to read dont fly. We only get to write you on p days to so I can only send hand written ones once a week and they take 1 to three weeks to get to you. I only have 9 minutes left so I haven't read your messages but i'll get the packets. Me and the district are going to get something to eat tonight for p day. The portuguese is coming very slowly but its coming. If only slang and jokes could be used to preach the gospel i'd be set but its not so, really all I can do is make brazilians laugh. Im having the time of my life out here and I wanted to let you know I love you all. I've realized that I was called to a foreign mission because I honestly was born to teach the gospel. Up until this point we have been allowed to teach in english to practice investigators and me and my companion are killing it. Now that we have to teach in all portuguese now we are struggling a bit. I can understand what people say to me... i know just 3 weeks in and i know what there saying, but i can't speak and say what i want back to them, except i know the gospel is true or the book of mormon is true. My teacher tells me ive got all the tools as a people person and testimony wise to thrive on a mission. I think one of two things is going to happen. Either im going to be so blessed by the Lord and im going to baptize possibly 100 or so, or I'm gonna be so blessed by the Lord in a different way as he shows me my weaknesses and humbles me. Either way im being blessed. I only have a minute left so i gotta go. Tell Riley and Cambria I said I love them very much and whats Jared and Lindseys email.... love you guys elder Bennett

Letter from our Elder

Well when I emailed Parker this week I wasn't quite sure if his P day was on Tuesday or Wednesday. So I got up early and emailed him on Tuesday morning. Right after I sent my message I checked my inbox to make sure that it was sent successful and found that just 20 minutes prior Parker had emailed me. His email was mainly exspression of confusion as to why he didn't have an email in his in box! He wasn't sure if we were getting his email's or not. At the end he said he is doing great though. I was literally sick to my stomach thinking that he was worried and may have needed a pick me up from his weekely news from home. Unfortunately he was not able to get my email so next week he will have two or more to read. It has been a long week, but we received a pleasant surprise yesterday, Friday to receive a letter in the mail. Here is what he wished to share with us, his testimony.

Hey Bennett Family!
I just wanted to share my testimony with you guys after the first week.
Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and was called to perform Gods will in this last dispensation. The Book of Mormon is the key stone of our church. The people of Brazil love it. It's what converts them all and changes there life. There's no way Joseph Smith could have wrote it out of no where with his education he had. I'm an educated person and I can tell you that you don't just pick a language up. I'm studying the Portuguese language 6 hours a day and I'll probably have it down in 3-4 months. Joseph Smith translated 531 pages of a foreign language in that time. No training what so ever. He is a Prophet of God. I am an Elder and I am called of God to be here. The spirit has blessed me immensely. Yesterday I held a conversation with a Brazilian and an Elder from Mozambique. (in Africa) After one week we laughed and hugged and were the best of friends. There are kids from everywhere, poor kids, very very poor kids from all over the world. All united in one thing, Bringing others to Christ. Most converts of only a year or two and instantly giving up everything they have, which is nothing , and come because they too know it's true. Everyone of them testifies of the Book of Mormon changing there lives, because it does. Read it as much as you can its worth more than anything in this world.
Love you all- Elder Bennett

1st letter in the mail

Parker's first letter arrived today, what a sweet surprise! we weren't expecting it until next week. This was wrote the 2nd day he arrived in Brazil at the Mission Training Center.Dated December 1st, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad and family,

This is the best thing I've ever done. When I got on the plane in Fresno I began thinking to myself why wouldn't people serve a mission. Its such a cool experience. I'm in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language with foreign people. Everythings so foreign. What an adventure this is!
Brazilians are awesome. They're such a flamboyount and rowdy people. They love to laugh and joke around all day. There super energetic and they love Americans. The MTC is Muito Bom (very good). They take this giant nice looking building and slapped it right into the ghetto's of Sao Paulo. Literally, not one piece of building or sidewalk thats not tagged and there's homeless people everywhere. It's definitly a world away from America. I'm pretty sure this is their middle class also, and it makes downtown Fresno look pleasant.
My companions name is Elder Carrel, he's from Arizona. Great guy. We get along very well.
Adam's in the room next to me. We stayed up and talked for hours. Too bad he's leaving this Tuesday.
There not strict at all here. You can stay up however late you want. Mainly cause Brazilians don't sleep. There like little kids, never wanting to go to bed. They'll go to sleep at 1 and wake up at 5 and thats a good amount of sleep for them. They seriously are the coolest people ever. So happy all the time.
I'm having the time of my life but I know it's got hard work to come. I'm ready and willing.
Love you guys so much!
Love, Elder Bennett

I love this, can't wait to see what next week brings!

Parker's 1st E-mail!

hey everyone! ya everything is going great here. today was is my first p day so this has been the only opportunity for me to check anything or ever send write a letter since its against mission rules to write on any other day besides p day. i sent one in the mail today but its not very long since my p days almost over. me and my companion had to search around for an hour just to get my password and username. haha i dont know how you thought i would get it in this email if i cant even log in... anyways i have one now and im getting ready to go walk around for the first time. it takes a week for all letters to get to where they need to be so you wont even get mine til next tuesday. the mail isnt sketchy here also they wont steal your stuff i dont even know how that rumor got started. im doing really great here so far. its the best decision ive ever made. when i was getting ready to leave everyone was telling me how much a sacrifice this was but it honestly is no sacrifice at all. if anything all i see is everyone sacrificing for me. there are so many volunteers here and everything im receiving here is priceless. the food is pretty good but it passes right through you. im probably going to poop my pants at least one time on my mission. we went to the temple today and it was very nice. it was the biggest one ive ever seen and the inside was muito bonito. although this place holds up to 600 theres only about 150 people here but thats because people just keep comin in an out. the brazilians only stay a week and spanish speakers only stay 6. like today all my brazilian friends i made have all left today so were gettin a whole new batch today. there the best part. the people. the brazilians are so nice and such a fun loving people. even on the first day when i couldnt understand a word they said or even say anything except hi they all talk to you and just by there facial expressions and flambouyant way of speaking you can laugh as if you have been friends for years. this place is really amazing though. theres people from argentina bolivia brazil america cape verde and mozambique. these people live in homes the size of our game room. the ctm mtc in portuguese is dead smack in a middle class area of sao paulo. in america it would be a ghetto. everything is graffiti´d and the buildings are tore up. people will not stop for you here either they drive like they wanna kill each other. they will hit you if your in the road. no joke. on sunday was there soccer championship cup so the whole town was going crazy. at night there was fireworks everwhere not the ones that shoot in the sky but homemade ones. basically bombs or they might have been gunshots who knows. ya adams room was the one next to mine so me and him talked a bunch and he not even that good at the language. decent. im starting to pick it up very quickly, they say that the best practice is speaking it and i love talking to the brazilians anyways so thats all i do. they all hate justin bieber so if you say you love justin bieber to them there friends will instantly laugh and they will get crazy trying to defend themselves. throwing there hands in the air and making crazy faces like as if they just ate something sour. its very fun to talk to them and thats really the best part. there so awesome. there so humble and bear such strong witness of Jesus Cristo that lets you know why the church is growing so much in brazil. my companion got called to district leader also his name is elder carrell hes a real nice guy. super goober but that means im his assistant. they rip us apart if we dont do everythin right