Email #7

hey mom!
              Mosiah 6:18 should help you with grandpas passing. im very thankful for the life he lived. he was the living patriarch of that side of my family and i greatly respected him. i still remember the blessing he place upon me when i recieved the melchezidek priesthood. it was so powerful. let him live on in the way that we live our lives so we may know that he would be proud. i place a blessing upon you, sheryl,grandma, and steve at this time that you may feel the spirit in your lives and shall not be bothered by his passing, i pray for that everyday and i know the Lord hears my prayers. may he rest in peace.        i was very excited to hear about nicoles baptism. bless her soul she must be such a pure little thing to recognize the spirit that quickly. i hope i get people like her out here. continue to teach her though, all new converts need someone to still work them into the church. were a very weird people. haha          next time you hear from me ill be in the state of parana preaching to all those who will hear. theres a joke we always say cause theres that missionary named Dan Jones who went to wales for like 3 missions in the 1800s when the church was first organized and he baptized around 2000 people, all the while starting a business and paying for his very own church building in wales for his new converts to worship and then selling it all so that they could come back to the americas with the rest of the saints and settle in utah. hes known as one of if not the greatest missionaries of all times. dude done ran jumped off the boat before it docked and started yelling to everyone on the docks about how hes got the gospel and how its been restored. theres also a rapper named mike jones who always yells im mike jones! in his songs so everywhere i go i yell im Dan Jones! someday when i learn this language im going to stand up and yell these truths just like Dan Jones. i cant wait to get out of this place seriously.        heard rileys been playing some good ball. good to know boys finally gettin some hair on his peaches. im still gonna take a dookie on his face when i get home. i got legs like a mule now.       i miss cambria so much. i miss curlin up with her and watching lion king an stuff. i miss when she would say what the heck or repeat things we said. i miss hiding when i pick her up from school then scaring her. shes the only one i miss judging by the fact that i took a picture of her with me and no one else. sorry haha i bought her a little gift but i dont know when ill send it though. i know shell love it.      can i please get elder clevelands email and or address. i wanna know of his success      i recently read our heritage and was thinking how in the world are we going to fill the shoes of our ancestors. we dont have any dan jones or brigham youngs or joseph smiths or even the pioneers who were able to leave everything to go worship freely in the utah valley. ive been wondering lately if my generation would be able to carry on this great work of the Lord and fill the shoes of our ancestors. then on sunday we had a testimony in portuguese with just our district and we were able to bare testimonies in portuguese which is a miracle and we also were able to give one of our own district members a blessing and as we all stood in a circle with the twelve of us i realized that this work would go on and not only would we fill the shoes but we would out grow them and spread the gospel to all the world.     me and my companion were very blessed. they let us go out among the public around here and pass out book of mormons. we passed out 7 in 2 and a half hours. it was insane i held full convos with people and i have no idea whtat they were saying. we led the whole mtc in passing them out and elders were giving us theres to pass. we were truly blessed. one guy i asked if he was having problems and he just opened up. i dont know what he said but i told him this book would bless his life. love ya                                    - Elder Bennett
  

January 17, 2012

Elder Bennett will be leaving the traing center at the end of the month. If you are writing hand letters please send them to the mission home @
Elder Parker Phillip Bennett
Brazil Londrina Mission
Rua Higienopolis, 1100, Sala 61
Centro
86020-911 Londrina-PR
Brazil

Thought I might explain a few things in the letter that might help when reading:
When Parker mentions Elder Martinez group ,he is referring to the hall of fame nerf basket ball and yoyo they are looking to pass on to the next district worthy of the award. (thought that might help, cause he answers questions I have asked, and no one else probably has a  clue what he is referring to!)
He also refers to 3 friends Larry, Pierce and Robert, who are all going on missions also. 2 have received there calls and one is still waiting to send in papers. Hope that helps!


thanks a ton mom,
i love you so very much. i was pondering upon how important my mother has been in my life and then it dawned on me that if everyone had a mother that cared and raised them up as you raised me then this world would be much better. it has made me realize the immense calling that woman have as mothers. whatever way the world is like whether it be good or bad is an example of the mothers in this world. it really is a divine and important calling that only woman can fulfill. the most important calling on earth truly is motherhood.
           50 days already thats pretty crazy. i still remember saying goodbye to the family and friends then being greeted by elder cleveland in the ctm. its sure going by fast. im excited to hear that nicole has chosen to baptized. it will bless her life in more ways then she can even understand right now. its funny how you said that the sister missionaries challenged her to be baptized after the first lesson. one thing you have to understand is that sister missionaries are 10 times better then elders and we know it. they seriously beat us in every aspect its not fair. they just understand people and what they need and how to give it to them so much better. its not fair. i wish i was born with emotions. when we do our practices and some pretend investigators tell us that theyre having a problem with this or that, i sometimes cant connect. I understand much more then i did.  But like one of our pretend investigators says he knows for a fact the church is true,  that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the book of Mormon is true ,but wont be baptized cause his dads a pastor and hes got 7 brothers that would be angry with him. I dont connect. In my mind im like,Get your head straight, be a man, do what you know is true, and be baptized. course im not gonna tell him that so i literally say nothing and let the much more compassionate elder Carrell take care of it. im trying my hardest to connect with him though. hopefully one of these days Jesus will bless me with the gift of discernement and charity so i can understand. course first i gotta become humble and patient and break down all manners of my pride but youve heard enough of this.
               tell larry i said im really excited for him. hes gonna have the time of his life in costa rica. im very proud to say he is my friend although at times i wanted to punch him straight in the face hes always been a good example to me and showed me much love. i only wish i was a better friend to him. haha i have a feeling my boy pierce is going to come to brazil. theres a certain type of elder it takes to go to brazil and pierce just seems like he could be that guy. then again he could get called to some random place like tonga or something haha. i met an elder here that knew his brother holden in chile. i know it was him cause i said the guy looks like hulk haha. man roberts going to buenos aires what a lucky dog. tons of argentians are here and brazilians learning spanish to go there also. hes gonna love those people. my boy elder espirito santo is going there (which in english translates to elder Holy Ghost) but hes a way funny guy. hes gonna love it. hes also gonna get the crap kicked out of him there. they speak a pretty tough spanish. i can usually pick out some spanish from chileans or paraguyans but i have no idea what argentinians say ever. probably cause there sister missionaries were so beautiful and i had trouble paying attention to what they were saying... ;)
   im leaving the ctm in two weeks so everyone should start mailing my mission home cause it will be to late. ya we fly to londrina on january 31st all together. theres about 15 of us. we just got a guy from cape verde who is going there also which is nice cause i love all the africans. there the best kind of people youll ever meet. i hope i serve with him there. we spend the night at the mission home and find out where were going from there. then they ship us on a bus the next day to wherever to meet our trainer companion whom i hope is a native portuguese speaker. its funny cause the state of parana has londrina and its capital curitiba which are both considered the two most wealthiest cities per capita in the country and are very refined. they say its nicer then most cities in the states or you can go to azul ceu which means blue heaven or sky and thats just some random jungle place near the falls im pretty sure. im so excited this really is going to be an adventure. see the richest of the country and people that dont even have furniture and just dirt floors. o ya londrina is considered one of the coldest cities to im gonna have to buy glove scarf etc when i get there. hope theres money in my account for winter coming up in june and july or im gonna die.
 i dont know elder martinez from fresnos group has really started pulling ahead. the other districts are such goobs.  i need some of those excercise bands please once i get out and for the love of all things green on this earth,  elder stanley got a care package from some random chick he didnt ever talk to with flaming hot cheetos and mint chocolates in it and they dont sell them here and youre my mom so please send me some FLAMING HOT CHEETOS!!! also those excercise bands. jared will know what i need. ps my district gives me weird nicknames. just to name a few big cat, which is there favorite, moneybags, my favorite, bebebennetch which is baby bennett in portuguese. I LOVE YOU ALL.
                                        - Elder Bennett

pictures thanks to Sister Carrell

Just a few pictures that Elder Carrell sent home to his mom this week and she was so kind to share with me.

Email #6 January 10,2011

This is Parkers email yesterday and then some pictures that he sent last week. I am behind in posting. He sent 75 photos but I am only going to post a few here. If you want to see them all comment and I can email you the link to photobucket and you can view them.


mom,
that was the weirdest and funniest letter ive gotten since being out in the field. . im really excited to hear though that ive got a new sister and niece in the family too. that should be an experience when i get home and finally get to meet them. thats also great to hear of the decision that Nicole is making to be baptized. let her know i said the Gospel of Jesus Christ can only strengthen her and that its a lot like everything else in life; you get what you put into it. hopefully things can work out for chad and hes in my prayers
about that naked picture i like to bust some push ups out while i study every now and then so i take my shirt off but i still have pants on. the reason why he took that picture is cause he thought that i was naked. so he told me to stay still, which i thought was weird but then i knew why when he showed me the picture. haha elder carrells always looking for a good laugh. hope you like the pictures i sent. i have a request though if you want another batch of pictures then you must send me a box full of flaming hot cheetos and some retainer refresher things dad gave me. that guy on the sidewalk was some dude that was just lying there all Christmas eve. for like 12 hours straight and i couldnt help but take a picture. he just layed there all day though. i wish i could have helped him but i think taking a picture of him helped me get through it. haha i yelled to some people to help him and when they tried to speak to him he just rolled over. i tried my best haha
ya the other night some guy in our neighborhood started lighting off fireworks at aroung 11. i guess he was just really excited for the 6th of january haha
so you painted my room huh? well guess what i dont know if ill even be in fresno when i get back though so im fine with it!
ya after the 15th people should just start mailing to my mission address cause mail takes so long to get here but for your missionties one then your fine til around the 24th cause those take about 2-4 days to get here so your fine but not everyone else for handwritten ones. sorry the guy today is actually making us get off today at 30 minutes so i gotta go. love you all very much.
ps me and elder carrell taught a 45 minute lesson in portuguese and last week i learned more in the language basically then i have this whole time ive been here. we all are truely blessed with the gift of tongues. we also take popular phrases of just stupid things we say in english and translate them to portuguese and when we say them in there language they dont make sense. send the meds once i get to the actual mission.
- Elder Bennett


part of Elder Carrells letter this week: first off i'd like to say that im a fan of my comp elder bennett! i got pretty lucky to have such a sick companion! we both like to party and have a good time but also both know how to get down and dirty in the Gospel. 'some people think we dont know a butt load about the gospel but we do... We do...'

Emails to Dad on Dec20,2011 and Jan.3,2012

Just found out that Dad has been getting emails as well so we are including those dated Dec 20,2011 and Jan 3, 2012


Dec 20, 2011
thanks so much dad.
i love you so much. ya we get to play basketball and volleyball here but no soccer. i think the brazilians are more angry about that then us. except i get in trouble all the time cause youre not allowed to dunk or spike the volleyball. i had to talk to secretary to the president about it. they were really pissed but i dont know what they expect when were stuck in here for 24 hours and there cramming portuguese down our throuats and one time in the day we get to get a little aggression out. im having an awesome time and my district has its struggling moments so im learning that a good attitude can really help others to get through trying times much easier. these people really do look to me to be a leader and at times i struggle with it cause there all great guys but im begining to see that the Lord has other plans for me and i cant just sit around and slide by in the corner now cause elders look to me for direction. its pretty stressful but the Lord does give me strength.
love,
elder bennett


Jan 3,2012

thanks for the support pops,
o dont worry bout that language ill have it down in two months. our teacher tells us that he had a student who was terrible at portuguese and didnt really work very hard and saw him when he had been out in the field for only six months, including two in the CTM, and he was speaking beautiful portuguese so he says if you work hard love the people and have faith then youll have it down in 4 months. im expecting 3 so hopefully it starts coming. you can go ahead and tell the family that ill be home next year ;) i love you and thanks for always being such a good example to me in my life. ya done raised me right and im grateful for that. this experience of being out here is finally fine tuning me as a man and i can feel myself growing immensly in all aspects of life. the other day two elders in my district who are companions started fighing with each other at the same table as me while we were studying and i loved every second of it. one of them being by far the hardest working kid in our district and never takes any breaks and really sometimes never stops to enjoy that hes in brazil and the other is still a hard working elder he just takes more time to have fun so they got into an argument about work ethic and potential and i couldnt help but just smile and laugh to myself cause i realized how much i loved every second out here. where else will you find two 19 year old young men on this earth fighting about work ethic and styles on how to teach and when to say this or when to study that. its great. every second your learning something and you dont even know it. imagine the wisdom thats learned from them in that fight. theyll be better at working with each other and how to cope with different styles. how to work harder and for the other how to take breaks. me and my companion have verbal quarrels all the time and whats wrong with working something out and being so passionate about something. nothing. this place is turning us into the most qualified, hard working, gentle, spiritually in tune, passionate, loving, and caring men and we dont even know it.

love you dad,
- Elder Bennett

January 3, 2011- 5th email

Well, today was really special. I woke up and rushed to my computer to see if I had a letter from our Elder yet and nothing....about 9:15 I started to worry just a bit that something had happened and that he maybe was not able to write this week. I had a missionary discussion at our house this morning with Chad's fiance and so I put aside my worries for the moment. During the discussion all of a sudden the phone rang, I didn't answer it but recognized it to be a Utah number. In a short moment the phone rang again and it was the same number so I figured I better answer, so I excused myself and answered. It was a woman who said she was with mission ties in Brazil. Really all I heard or tuned into was BRAZIL (a little hyper sensitive to this word) I asked her if she was calling from Brazil and she stated yes! She wanted to know if I had received the email she sent last week with pictures attached from my son? I stated that I had not and she said she had emailed me 3 separate emails with photos attached because there were so many. All of a sudden in the background I heard voices, men's voices..Hi Sister Bennett, this is Elder Peterson, Elder Carrell.. I asked her if they were right there and she said yes, I asked if my son Elder Bennett was there as well she stated all 4 of them were there including Elder Chambers. I"m not quite sure how I held it together but I did!! What a sweet, tender mercy from the Lord. To be able to connect for just a second with my boy was such a joy, even though I didn't get to speak to him directly just knowing that he was there and that I was connected for that moment through that sister, was pure joy. I have not been able to receive the pictures yet, I'm still waiting for her to try to resend them to me but before I hung up I could hear Parker in the background and it was killing me to not ask to deliver him a message from me...so I did, I asked her to tell Elder Bennett that his mom loves him.....I heard him in the background tell her to tell me that Elder Bennett is the "BEST" missionary EVER!!! Ahhhh I hope these little tender mercies keep coming for the next 2 years because they are pretty S W E E T!!!
I will hopefully be posting pictures soon~~ as soon as they figure this all out!

At the end of Parkers letter I have added a small portion of Elder Carrell's letter home this week. It has to do with Parker so I thought I would share. Love these boys and their desire to be their very best!

hey mom,
everything went great this last week. i forgot to thank you for that blanket you made for me its doing fine too. this week went by really fast as does every week here though so you can tell cambria that ill be back in no time. seriously though its going by super fast and i cant believe I've already been out a month. 23 more to go haha.
new years was awesome. blew Christmas eve out of the water. the whole city was alive and bumpin. the sky was lit up all over the place and once again it looked liked bombs were being dropped everywhere over the city. the locals got bored, and drunk, so instead of shooting there fireworks that would go about 200 hundred feet into the air then blow up they decided to start shooting them straight down the street. i seen a guy get shot by a firework and then watch it fly 30 more feet and blow up. they were just shooting actual fireworks down the street and watching them explode at ground level. it was nutz. then they got a little more drunk and started chucking these really loud basically bombs into the streets and were trying to time it so it would go off when a car drove over it. luckily they didnt succeed. so we went to bed really late that night but its not like you could fall asleep anyways. my companion yelled to this one guy and all the sudden freaked out cause he said the guy waved back with a gun in his hand but i didnt care much to look.
we got our first cat call from some girls driving by last p day. they yelled hey boys then drove off so we just sat there and laughed like crazy. its weird cause just cause your an American everyone is just absolutely fascinated with you here.
the language is coming slow but its coming. we have to teach all our lessons in portuguese and its funny cause we always get so frustrated or discouraged cause we cant speak a foreing language fluently in 1 month and then we look back and notice at how just one month ago we were asking people how to say hello and thank you and now were teaching 15 minute lessons in portuguese. granted there really akward and theres tons of pauses to think about what theyre saying but were getting there. the Lord truely has blessed us with quick open minds and were picking it up better then i ever could have imagined in 1 month. i took spanish for two years and i know 10 times as much in 1 month then they taught me in two years. im expecting to be fluent by 3 and half months and maybe 3 months. it comes a lot easier then you think especially when they throw us out into the field and theres no one that speaks english within a 30 mile radius so once i get out ill pick it up much quicker.
tell jared i get his letters and im loving them. its nice to hear about home. thanks jared and lindsey. i loved the christmas card they sent me also and tell brother and sister jackson thanks for the christmas card and for all there help. im sorry but i wont be able to mail them back cause stamps cost 3 reals pronounced hay i's so its really expensive for me to send things especially since the fact i dont have a job here so i only have the money i was sent with but i really appreciated that and the russells sent me one to. remind me who the russells are again...
im praying for chad also and thats great about nicole taking the lessons. i really hope shes able to feel the spirit strongly and it can change her life for the better.
good luck in whatever calling you get and tell everyone i love them. our favorite districts left today to and when we first got in they took us under there wing and were like big brothers to us. they will be missed and they left us with the crowned trophy of the CTM. a nerf basketball hoop complete with a torn up ball and all and the yoyo of superiority. both items have been passed down for years here and your supposed to find the next group whose worthy of taking care of it. we are so honored i dont think you understand. its one of the best things thats ever happened to me and my district. "the dirty dogz" as were known now haha but weve made CTM hall of fame baby! i dont think you fully understand how much of an honor this is its been treasured and passed down for years given to the best districts. even the teachers here know the yoyo as the symbol of top dog around here. problem is theres so many terds around here we dont know who were gonna give it to after us so hpefully we'll get a good batch of fresh terds tomorrow that look like they have some potential and we can take them under our wings. welcome to the big leagues baby! maybe my last email out of here ill write some in portuguese so you can see the progress im making but for now eu amo voces,
Elder Bennett


Elder Carrell's letter home (part of it)
this week has also been a really growing week for me and my comp! since i have decided to come on a mission, i think about the returned missionaries and how most of them come home men. they leave home like little turd boys and come home men. i have been thinking about it so much and i want that for me so bad! i left a little turd. lets be honest i was! but now that i am here i see that there is so much potential for all of us in this world! and i want to reach the highest i possibly can and so does my comp. Elder Bennett. one night we said our companionship prayer and afterwards talked about this very subject and what we wanna be when its time to leave our missions. we talked for what seemed like hours about what is a man, and what a man should do. we talked about how we have found a new respect for women! and how we need to treat them all like queens cause basically its what they are! we tlked real long and hard about how to become a true man and we are trying harder everyday to reach that goal. I think the easiest way to Manhood is this mission. i get to have the opprotunity to be out here everyday for 2 years thinking about others. and the easiest way to find who you will become is to forget about yourself for a while and focus on others and everything will fall into place without even thinking about it! you find yourself by losing yourself.

No doubt these young men are going to return Men in every since of the word. Could not be prouder of these two elders. This is a true companionship, pushing each other to be there very best! LOVE IT!