First Assignment in France

Dear Parents,

Elder Bennett has been assigned a wonderful trainer/companion Elder Roemer. They are serving in Agen France. Although his current address is:

Les Missionnaires

Elder Bennett

35 rue Montesquieu, Apt 31B

47000 Agen

France

It is NOT recommended you send letters and especially packages to their current address as the mail delivery is somewhat sporadic. IF you do send mail to his current address, please address all mail or packages in the format listed above. A much better solution of sending letters and packages is to send them to the mission office. Mail is delivered there dependably and there is always someone available to receive it and pay for any tariffs if necessary. The mission office address is:

Elder Bennett

Mission Française de Lyon

59 Rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon

France

We are grateful to have your wonderful son in our mission!

With warmest regards,

Sœur Rigby

Secrétaire de la Mission

Mission Française de Lyon

Made it to France!

Soon to go to France

this is the last time ill be writing you guys from the MTC, next time, i will be in france, trying to figure out whats going on. eek!! doesnt that just sound so fun! im so excited! 

sooo the adventures that this week was filled with, first...

SUNDAY DEVOTIONAL:

this was our second time fasting in the MTC which kinda makes it hard to focus sometimes because we are all so tired. we had jenny oaks baker! shes an amazing violin player and she was so inspiring. she taught us about how much god watches over us and is in our lives. then....

after the devotional we got a supprise!! 

Elder Bednar and Sister Bednar were able to come!!!! we all watched a film called Character of Christ, then our guests did a Q and A session with us!! it was so awesome!! 

the character of christ, is to turn outward in love compation and charity, when the natural man would turn inward. there are countless stories that we can find when christ turns outward to other people, when the natural man would turn inward in pride, pity, and sorrow. 

its cool. and everyday there are things we can do to act like Christ. 

most of the rest of the week was normal until yesterday. 

so me and my companion teach an 'investigator, in french. we share our testimonies and teach lessons. in particular yesterday we taught Sophie, she is a 60 yr old french lady who is devorced and as children and grandchildren. she is such a sweeet lady. yesterday we had to tell her that we had transfers so we wouldnt be able to come anymore. when we first started with sophie, she was catholic, but didnt believe god heard her, or loved her. as we taught her we saw her grow, and change. she gained knowledge of heavenly father and jesus chirst and the truth of this gospel. when we said bye it was so sad. so touching and so hard. i got really close with her. anyways, the point of this story is to show how this gospel changes lives. it can change someone from hate, to nice. to sorrow to joy. from dispear to hope and joy. from ordinary to extraordinary, from incomplete to complete, from temporary to forever. 

i love you guys and im grateful i get to serve a loving god. he is so good to us. 

avec l'amour

Elder Bennett

Travel Plans

yah!! im glad you got it!! it was kind of crazzy because i kid who has been stuggling with home sickness got a text that said his family was comming, and we were walking and ran into them so thats who you got the text from. i hope the elder is doing ok with home sicckness.

yes! i realized i forgot to do that. but yes its . Alma 31: 5

good! im glad they were welcoming!! and that the house is comming along. 

haha a few things, one is if anything big happens with the news in the real world haha you can feel me in! and i can also read emails when ever. so if anything happens you can email and i can read. i just cant respond until PDays! 

YESSSS We GOT OUR TRAVEL PLANS TODAY!!! BOYAH! 

WE LEAVE AUGUST 14TH. 

LEAVE mtc a 9;50

flight salt lake 2;35

we arive in amsterdam at 8:40 am

then from amsterdam to lyon franch at 1;25

im also the travel leader for the group of 14! haha i have to make sure everyone gets on and everything. kinda scaryy! haha anyways! love you mom! thanks for your support! 

avec L'amour

Elder Bennett

One month in the MTC...Week 5

SOOO, i guess today marks the month mark!! how fast does time fly!! 

ill start out by saying this, on sunday we had an opprotunity to go and watch a movie devotional for elder jeffery R. holland. one thing he said that really stuck out to me was this, talking about the book of mormon, 

"no wicked man could have written such a book, and no righteous man would write[translate] such a book unless it was true."

this comment is so true, the power that is in the book is truely a testiment of Jesus Christ. 

this week has consistied of the usual, always growing closer with the district, the lord, and the spirit. lots of learning french. 

this week we had 'THE BIG GAME'. me and my districts assembled a team of the best 6 Vball players and some of the new missionaries that came in actually played in highschool and things and so it was one of the best games ever played at the MTC. with great blocks, incredible spikes, and even better digs. that was 16.4X better than barnes. not that barnes was bad, just that this was good vball! 

this week we also recieved the flight plans for my mission! we will be leaving the 14th and off to france ill be. 

i love you guys and im so grateful for this gospel! 

je vous aime,

Elder Bennett

Week 4

faites commet je fais, suivre suivre moi, faites commet je fais, suivre suivre moi ( do as im doing, follow follow me,)

or in my dirsticst

fetez commet je fais, suivre suivre moi, 

(PARTY like i do)

but in all honesty, this is a simple invitiation that christ makes to us, come follow me. its so simple, so loving that sometimes we over look it. we need to follow christ and how he lived, and his example and we will become more, learn more, and love more.

this week has been so good. haha some of the highlights from this week were on

monday me and some of my district auditioned singing, we made it and got to sing for some of the senior couples. we did the song a childs prayer, it was really touching and brought several people to tears. ft,picture 1,2,

Tuesday, THE 25 WAS CHRISTMAS. it was so awesome. we all got gifts for our secret santa and we celebrated our saviors birth. i love all my friends ive made here, they know how to feel the spirit, show their testimonies and they know how to have fun! ft Picture 

me and my companion have been teaching our two (amis de leglise) friends of the church. ones name is sophie, she is so sweet and so nice. we love her. we taught our best lesson yet, it was the message of the restoration. i know that joseph smith saw god the father and the son. i encourage everyone who reads this to read just the few verses, in joseph smith history, verses 15-18. i know that there is power in our words, and there is power in our church. im so glad i am serving my savior, i love him.

i love you all and i hope you are all finding ways god is in your life, i promise he is there. 

love,

elder bennett

Family History info Dallen researched

HEYY Fam. so this week we had a little time to do some family history. i looked back on our family tree and found the story of john ulrich stucki. he was from switzerland and he met the missionaries, hes mother had died prevously and he was kicked out of his house by his dad. he went to serve a mission in germany and then got put in jail there and then while he was in jail, his mom in angel form camme to him and told him she was proud, he then got out of prison and moved to idaho! and lo and behold we are here.

doing some lesson planning in the zone room with a piano. ft(elder trentman)

Week 3 MTC

In the french zone in the mtc, every night we have a tradition we do. in our residence halls, everyone french speakin meets at our commons at 9:20. we all gather around, sing a french Hymn, someones shares a spritual experience, then we all pray. in this time, there are artifacts given to elders which means they have speccial roles in these traditions. some artifacts are the 'BOWL OF PLENTY' (which is a bowl of food passed around) there is a special chair, the cheer master stands in, if someone not the cheer master touches it, they get a curse. THIS IS CALLED CANTIQUES. This week we added a new artifact. the cravate d'amour . he who is caught 33ing (check page 33 of white handbook, its on gospel library mom and dad.) gets to wear a tie, that is ugly, short, and just embarrasing. it is so fun.

These days alwasy seem to go by so fast. we have been having lots of fun and lots of learning. this weeek we got to meet two new 'amis de leglise' (freinds of the church). ones name is eric, who we had to street contact,  haha very hard to do in our broken french but it helped us alot to learn how that process happens. the next amis de leglise, her name is sophie, she was a referal, she lives alone and stuggles with health problems, she is so sweet and so tender. 

the MTC tours have started which is cool because we get to see alot of different people, but kinda weird because we feel kinda like zoo animals when people just observe us! 

some things we alwasy looks forward to are persoal study, ( because those are some of the most spiritual times we have, ) and also Excersise time. holy we play some fun and good Beach VBall. its just like barns vball, just more spiritual! 

something ive really been diving into this week for my personal study is alot of church history. its so cool learning about joseph Smith, his family, his friends, and how much God really does love his children to give them this gospel. something that sticks out to me, is how much god knows every person individually, i feel like sometimes people talk about god and his love in an abrastct way. but it is definitly not abstact. it is so prominent and clear. when we read the scriptures, and listen to the holy ghost we can know how non abstact god is. im so grateful that ive been raised in the gospel and im so grateful to know this truth. 

i love you all

Love, 

Elder Bennett

video,

doing some lesson planning in the zone room with a piano. ft(elder trentman)

Week 2 MTC

finding entertainment by watching a man on the lawn mower

floral Friday with the district 

eating morning sac breakfast 

WOW! its allready Pday???!?!?! these days are just starting to fly by! this week has been so good though, im kinda starting to get sick of the food though. 

so as for most of our daily schedule it goes like this, 

6:30 wake up and shower, hoping that you get a warm one

7:15 daily planning 

8 breakfast

8:30 and after we go to classes of french and gospel classes.

weve also started teaching discussions in french to a man names Jose, me and my companion elder trentman are progressing in our lessons. we first started out with alitteral script to say as we gave lessons, but as we were both thinking about how to improve it, we both thought we should have an outline, but not plan a script. weve been baring our testimonies and to me, it is so cool how strong the spirit is there, even with our broken 2 year old like french. the spirit is quite and simple. so it makes sence that as we speak through simple eternal truths. the spirit will always be there. 

this week has had many funny, and spiritual moments. something funny is my companion elder trentman monday morning got up at 4 in the moring and kind of slept walk because he thought we were late so he got up and opened the door to our room and woke us all up. haha kinda funny! also, there is a elder in my district named elder jensen. he makes me laugh so hard, anytime he says somehting that doesnt make sense he says " well egg on my face" wow, hes from canada and honeselty says some of the funniest off the wall stuff. 

during this week we had a devotional tuesday night, we were given a talk by elder hafen and he and his wife talked about the difference between REAL and IDEAL, and we having to find the balance between both of those. 

on wednesday night ( this was the coolest night of all) 

all the lyonniones,( lyon missionaries) we went up to the fourth floor at night and had a devotional sharing a scripture and thought with everyone, as we came too the end we felt prompted to give blessings for those who needed it, turns out we all needed one as we were all feeling inadquate to learn the language and missing home and our families. we all gave blessing and it was so cool to feel the spirit and the power of god. im so grateful that our savior and god are so forgiving and merciful to give such a powere to imperfect people like me.

im so grateful to be on a mission and grow so close to all the elders im around each day. they are such great men. 

je vous aime et je sais dieu vous aime.

love,

elder bennett

Week 1 letter!

bonjour mes amis!! this is my frist P day after only being in the MTC a few days! the MTC is way cool and very very busy! we are alwatys doing something. 

there are so many elders and sisters. it is insane. 

the first day i got here, i was dropped off and then off on my way, i went and got my name tags(which makes me feel offical now) and then dropped my things off at my room, in my room there are 5 elders. my companions name is elder trentman, hes from california and was just assigned last night to be our district leader. which in my district there are lyon missionaries as well as paris missionaries. they are all so cool!  the other elders  in our room and we are having such a good time. the spirit here is so strong as everyone is trying to do their best and be obedient to the rules. it really helps us all do what is right. 

weve started learning french and wow. french people talk fast. our teachers name is seour jensen. elle est tres cool et gentil(she is very cool and nice)! she served her mission in paris france and honestly, when she is trying to teach us french, its like doing charades. so im getting really good at guessing what words mean.

we also get to use the new buildings which are wayy nice! there are windows all around so its nice to look out and see the world.

one item of my testimony that has grown so far. is that god really does know and love us personally. even with so many other elders and sisters i still feel gods love for me individually. im thankful for you guys! stay good! 

Love you guys

love,

elder bennett

First days at the MTC in Provo

First hours at the MTC

MOM DAD!! im here and everything is great! there are so many missionaries and they are all very nice! i have not met my companion yet, but it is john dallan trentman, hes from california. this is going to be great! my Pdays will be on fridays as far as i know now! thanks a lot!

love, 

elder bennett