December 4, 2007 Letter

spiritual blackouts...

Hiya clan,

First, lemme tell ya about a sweet fireside we had this last Sunday night. ! Wish you could´ve been there. Elder Lee, my Zone leader (he´s a riot) got us all to help put the whole thing together and it turned out just perfect, everyone loved it. We split up and fervently taught the importance of using Preach my Gospel and studying the scriptures, and how to best openly share the gospel with anyone. We feel like the members have recharged their spiritual batteries and are pumped up to be missionaries in the daily lives. =D I sang with the choir and after the first verse the light blacked out (again) and Elder Lee just kept on playing...we kept on singing, people in the congregation had their glowing cell phones out waving them in the air (haha) Were out for a while, but then they flew back on right before we sang the last few powerful words of ¨Joy to the World¨ It was great I tell ya. We also enjoyed a couple great talks about missionary work and how members can be just as willing to serve as us missionaries. The whole chapel was overflowing with the workings of the Spirit! I know it definately made a difference in everyone´s heart. :)

What do I want for Christmas??? Gee golly I don´t know… I´ve been thinkin´ about it for a while, but I can´t come up with much. One of the first things I thought of were Legos… yeah… WELL, they´re only the one thing I ask for every single year… I would assume it´s a given, but I thought I´d throw that one out there in case someone forgot. ;) No, Legos aren´t entirely useful on the misión, BUT they still have a place in my heart. They´re just hard to find down here, or I would grab some in a jiffy. I can also go for music CDs…(as of right now Melanie, I´m thinking... Anastasia Soundtrack...) can never have too much music. Maybe a little pine stalk so I can remember what Christmas smells like. I love getting photos from ya´ll, that´s always a perfect gift. It never hurts to send a bit of money too. There are a lot of fun things to buy here in the DR, plus it would save you paying for a package. I was actually thinking the other day how happy I get just to hear from all of you every Tuesday. I said I would give up all our holidays if I could just keep my p-days so I could check my e-mail and feel a part of those I love. So keep ´em comin´, and I´m a happy camper! I can´t think of much else I would want or need, or crave or whatever… I trust your instincts. :)

..no sign of a new house yet... still working on that...

Mom, did Dad ever read your e-mail with that mushy subtext at the bottom?? Yer a hoot. Hahaha!

Well, we´ve got 2 baptisms set up for this coming Saturday... can´t believe it´s already December. We´ve had a handful of investigators fall through on their baptism dates... just not going to church. It´s frustrating to see patterns in their failures, but all the more reason to be more patient and loving towards them. The work moves on. :)

Sorry no pics today. I think I gave you a pic overload last time...

Smiles and sunshine,

Hna Julie Benson -

Sorry mum and dad, I´m working on finding out the info about you coming to pick me up and me calling you this x.mas. It´s very likely that I´ll be coming home November of next year, not Oct... depending on the transfers etc. - I´ll find out for sure about this stuff soon I hope. :) hugs to you two!