tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42656009840712628752024-03-12T23:37:24.582-07:00Missionary MomentsSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-36306929537703214792012-02-12T14:11:00.000-08:002012-02-12T14:11:31.368-08:00State College Week 17<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
This last week of my mission was a great one! I saw so many blessings this week. I felt like I did work hard, because it went by relatively quickly! I had a great time preaching the gospel for the last time as an ordained minister of the Lord. Like always, it's a really hard thing to leave people, and a place you love so much. I've felt like I've had to leave my family 6 times on my mission. It was especially hard leaving church and knowing that it's doubtful I'll ever see a lot of these people again. Especially the H......s.... But I feel good. People have been asking me how I've been feeling and I've been feeling kinda weird. It's strange to think that these 2 years are up. I'm a little nervous to get back to civilian life, but at the same time I feel good. I feel at peace. I feel good towards my mission and I feel like it was a very worthwhile experience. I thank God so much for the many things I've learned, the precious things that I will never forget and the closeness I've gotten to the Spirit. <br />
<br />
Elder Mason will be staying in State College and he will be getting an awesome new companion, that is a work horse! He'll have a great time serving with him. Our investigators are doing great! Rashid is doing fine, he came to church. They'll continue to meet with him and strengthen his testimony. We were able to have lunch with Fei this week! It was good to see him again. He's doing fine, and is still open to meeting with the missionaries. Heather is doing wonderful!! She's got such a great light in her eyes! OH!!!! Do you remember David K.....s from Pittsburgh? He's totally engaged!!! He's been dating a member of the church and got engaged last Thursday, to be married in August. I am so excited for him!!!<br />
<br />
The Church is so true! I have loved every second of being a missionary. Well, let me say, I have learned from every second of being a missionary. And I am grateful for it. There have been good, and bad times. Happy and sad. But I know that God was in all those moments, right there with me. I finished the Book of Mormon this week. It is true!!! There is nothing like it on the face of the earth, and it has brought me closer to God. Joseph Smith was a prophet, no matter what they say. Jesus is the Christ, the only way to salvation, and to the Father. I love Him, and am forever grateful for His sacrifice on my behalf. I love you so much!! I would write more but, "Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full." (2 John 1:12) (I got that idea from Mike) Love you!!!!!<br />
<br />
<br />
love,<br />
Elder Benjamin Serrano<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-65803016846887235952012-02-05T12:29:00.000-08:002012-02-05T12:29:50.446-08:00State College Week 16<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
Yes indeed, 9 days. Wow, this is soooo weird! I know that at the end of the week, i need to start packing up my stuff that I've somehow accumulated over the past 2 years. That will be difficult, maybe, trying to see what I need and don't need. I think I've gotten over the fact of leaving stuff behind. Everytime I leave an area I need to leave things behind. Tangible and not tangible. The Tangible things I've learned to get over, and that I really don't need 54 ties. Haha! So as I was thinking about packing I figure that there are things that I am going to leave in the apartment/mission home, and may need to make sure I have them at home. The list of things I'm leaving is this: pillow, blanket, bedsheets, towel, and... I think that's it. It's just excess weight. I'll be sending home a box next Monday of things that won't fit in my bags.<br />
<br />
Anyway, enough about that. Heather is doing awesome! I love her and her husband so much! Today actually, Brenden is going to give us a tour of a Nuclear Reactor that he works at. Yeah, pretty awesome! I'll be sure to not get radiation poisoning and die. That would be unfortunate. We'll have detectors on us don't worry. This week for other investigators coming to church was kind of a let down. We had 5 people committed to come to church and only one came. The one is great and is completely solid! Her name is Henrietta N..... She has a sister that is member of the church and went to church with her in St. Louis, loved it, and now wants to meet with us and learn more about the church, and eventually get her family involved in it. She's great! We're meeting with her on Wednesday. Rashid is doing well. We met with him yesterday. He's still not sure about getting baptized, but does love the church and meeting with us. He told us that he would definitely talk and discuss it with his family when he gets home to Sierra Leone. But we're still going to meet with him until he leaves. I really have a lot of love and respect for that man. It amazes me that amount of love that seems to develop as I teach people the gospel and associate with them. It makes it that much harder to leave.<br />
<br />
Please pray for me to work hard this past week. Elder Mason and I set some goals to work the hardest we've ever done for the final week on my mission so that you'll have to wheel me off of the plane on a stretcher. ;)<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Serrano<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-16959203932057617522012-01-29T14:33:00.000-08:002012-01-29T14:33:40.425-08:00State College Week 15<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote">I'm glad there was a little snow! We got a lot of snow this past weekend, but right now it's raining so I expect all the snow to be gone tonight and turned into ice. It'll be crazy!<br />
<br />
Heather's baptism went very well, and exceptionally smooth. Because of the snow I was a little worried that it would snow too much that people wouldn't be able to make it to the church, especially Heather, and we would have to postpone the baptism. But, the Lord heard the humble prayer of a missionary, and I'm sure, many other people, and He slowed, and stopped the snow by 10 am so there were 3 hours in which roads could be cleared and salted. It was a wonderful blessing. Brenden's less-active parents came up to the baptism and helped out in the program. It was a wonderful thing to see them there and hopefully to have them feel the Spirit there. Bro. Heidrich gave a talk, and Sis. Heidrich played the organ. She only needed to be baptized once! Elder Mason did a good job at it. She was confirmed yesterday, and she definitely was glowing. I'll forward you the pictures that Brenden sent me. What a happy day!!!! I love it when friends get baptized. :)<br />
<br />
My finger is doing good! The scab is gone and is turning into a scar. It was a quick healing!<br />
<br />
Right now I'm not too sure on how Chris is doing. He actually went into a de-tox unit, outside of our area, last Thursday to completely flush out the toxin in his body. He's gone through it before and says that the first few days are really rough, but it's so worth it. We look forward to hearing from him again in a few days and then teaching him some more. He's a great guy. And I pray he's enduring well.<br />
<br />
This week went by pretty fast which scared me a little bit. Oh, and this week I got my travel itinerary and instruction for luggage weight. That was strange. I can't believe it's actually happening! But it's okay. It's a good thing. I love being a missionary and witnessing the miracle that come from God. I love teaching the gospel to others, and helping them come closer to Christ. I have loved all the many experiences that taught me and strengthened my testimony. And I will continue to work until the end of my mission, but I am excited for<br />
the next chapter of my life and what that will bring, or rather, what I will help bring to pass. The gospel it true. The Church is true and always will be, so says the Lord.<br />
<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder B. Serrano<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMZvLGVdBQQgGcvWjjM3ZJzZXEbVypl02uJo786OiexBZ9YMrXnuIhv3ObIsVIqra-A7vil_e1r1IeKFxgJEzFbAOw6SbR_2lTl5nyOmmrCC7F4AiUVNCWM5fUfubPauHhyphenhyphenSzt-4FBsY/s1600/IMG_0197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMZvLGVdBQQgGcvWjjM3ZJzZXEbVypl02uJo786OiexBZ9YMrXnuIhv3ObIsVIqra-A7vil_e1r1IeKFxgJEzFbAOw6SbR_2lTl5nyOmmrCC7F4AiUVNCWM5fUfubPauHhyphenhyphenSzt-4FBsY/s400/IMG_0197.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Serrano, Heather, Elder Mason</span></td></tr>
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-91314862680412656222012-01-21T11:12:00.000-08:002012-01-21T11:12:35.742-08:00State College Week 14<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
So this morning I sliced my middle finger open with a knife so It's a little difficult to type, so forgive the length, and probably the spelling errors that come from trying to type with only four digits on a hand. It was bleeding pretty badly so I had to raise it above my head and apply pressure, until it slowed down. It turns out that<br />
scouting and the first-aid merit badge paid off! Hopefully the makeshift bandage will work: gauze and duct tape. It looks kinda silly but hey it's all I had.<br />
<br />
Heather is so ready to get baptized!!! She's very excited about it and so am I! We have everything all arranged and she should be good to go. All she needs right now is the baptismal interview and she get the<br />
okay. Golden!!!!!<br />
<br />
We got some word on Fei. He texted us and said that he was going to be busy for the next 2 weeks and then he wanted to meet with us and return the white shirt and ties I gave him, so that basically means he's done meeting with us... He probably got Anti-ed while at that conference in DC. Which is a huge bummer! Maybe one day something will happen.<br />
<br />
Chris is doing great! We were able to meet with him two times this week and teach him. He's been improving on quitting smoking and drinking, which is awesome! And he went to an addiction recovery group last night that some people in the church put on. We haven't heard from him yet but I'm sure it was a good experience. He's doing well though!<br />
<br />
This weeks topic for my studies that seemed to be common, is how awesome missionary work is! I read 3 sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that were just amazing to pump up a missionary: Sections 30-32. They are amazing in that the Lord gives words of advice, commandment, and comfort to missionaries. I loved it! I love the Work. It truly is marvelous. And I am sad that it is coming to an end soon. But That's okay, life goes on. :)<br />
<br />
Elder Benjamin<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-82507098203269719502012-01-13T07:52:00.000-08:002012-01-13T07:52:07.708-08:00State College Week 13<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
I'm doing wonderfully well! I am staying healthy, to the best of my abilities, and I'm continuing to take vitamins and working out. I love it making healthy decisions, I feel so much better! Elder Mason is doing good. Heather is going to be baptized on the 21st of January by elder Mason, and I'll be confirming her on the 22nd. It'll be a momentous occasion! :) Fei, we haven't been in touch with for this past week because he's been gone. We're a little worried, but things will work out. Chris is good. We were able to teach him about the Word of Wisdom and invite him to live it. He was feeling sick, and we were able to give him a blessing to help him and to strengthen him as he starts to ween off of the cigarettes and alcohol. He's got great faith, but sometimes doesn't realize it. We have a great new investigator that came to church named William D. He really enjoyed church and is very willing to come again and continue to meet with us. He's a great guy that is way into being prepared. The sisters are doing great! They are so fun, and are wonderful missionaries. The district I'm in is an awesome one!! And we need a van because both of the sister companionships don't have a vehicle. So we have it so we can get to places if we need to travel as a district. Like this Wednesday we all need to travel out to Altoona for some training, and since there are no missionaries close by we will all road trip out there.<br />
<br />
I can't believe that Steve is way out in the boonies! There's only a branch where he's at, and I was kinda thinking that it would be terrible to be sent there when I was looking at the wards and branches there in his mission. But he'll make the best of it. And I'm glad the he has a good trainer. That is such an important aspect for any missionary is their trainer. The trainer can make or break a new missionaries mission. So that's nice to know.<br />
<br />
I love the Plan of Salvation too. It's probably one of my favorite lessons to teach as a missionary, because it's "new" to people, but it's the truth, so 80% of the time people always believe that it makes sense right away. I love it!!<br />
<br />
I love being a missionary. 'Nuff said. :)<br />
<br />
I will work hard and finish my mission strong! That's the only way to do it!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Benjamin Serrano<br />
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</div></div></div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-82670480085348333762012-01-08T15:44:00.000-08:002012-01-08T15:44:10.632-08:00State College Week 12<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><div>So this week was awesome! I had a great birthday. On my birthday, we taught Fei, emailed, then went out to get some Wings for lunch! They were way good! There is this awesome hole-in-the-wall pizza place that we go, and it is sooooo amazing! Everything they serve is delicious, and reasonably priced. And yes we did buy a cake and use the candles. I actually forgot about the poppers, so we used them on New Years eve when we celebrated the new years as if we were in Iceland, (basically we popped them at 10pm instead of staying up to 12). The week was a good week! We did find a new investigator named Chris W....s, who called our bishop here and said that he wanted to get his life in order. So we met with him, and in the first lesson we invited him to be baptized and he accepted! So he has the baptismal date of Feb. 18. We're very excited for him! Heather is doing great as well! She is really excited to get baptized in a couple weeks. She's such a great lady, and her husband Brendon is doing great too! From the insights he gives in lessons you would think that he has been active his whole life. I love them!</div><div></div><div>I was able to talk to Elder Serrano the younger on Saturday. That was so awesome! We only had 8 minutes, but it was very worth it. He sounded way excited and nervous too. He's going to be an awesome missionary! I'm very excited for him. </div><div></div><div>Love,</div><div>Elder Serrano the elder<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-81452488353923316842011-12-31T08:48:00.000-08:002011-12-31T08:48:33.739-08:00State College Week 11<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote">So I haven't enough time today to write you back individually to day, so here's a general letter. <br />
<br />
Christmas was awesome!! I had so much fun talking to everyone there. I love all of you! Speaking of calls. That makes me sad that I missed Steve's call. (<i>Steve was able to call from the MTC, but it was unexpected on Sat. night) </i> Guess what else? Apparently the message that Steve left, the beginning of it was just mumbling or something, I don't know, but when Elder Mason heard it, he thought it was something unimportant, so he deleted it right away. So I didn't even get a chance to hear the message that was left. So basically Elder Mason isn't allowed to have the phone this weekend ;) I'm going to talk to Pres. Topham about letting Steve call me this weekend. I'm pretty sure he'll allow it, but I don't know yet. So what I'm going to have to do, I'll talk to president Topham tonight and see what he says. He may allow me to email you again tomorrow and let you know, so you can tell Steve when he calls from the airport, otherwise I have no way of letting him know. If I can't email tomorrow I'll have a member like, Sis. Hulet contact you and let you know.<br />
<br />
The rest of Christmas for me was great! The Heidrich's dinner was great. They cooked some really good turkey, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, rolls, and pie. While we were at dinner the subject of the Book of Mormon came up, and for my very last planner I made it out of gold paper and put some characters from the original book of mormon on there. Heather was studying ancient languages and she pulled out some of her old books with characters from ancient Egyptian, and we compared the characters I had on my planner to the ones, and they are surprisingly similar! There were similar characteristics and even some of the characters were the same. So that was pretty cool!<br />
<br />
So I'll be staying in State College for the rest of my mission and I am very excited for it! This place is awesome! I hope that my memory card will work (<i>the last memory card he sent is able to open, George is working on it)</i>, there were some awesome pictures on there! It's pretty surreal that there are only 6 weeks left on my mission, but I won't think about that too much. I'm going to use it to accomplish the best. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to have such an awesome experience. I plan on having a successful last Transfer, and a great Birthday to day too! The Church is true. I love this gospel, and I love all of you! Have a great week! Pray for snow. :)<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Benjamin Serrano<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-89777036477393355942011-12-26T08:30:00.000-08:002011-12-26T08:31:13.679-08:00A letter to Elder Serrano the younger!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
My brother, Elder Serrano,<br />
<br />
My goodness I can't believe that it's already here. You're going to be set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints tomorrow night. I am so excited for you Steve! It sounds like you had a good last week as a Civee. The talk you gave was excellent. I felt like I was reading it from the November Ensign. Well done!<br />
<br />
-No you don't need to bring it to the MTC. They will provide a pillow and blanket there. But you will probably not have any when you get to your first area in the field. I didn't, but luckily there was a blanket there waiting for me, I just needed a pillow. I've been using the same blanket ever since! Can you believe it?<br />
<br />
-There is so much advice I could give you. But some of the most important pieces of advice I could give you, is<br />
*always be humble. When you are humble you are obedient. When you are humble you are always seeking advice and continual improvement. <br />
*You are pretty prepared to go on a mission, but don't think that you know how to serve a mission. At least not yet. That will come through time. <br />
*Be patient. Be patient with your companion, with investigators, with members, with the ward, and most importantly with yourself. There are many things to learn as a missionary, and they can't all be learned in the MTC, or even learned in the first 6 months as missionary. I am learning new things every single day.<br />
*The Spirit is there to guide and teach you. Study the 4th chapter in PMG, and find how the Spirit works through you. Learn to recognize it's promptings and you will never feel like you wasted a day. You will lay down at night knowing that you have done what the Lord wanted you to do, if you learn to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. <br />
*Never give up, because this is a hard Work that you are embarking in, expect to be tired. Expect opposition. Take it in the Strength of the Lord. <br />
*Never get discouraged. If you get discouraged, it will lead to disobedience, which leads to doubt, then to disbelief, then to death of the Spirit. If you get discouraged, Pray.<br />
*Be bold. <br />
*Be loving. Love everyone! If you love the people you serve, you will love the work you work.<br />
*Always work to improve. If you feel like you've reached a good point, and feel like you're plateau-ing, there's something wrong.<br />
*Follow to the Lord's instruction in the scriptures. Follow your Mission President's instruction. Follow the examples of righteous missionaries. If something doesn't fit the standards in the Missionary Handbook, don't do it.<br />
*BE YOURSELF! That's the most important, Steve. Be yourself.<br />
<br />
And that's all for now. I'll be happy to give you advice when situations arise. I'll e-mail you every week Bro. I promise! Love you Elder! I'm excited for you to begin the best two years for (not "of") your life. The work is true. The laborer is worth of his hire.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Serrano</div></div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-7117348406503148212011-12-23T13:33:00.000-08:002011-12-23T13:33:52.508-08:00State College Week 10<div class="gmail_quote">Thank you so much for the pictures. It seem so unreal that Steve is now a full-time missionary for the Lord. I love the picture where Steve is walking off with his escort with his bags. That was a weird experience when I did it nearly two years ago. I e-mailed him and told him to see if he can call me on Christmas. Usually they don't let MTC missionaries call home but I'll see if he can get special permission to call his missionary brother that won't see him for 4 years.<br />
<br />
This past week was a pretty good week. Wednesday just seemed like a regular day, with another life changing even going on back home. It's weird, it's hard to describe. I think that if missionaries work hard the Lord gives them peace when huge things happen back home, like a brother entering the MTC. This week seemed to go by really fast. <br />
<br />
Heather is doing great! She's still ready and excited to get baptized in January! Other investigators this week will have family over or will be out of town so they won't be able to meet with us. That's okay though. The wards over here have a fun thing that they do each Christmas. They make Christmas cards they want to give to their friends and they give them to us to carol to the friend and deliver the card. Often times we get new investigator from it, so we'll see how it goes. It's really fun!<br />
<br />
We'll I won't say too much because I want to talk about a lot when I speak with you on Sunday! Merry Christmas!! I love you Mom! Your hair looks great! It reminds me a little about Rogue from X-Men :)<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
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</span></div></div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-69379112128970102072011-12-18T09:24:00.000-08:002011-12-18T09:24:20.428-08:00State College Week 9<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote">This will be a pretty hard week for me too. It's hard thinking that I won't see Steve for another 2 years. I asked President Topham if it would be okay for Steve to call me in the Airport on his way out to Wisconsin, so we'll see what happens with that. I'll be thinking so much about you all on Wednesday. That maybe all I am thinking about. I'm so excited and sad, just as you are, for Steve. It'll be so great for him. I read his talk, and it was a really really good one. He's going to do great on his mission. As long as he stays humble he'll do great.<br />
<br />
So wow, my homecoming address day has been picked out huh?<i> (Feb 19 @9:00)</i> That's pretty surreal! haha! <br />
<br />
Heather, Fei, and Rashid are doing wonderfully! Heather and Fei are still set to be baptized on January the 21st! I'm so excited for them! The Lord keeps blessing them with understanding and a desire to do what's right. We're working with a great guy named Eddie Boal. He's such a humble guy that is willing to learn about the gospel. The past 13 months have been an excruciatingly trying time for him. He went through a bad divorce, and other things and it really humbled him to the point where he's looking for answers. He'll do pretty much anything we invite him to do. A member introduced us to him, and he asked us in our lesson this week if we would consider ourselves happy people, and we all said yes. Then we explained that we are happy because of our faith in Christ and by our keeping the commandments, so basically he wants that. I'm very excited to be meeting with him. <br />
<br />
I have been having lots of great experiences lately. I gave my "departing testimony" in a Zone Conference this past week. It was really weird, because that's the last big meeting I will go to for my mission. This church and Mission has changed my life incredibly. So much that words can't explain. They are true. There is nothing like it.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
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</div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-64403955637163399042011-12-18T09:20:00.000-08:002011-12-18T09:20:51.381-08:00State College Week 8<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="gmail_quote"><br />
Sounds like a really good week! I am so excited that Steve was able to go through the temple! I wish I was there. Actually, really cool story that happened yesterday for fast and testimony meeting! So, Elder Mason and I go to two church sessions: one at 9 am and one at 12:30. During the 9am session many of the testimonies that were given mentioned the temple, and it struck me that Steve had gone through the temple this past week! I had totally forgot! Then I felt like I should go up there and bear my testimony. I didn't during the 9am session, but the prompting came again during the 12:30 session. I felt like I should, but I wanted to have the ward members go up. Then guess what happened. There came a long silence. No body was getting up and there was about 15 minutes left in the Sacrament meeting. I closed my eyes, because I was a little tired, and then... I heard the Spirit. Mom, it was the very first time I've ever <u>heard</u> a whisper. It said, "Elder, go up there." I opened my eyes, and walked up to the podium and bore my testimony. And now I know why I received such a special prompting. We all as a family bore our testimony! It's too bad that Nate wasn't there, if he was that would have been so cool to have the entire family bear their testimony! Incredible.<br />
<br />
This past week flew by for me! There was I baptism that I played piano at on Saturday. I was given the music for the piece on Wednesday. Luckily it was an easy accompaniment for "Come Thou Fount of Ever Blessing". The Saturday night I did perform a musical number of Carol of The Bells for a Christmas Nativity Program. I recorded separately the piece for you on my camera so you can see/ hear it. It wasn't the live performance, but the same song. Everyone seemed to be pretty impressed, it was fun, and I was super nervous because I had never played a solo piece in front of an audience as big as this one. There was maybe 150-160 people. It was so much fun though! <br />
<br />
Heather and Fei Yang have a baptismal date for January the 21st!!! I am so excited to be able to teach them! They are such great people! Heather is super prepared, and Fei is on his was. He has a desire to know God and we are helping him achieve that desire. I love it! I am so happy and blessed to be serving here in State College. <br />
<br />
I am having a great time with the advent calendar. The scriptures used are perfect!! I love the tie I got yesterday. It's awesome! I've committed to only wear Red and Green ties for all of December. I'm excited!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin</div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-83015963006695400652011-12-04T15:37:00.000-08:002011-12-04T15:37:34.219-08:00State College Week 7<div class="gmail_quote"><br />
The trip to SF sounds like it was a great one! This week was pretty fun for me out in SC. Tuesday I had a Leadership Training Meeting down in Harrisburg, so we spent Monday evening driving down there. It was a great meeting! Although the night before I didn't sleep well at all!! The apartment I was staying at didn't have a lot of sleeping places so I got a "lazy boy" type chair except it didn't recline or have a foot stool thingy. Needless to say it wasn't a good night sleep. Maybe 4 hours or so. Plus my sickness and sore throat didn't help at all. So in summary I spent more time driving than sleeping between Monday and Tuesday haha. I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be at the meeting, so that was nice. There were some blessings there (including Lasagna for lunch).<br />
<br />
Thanksgiving was a great day! That morning we spent some time at a ReHab/Alzheimer home, similar to where Lola<i> (his grandmother)</i> lives, or lived, or... the place where I last saw her. Anyway, we went around from room to room, visiting some residents and talking to them about Thanksgiving and other things, just to cheer up their days. Then we went and taught Rashid, who is doing awesome! Then we, with the Sister missionaries, went to a big Thanksgiving feast in the afternoon!! It was great, there were some delicious food. All the common things that go along with a Thanksgiving dinner, except Cranberry sauce, which was a huge bummer! It was great! It was the same family that had us over for a Halloween dinner. I am so "mean" to the sisters sometimes ha ha! You know how some girls eat? Not a lot. For some odd reason they think it's not lady-like to eat a lot. So I usually say something along the lines of this, when the host asks if we want dessert (pie), "Yeah! We all want pie! All the missionaries do!" The sisters object. "Oh no, come one sisters! It's part of the Thanksgiving holiday tradition! You have to have pie. (looking at the host) We would all love some pie. (said with a huge grin on my face)" Then the host gets us all pie. And the sisters all just glare and laugh with me as we eat pie. That was fun. Thanksgiving was a great one this year. I had lots of fun. I sure missed hanging out with family though! Especially with all the cousins and aunts and uncles, and everyone! I sure hope so too, that Lola will stay around long enough for me to see her one more time. But I know that the Lord works in his own way, and it's up to Him.<br />
<br />
Heather H......h is doing wonderful! We visited them on Thanksgiving. The H......s are the best! She wasn't able to make it out to church yesterday because she was sick, but that's okay because she's come to every church activity since she and Brendon started coming to church a month ago. She's still going to get baptized in January. Rashid is doing great, he expressed that he would like to get baptized before he leaves State College, which means before May. We're very excited for him!<br />
<br />
I got the package that you sent! I'm so excited to do the Advent Calendar! It's so fun. I pulled out the Little Christmas Tree that You sent me last year and put it up. I'll have to send you a picture next week. It's now officially okay to listen to Christmas Music! Hooray! Anyway, I look forward to calling you in a little less than a month!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
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</span></div></div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-74881306710461867692011-12-04T15:34:00.000-08:002011-12-04T15:37:50.010-08:00State College Week 6<div class="gmail_quote"><br />
<div class="gmail_quote">Yeah! Another Transfer is gone! It blows my mind about how fast time seems to go at the point in my mission where I don't want it to end so quickly. It's so crazy! Anyway. Things are going well. I woke up this morning with a sore sinus-passageway-that-goes-to-my-throat, kinda thing. So squeezed some 8 Clementine this morning, and made some uber-vitamin C juice. So hopefully that'll help me out. I'm doing great though overall in the aspects of health. Actually, usually I'm pretty physically exhausted by the end of the day, but I guess that just means that I'm doing Missionary Work right, hopefully that's what it means :) <br />
<div class="im"><br />
The work is going very well! Heather H.....h is amazing! And so is Bro. Brenden H......h! They're just awesome! They came to Stake Conference this weekend, went to all the sessions, and loved it. They are so wonderful, the members are doing such a great job hear helping them to feel welcome and loved. She's set for getting baptized in January. She found out I was leaving in February, and was like, oh I'm definitely getting baptized before you go! I don't like to tell investigators that I'm leaving an area, because I don't want them to do anything out of an obligation to me, but for their own desire to come to Christ. So she decided before she found out, so we're good! She's recognizing the Spirit, and really loving everything that she hears and learns. I'm very excited for her!<br />
<br />
</div>So lately, within the past few weeks, I have really been feeling the Spirit work through me, and prompt me to do things. I feel like the Lord has been teaching me more, and more lately to have faith, and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Emphasizing the, having faith part. Sometimes the Lord may prompt us to do or say something that might seem hard, or scary to do. But I know now, and continue to learn, that when we follow the promptings of the Spirit fearlessly, and faithfully, we can bring about much good in this world, and in the lives of our loved ones. With the specific instances I've experienced lately, there is no doubt in my mind that God is aware of all our circumstances and that He really does love us. It has been amazing!<br />
<div class="im"><br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin</div></div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-37055276505782258972011-11-20T09:13:00.000-08:002011-11-20T09:13:40.104-08:00State College Week 5I am doing well! Thanks for asking! I am in good health and happy. Actually I got a scale this week from the sister missionaries, because they had an extra one, so I was pretty excited to check my weight! And guess what? I'm at 155!! I was pretty excited because if you remember when I left Johnstown I was at 175, and when I left Avalon I was at 160 and throughout Harrisburg I didn't have a scale but i did gain weight, and now I'm down to 155! I've been working out pretty hard in the mornings and making sure I don't eat too much (which usually fails when I go to member's houses for meals because they expect us to eat like hippos.) and I'm pretty happy with the results. <br />
<br />
I will be coming home Wednesday, February 8th, 2012, as for what time, I don't know. We'll have to find out when travel itineraries are made. But it will be that day for sure!<br />
<br />
So things that happened this week. We helped the sisters move to a new apartment. I don't think I told you, did I, that my district is made up of 2 sets of sisters, which his cool! They're awesome missionaries. It was kinda weird at first because I didn't really know, and forgot, how to have proper (and by proper I mean, regular/professional) relationships with girls especially as a missionary. But it's cool now! We met with Rashid and Heather. They are both doing incredibly!! Heather is dead set on getting baptized in January. When she introduced herself in gospel Principles class she said, "...and I'm going to convert, or, um, get baptized in January..." She's the best! She has a spiritual testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith now, and she's just great! Rashid is doing well too! We had a great lesson with him, and he basically said that he'll get baptized sometime before he goes back to Sierra Leone, which is next summer. He's a great guy and he taught us some phrases in Pidgin English, which is what they speak in Sierra Leone. " 'ow da bahdee?" (how the body?) is a greeting meaning, "How's your health?" and to respond: "Ah tehl Gah tenki" (I tell God tenki [tenki=thank you]). Anyway both of the investigators we are working with are doing awesome! We're on the look out for more! I love teaching them, and seeing how the Lord prepares His children to receive the Gospel.<br />
<br />
So what I'm going to be doing for the final 2 transfers of my mission, I'm setting a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon one more time by the time Feb. 8th comes along. That means at least 6.5-7 pages a day! And I would like to extend that challenge to you, my family! Wuddya say? It'll be tough but it'll be great! I'm going to do it. I love the Book of Mormon. It's one of the greatest books I've ever read. Probably the greatest in the World! It's true! It brought and brings me closer to God as I read it. Just as the Prophet Joseph Smith said it would.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
<br />
<br />
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</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-83689903816870007312011-11-13T08:32:00.000-08:002011-11-13T08:32:42.306-08:00State College Week 4<div class="gmail_quote"><br />
So lots of things to talk about today! This past week sounds like a great one! Happy Birthday to Steve Today!! Wow, he's 19! CARAZZY!<br />
<br />
So my investigators:<br />
Dee-the lady who was going to get baptized this past weekend pretty much stopped contact with us a couple weeks ago. We don't really know what happened, she just stopped returning our calls and setting up appointments. So that was a real bummer. We're having the sisters keep trying to get into touch with her.<br />
Fei: he went to the student brach this week and he loved it there! There are about 6 Chinese members there and from the report he fit right in and joined their little clique. So he's going to probably stay going there, and we're going to hand him off to the sisters to teach. It's a bummer losing him as an investigator, but I know he'll grow so much quicker in the Student Branch than here in the family wards.<br />
Rashid: Came to church again this week! He's doing great! We took a picture with him so that he can send it to his cousin who is a member of the church. He also wants his cousin to e-mail us and talk to us. He's great and he's still considering the joining this church! Rashid is great!<br />
HEATHER H.........H!!!: GOLDEN! She's married to a member and came to church for the third time yesterday. We met with them for the first time on Friday and were blown away by how absolutely gilded she is! She looks and talks like a member. Her and her husband have a goal of getting sealed in the temple, to help re-activate Bro. H.......hs parents that are endowed, and less-active. She's not even baptized and she wants to go to the temple!!!!!!! :D She even bought her very own Quad-set of the scriptures. She wants to take it a little slower and get baptized in Mid to late December-early January. Oh, and she baked us cookies. She is so awesome!!!!<br />
<br />
Halloween was pretty fun. I carved the batman pumpkin, and this computer is being stupid and won't let me connect my camera to it!! Dang! I'll have to try another computer after this session is over. Anyway, this week was a great week, and the Lord really blessed us here with people to teach. It fulfilled the teachings in Preach My Gospel: He will lead you to them, or He will lead them to you. In this case He led the H......hs to us. The church is definitely true, there's no doubt about it. I love the opportunity I have to be here serving a mission and thank the Lord everyday!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Benjamin Serrano<br />
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<br />
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.</span><u></u><u></u></div><br />
</div></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-25843007195285465102011-11-05T14:25:00.000-07:002011-11-05T14:40:57.141-07:00State College Week 3I am glad that dad was able to recover well from the surgery. It really is amazing what modern-day medicine can do. It really is a blessing! A couple scriptures come to mind. It seems that the Lord is fulfilling his promises he makes to missionaries in D&C 31:5, 100:1 with the quick and good recovery of Dad, and Mel's, surgery and any other sicknesses or things that the fam goes through.<br />
<br />
Those pumpkins that you all carved are incredible! We're doing ours today so you'll get pictures of them next week. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, but I'm sure I'll think of something by the time it rolls around. I'm pretty excited! Thank you so much for the box of goodies!!!!!! Those pumpkin chocolate chip bars were amazing!! My #1 favorite! and the cookies and the goodies! Elder Mason and I are going to rock those mustaches today when we go and carve pumpkins. I love you!!<br />
<br />
That's so crazy to think that Mike is home from his mission! My how time flies! I'm glad that you were able to go and hear his talk. He's such a great guy, and I'm positive he's many notches higher than what I remember him to be 2 years ago. Missions change lives. It's changed mine incredibly! I can't wait to have the opportunity to tell you everything that I can't put in e-mails. <br />
<br />
Elder Mason is doing great! I'm doing the best I can to teach him about missionary work, and I've found that my example is the biggest thing I can do for him, because he literally will copy things I say and do. Which puts a huge responsibility on me to be the best missionary I can be. He's great though.<br />
<br />
So our investigators are doing great! We had an awesome lesson with Fei last night! We brought a member along who spoke Chinese and he was able to explain so many things so that Fei could understand. He served his mission in Taiwan so he knows the lingo of the gospel. It was soooooo cool to watch that. They got along great too! I bet Fei was impressed because an American could speak his language so fluently. Rashid came to church! He's back in town and we're going to continue to meet with him. He's great! The H.....hs (the couple that randomly came to church last week) came again, and we're going to meet with them on Friday. It turns out Bro. H......h works with a member in the ward so they know each other, and Sis. H......h who is not a member, is so awesome! She's going to bake us cookies to bring to the lesson on Friday. All in all things are going really really great here! I love this place!<br />
<br />
Thank you for all the love and support you show me Mom. It really means so much to me! When I think about and pray for the family at night, I can't help but thing what a wonderful blessing it is to have the incredible family I do. The family truly is ordained of God, and is the most important social unit in time and eternity. Thank you for being such a great example of the gospel in the home. I love you and miss you!!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
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</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-31231278911826118702011-10-27T08:13:00.000-07:002011-10-27T08:13:34.837-07:00Some Pictures<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnebEMLVi5xCxxzKk32NYJgROJvCORToJt4fO28-g5s85THYIB8EWDUvz1aFittlA4zPTgorx2h5ywmdpEAFgP1szQkGpvFrsZcvtz0Iyxdyfq_SsH9LNAi05MJOUsavyLWlcsraNXRDA/s1600/sign+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnebEMLVi5xCxxzKk32NYJgROJvCORToJt4fO28-g5s85THYIB8EWDUvz1aFittlA4zPTgorx2h5ywmdpEAFgP1szQkGpvFrsZcvtz0Iyxdyfq_SsH9LNAi05MJOUsavyLWlcsraNXRDA/s400/sign+edit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Enjoying the history of Harrisburg</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLwNIaNTs6pQK1McNidXMKKxlXIs-U7aNcEuWQ9sYYPQe3T-I65FCumaSEBtFMficclUUSdUMtXmi8wbAI2ueWOO38FBEYu4LOfzqdW667EMtG40pCxP7OqHhJAp4jC5YYzM2UQ2NeeE/s1600/waffel+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLwNIaNTs6pQK1McNidXMKKxlXIs-U7aNcEuWQ9sYYPQe3T-I65FCumaSEBtFMficclUUSdUMtXmi8wbAI2ueWOO38FBEYu4LOfzqdW667EMtG40pCxP7OqHhJAp4jC5YYzM2UQ2NeeE/s400/waffel+edit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elders Serrano and Killpack. Waffles..yum!</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BVttip3dqh5jypPhErCZJ-k3z8L7ECnp3docn0AIcNSe3IvIibbPdoVdGtGIgIQtm0Khc2xoF_BcLN6Q5rNTg1RYC98vx08vo3cCHqoVkLW1YrUPJrggJnO-YEMfiGs8mzraVVGUj4M/s400/scene+edit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">What a beautiful view near Harrisburg</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2BVttip3dqh5jypPhErCZJ-k3z8L7ECnp3docn0AIcNSe3IvIibbPdoVdGtGIgIQtm0Khc2xoF_BcLN6Q5rNTg1RYC98vx08vo3cCHqoVkLW1YrUPJrggJnO-YEMfiGs8mzraVVGUj4M/s1600/scene+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-BOcXIAObRgoIwtbPZbwhaLH0AGftyoD3NQ1dv1_QCYL2NeZhiNAW2ED7UNkmX1JIDLFFMSYVO8s0dwOyriPSgNPTVSD1n4FNO53bMvoAHQ7EsTTIxHOWEsDAzHHZEfSapjNe8urj40/s1600/DSCN2921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-BOcXIAObRgoIwtbPZbwhaLH0AGftyoD3NQ1dv1_QCYL2NeZhiNAW2ED7UNkmX1JIDLFFMSYVO8s0dwOyriPSgNPTVSD1n4FNO53bMvoAHQ7EsTTIxHOWEsDAzHHZEfSapjNe8urj40/s400/DSCN2921.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">In State College with his new companion, Elder Mason</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-10043778350392478032011-10-27T07:51:00.000-07:002011-11-05T14:40:36.659-07:00State College Week 2I am having a wonderful day! Our week was great, a lot of cool things happened! I'll have to tell you about them today. Rashid is doing pretty good, he didn't make it to church today because he went on a school trip to Philadelphia, and made it back last night. So we have yet to set up an appointment with him. Our apartment is great, and we are all settled in. Yes, I think you should totally go to Mike's homecoming!!! I can't believe that Mike <i>(Card)</i> is getting home already. Those two years seemed to fly by, it blows my mind! Tell him that he needs to e-mail me too, and you can give him my e-mail address. That would be great! I bet he was such an awesome missionary.<br />
<br />
Yes, it is kinda nice being a DL again! I have so much responsibility relieved of me, it's great! But now I have other responsibilities now with training and working with 2 wards. It's good though. I have a lot more time to work in my area, instead of having to go on exchanges every week. I had a fun time being a ZL though. So Elder Taylor and Elder Lee are going home at the end of this transfer! That's so crazy! Two more of my companions are just about done. Before then it was only Elder Page, Elder Zaleski, and Elder Willmore, now two more! And that'll be it until I get home, all the rest of my companions are younger than me.<br />
<br />
So I told Dad about this awesome new investigator we found this week, so I'll share what I told him, then add a few more things I forgot to add: "we found an incredible new investigator named Fei Y....! He's from China and had no knowledge or belief in God. We found him on Wednesday, he came to church on Sunday and then on Sunday night to see a baptism and confirmation of some children getting baptized! He kept making comments throughout his church experience that he loved the church, and how much he thinks that God will help him in his life, and how friendly people are, and how this church is much different that the other churches he's been to. We're super excited for him and plan on setting him with a date this week to be baptized next month." He also told us that when he gets back to China in a year he wants to share what he's learning with everyone! We've had one lesson with him and he's already missionary minded. Fei Y.... is the man, and I know that the Lord prepared him. Also through out the church experience, we kept asking him how he was feeling, and he responded positively each time, and so we were able to relate that back to how the Spirit works and teaches us, through our feelings, truth. Oh man! State College Rocks! We have another investigator named Denise M....n. She's has a baptismal date for the 6th of November. She's really excited to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. We inherited her from the sister missionaries when we came into the area. She's so great! She's african american, that was born and raised in Queens, New York, but lived all over the world, and she has a Jamaican accent!<br />
<br />
Also this week (this email is long!) Elder W. Craig Zwick from the First Quorum of the Seventy came and did a mission tour Like Elder Gavarret last year. I didn't get interviewed by him, but I was the piano player for the whole meeting. I had to do prelude two times, and play soft background hymns while he shook the hands of all the missionaries. I probably played through 50 hymns that day, it was great! He and his wife thanked me much for my talent on the piano, and I was thinking about that and a response I could have given. Not to thank me, but to thank the Lord, and my mom. The two people who helped me develop my talent. So thanks mom for making do piano lessons until I loved it! He also told me that the music/hymns played in meetings is one of the most important things that happen, to bring the Spirit into the meeting. So that made me feel pretty special how grateful he was. He taught us as missionaries some really important things, and it was a really spiritually edifying meeting.<br />
<br />
I love the church! Thanks for all you do for me, and the prayers you send my way. I can feel them.<br />
<br />
Have a great week!<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Benjamin<br />
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</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-29282594507272760592011-10-15T11:47:00.000-07:002011-10-15T11:50:04.724-07:00State College Week 1<div class="gmail_quote"><br />
It is absolutely wonderful here! Yes, the trees are starting to change colors and it looks great! It's been kinda cold lately so some of them are just turning brown and dying, but we are getting a lot of fall changes and colors! I'll try and send some pictures to you next week when I do my e-mails. I sent a box last Monday and I don't know if it made it to you or not. It just has a lot of extra things that I really didn't need, like picture books and t shirts. Anyway, my new companion's name is Elder Mason from Rexburg Idaho. He's a really awesome brand new missionary, that is really prepared. We're going to have a great time here in State College. So Transfers was on Tuesday of last week, and we didn't get to our area until Friday. The reason being that our apartment wasn't ready for us to move in yet. So we stayed over in Pittsburgh and helped out the Office Elders with a few things for those few days previous to Friday. So when we finally got to State College Friday evening it turns out that we didn't have a key to the apartment, and the apartment office was closed by the time we got there. So we had to talk to some random person, ask for a number and have someone come out and let us in. By about 9:30 we got all the stuff into the apartment and set up. Because we were going into a brand new apartment, we got brand new things! New Mattresses and box springs, new desks (plastic tables), new shower curtains, cooking pans/ utensils, and dressers from Ikea! The only thing I forgot was hangers. So all my stuff is sitting on the floor right now. I'll have to get those today.<br />
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The Wards here are awesome! They are very big, and supportive! They have had sisters in the ward for about 4 years now, so they are very excited for the change, mostly because the priesthood can be more involved in the work now. And we get fed nearly every single night because the wards here rock!<br />
<br />
We were also able to find a new investigator for us! His name is R....d I....l T...y, and he is from Sierra Leon, Africa. He's here on some student thing for Penn State. He has some family that are members of the church back in Africa, and one on a mission, so he's somewhat familiar with the church. We found him on Saturday (our first full day in State College), and he came to church yesterday! He's really cool and we are excited to teach him in the future.<br />
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I love it here and I look forward to serving here for the next few months, or even the final months of my mission. <br />
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Love,<br />
Elder Benjamin Luis Serrano<br />
<div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #666666;"> </span></div></div></div><div id="avg_ls_inline_popup" style="left: -5000px; visibility: hidden;"></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-56379381236385055772011-10-09T21:14:00.000-07:002011-10-09T21:14:23.045-07:00Harrisburg Week 18So today I will be sending a mass e-mail to you all because of the lack of time I have today. Don't worry I didn't e-mail anyone else and take forever, I just have a lot I need to do today. So here's the lo-down on what is happening in my mission life. Yesterday I got a call from President Topham and he said, "this is the call that you've been dreading to get huh?" At that point, I was thought, uh-oh. I thought that I was just going to get released as zone leader and then go to another area but there's a whole lot more to it. He told me that:<br />
-I will be a district leader.<br />
-I will be training another new missionary.<br />
-I will be opening a new area in State College, PA (where Penn State<br />
University is).<br />
-Therefore doubling-in or in other words white-washing.<br />
-And The new area I will be in will cover 2 wards, yes, 2 wards.<br />
<br />
This all means as well that I need to leave for Pittsburgh today at around 4 pm. Yeah, that's why I have a lot to get done today. I was packing until about midnight last night, the set my alarm for 5:30am so I could continue and get it all done. Now it's done. So I was expecting to have some burdens lifted by being released as a ZL, but in reality a whole bunch more responsibility just got packed on to me haha. It will be a great new experience for me, because I've never opened a new area before, or covered 2 wards. So we'll see what<br />
happens. I know that the Lord will bless me and help my companion and I out. Also because of this, I don't know if I'll be in State College for the rest of my mission or not. I hope so, but we'll see. I just realized that in the course of my mission I have been in a leadership position for 15 months of my mission. It's crazy to think about. But I've loved it so much! I have learned a lot, needless to say. And I thank the Lord for it.<br />
<br />
Conference this past time was amazing! I though President Monson was rather goofy this time around as well! Haha, God bless our Prophet dear! He truly is the Prophet of God for our day and time! I absolutely love the talk that a member of the Seventy gave about how the Church is fulfilling many old testament prophesies (A stone cut without hands, that rolled until it filled the earth, etc.), I also loved Elder Scott's talk about the Standard Works. I love hearing about the scriptures! They're the most important and sacred thing I own. Something though, that really stuck out to me this week, and during conference is the power of prayer. It's amazing and I KNOW that the Lord hears and answers our prayers. I love Him for it. And owe my life to Him.<br />
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I'll e-mail again on Wednesday I think, and let you know of my new apartment address and a few more things. I LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!! (<i>He did not get a chance to e-mail Wednesday-S)</i><br />
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Love,<br />
BenjaminSherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-35360950745063085992011-10-01T08:51:00.000-07:002011-10-01T08:52:41.862-07:00Harrisburg Week 17<div>Hey Mom!</div><div></div><div>My week out here was a pretty good week! We actually do have a couple people with a baptismal date and these people area absolutely solid and ready! One is Kaylee Y......r, who you know about, she's still set for the 29 of October. Her dad gets home from Germany this weekend so we'll see what happens with that, if he approves or not. Sis. Y......r assures that there will be no problems, which I believe! So I'm super excited for that family, because I love them so much! The other one with a date is a young man named Colby H........n. He lives in a branch north of Harrisburg that we cover. He's a way solid kid! His uncle is a member and he really looks up to that uncle. He was introduced to the church through him and was taught a few times in Virginia. He's super solid and already has his sights set on getting to the Celestial Kingdom! He said, "I'm going to do everything I can to get there!" Did I mention that he's only 16? He's already got those awesome mind sets and goals and it was the first time I've met him, second time being taught. He is super awesome! And yes, the Holy Ghost is testifying to them the truth. Whether they know it or not, they're receiving it. Now it's our job to help them recognize and understand those promptings.</div><div></div><div><br />
So yes, this probably will be my last week here in Harrisburg. Change is good, but I love this place and the people in it so much! It'll be hard to leave. It's also crazy to think that my next area will be my last. It's surreal, it's weird, but I am committed to not let that get to me and I will work hard to the last day of my mission! I've made a pact with a couple missionaries here that that won't happen, and we're going to be Legends! There are a couple missionaries that have gone home a couple years ago that missionaries still talk about. We want to be one of those!</div><div></div><div><br />
Isn't it great? You're going shopping for another missionary! I still have most of the stuff we went shopping for, with the exception of one pair of shoes. The South Side killed them. Oh and that piece of luggage. I've acquired another suit, and probably an additional 40 ties. Yeah, I'm not exaggerating. They're our only source of personality in uniform, can you blame me?! :)</div><div></div><div><br />
</div><div></div><div>Love,</div><div>Benjamin</div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
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</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-18536445037233088302011-09-22T12:51:00.000-07:002011-09-22T12:54:50.255-07:00Harrisburg Week 16<div><br />
So first off I want to answer your question about noisy kids and lazy parents in sacrament meeting. It is pretty different out here in the mission field! Since we do have investigators coming often for their first time, we do want the experience to be a good one and with a minimal noise level. So the bishop and ward council do discuss about people being prompt and taking their kids out of the chapel if they start acting up. I think it's 1. because of investigators, and 2. I think there are more naggy, and complaining old people out here so they definitely speak up to the bishopric if the noise is out of hand haha. Of course kids are kids, and every once in a while you get those parents that let their kids run around the cultural hall and make ruckus, but the majority of the wards are good about being noise conscious. It's funny to because there aren't nearly as many families with a lot of little kids as you would find out West. So that helps. Do you remember David K...s? His comments after his very first sacrament meeting were, "I felt like I was in a Chuck-e-Cheeses.", he ended up getting baptized, but you better believe that the Bishopric quickly addressed that!<br />
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Anyway, I am doing quite well and things area going pretty good! This week was a relatively slow, but some really good things happened! I had a chance to go on an exchange down to a place called New Holland, or Ephrata. That place is really cool because there are lots of Amish/ Mennonite people! They were riding their bikes, horse and buggies, push scooters, everything! I guess we get that kind of attention too when we walk around in our white shirt and ties. So that was fun! I ate some delicious Amish donuts! It was awesome!<br />
<br />
5- hours later....</div><div></div><div>Sorry this letter has taken so long to get to you! The libraries today are closed because of some staff meeting for all the library people, so then we came here to HACC (Harrisburg Area Community College) to do our emails and about 45 minutes in, the library people asked all that aren't doing academic work to give up the computers to people that were waiting to use them for such. And that meant us, so we got kicked out. We decided to go to this pizza place, and it was INCREDIBLE!! Then we went bowling for free, then we went and hung out at the church and played wall ball with a dodgeball. Now I'm back and ready to finish up this e-mail before the Pday is over.</div><div></div><div>Things are pretty much back to normal weather wise, as normal as central PA weather gets. They say over here, "If you don't like the weather in central PA, wait 5 minutes. It'll change." That reminds me of UT!</div><div></div><div>So in about an hour we're going to go and visit Obed C.....!! He's so awesome! He actually called us and made sure we were still coming over! What a good guy. I'm way excited to be teaching him the gospel, it'll be great. I don't know if I'll get to stick around to see his baptism ;) but I know that he'll progress as the Lord helps us help him.</div><div></div><div>So this week at Zone Conference, I learned something completely awesome that has changed my life forever! It is about recognizing promptings from the Holy Ghost. Often times I ask, is it just me thinking, or is it the Holy Ghost. I don't know if you have had that question or not, but I got an awesome answer of how to tell if it's the Spirit. Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy actually did a surprise visit to the mission and only a few missionaries got to speak with him. Elder Nielsen (one of the Assistants to the President) asked him about recognizing the Spirit and Elder Jensen gave him this: he called it, "Revelation, the First Presidency does it." There are three scriptures, all in the Doctrine and Covenants:</div><div></div><div style="color: black;">1. DC 6:23 "Did I not speak <span style="background-color: yellow;">peace</span> to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?"<br />
-<i>The holy ghost gives us peace when we ask for an answer. Peace is something we can all recognize, and is an answer to prayers for guidance. Peace is the Comforter, not ourselves.</i></div><div style="color: black;"></div><div style="color: black;">2. DC 128:1 " As I stated to you in my letter before I left my place, that I would write to you from time to time and give you information in relation to many subjects, I now resume the subject of the baptism for the dead,<span style="background-color: yellow;"> as that subject seems to occupy my mind, and press itself upon my feelings the strongest</span>, since I have been pursued by my enemies."</div><div style="color: black;"> - <i>When we are receiving a prompting from the Holy Ghost, often it will be something that we keep thinking about or something that we really feel strongly to do, or say. This happened to me just last week where I kept feeling like I needed to go see someone that was kinda far away and out of the way. I put it off once, and it came back so I went. And that person needed a blessing and was praying that we would come. Incredible.</i></div><div style="color: black;"></div><div style="color: black;">3. DC 11:12,13 "<span class="verse">12 </span>And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which <span style="background-color: yellow;">leadeth to do good</span>—yea,<span style="background-color: yellow;"> to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously</span>; and this is my Spirit. <span class="verse">13 </span>Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall <span style="background-color: yellow;">enlighten your mind</span>, which shall<span style="background-color: yellow;"> fill your soul with joy</span>; "</div><div style="color: black;"> - <i>I think that these are pretty self-explanatory. The Spirit, when it prompts us, will invite us to do all the highlighted. If what we feel we need to do, and think it is a prompting, falls under these categories, than it is of the Spirit.</i></div><div></div><div><br />
These scriptures have been amazing to me and my growth in the gospel. I love it! It is the favorite thing that I've learned lately. I hope that these will help you as well. I think I better finish this one up, it's a pretty long one. Thank you so much for your support, love, testimony, and encouragement. It means a lot to me! Have a great week!</div><div></div><div>Love,</div><div>Benjamin</div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
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NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-41306484544051269492011-09-17T09:47:00.000-07:002011-09-17T09:47:47.332-07:00Harrisburg Week 15<div></div><div>Yes we were a little more than wet. :) But we were all safe! With all the flooding we were instructed to park the cars and not drive through puddles. Since we're zone leaders though and we have a truck we were allowed to drive around. Quite a few basements got flooded and in one part an entire street and neighborhood was sitting in a puddle that was probably a foot deep. There were a few stores that were by a creek that flooded quite majorly. The Creek rose probably 8-10 feet and became a river and it completely soaked and flooded out many streets and stores. Hershey PA, which is only 20 minutes away got hit pretty badly. Nearly all the roads leading into Hershey were flooded and sink holes appeared on some of the roads. It was pretty crazy! Luckily we were far enough away from the river we didn't have to get evacuated, and none of the missionaries in my zone had to either. So that was a blessing. We live on a 1st floor apartment so we didn't have any problems. I was thinking during all of this that missionary moms must be freaking out right now. Why? Week 1: an earthquake, week 2: a hurricane, week 3: Major Flooding. I wonder what will happen this week!</div><div></div><div></div><div>I'm glad that there was a blessing recognized this week! Indeed it was a blessing. I really love being a missionary because blessings seem to flow in all directions. For me, for people I'm teaching, for my family (yinz)! It is incredible to see the Mercy of the Lord poured out on everyone. I love it! The Church and Gospel are true! Keep reading the Book of Mormon, it is our keystone.</div><div></div><div>Love,</div><div>Benjamin</div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
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NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-82275077905266911072011-09-08T07:58:00.000-07:002011-09-08T07:58:07.082-07:00Pictures of Harrisburgh<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi192LxV5WX5xd_9ukpbR99-sMZAi3fZA-kCBRloS25XJi2sK37ps69JowQj5P_n4biIy0_czJlGjHrTe0j4gdiBIgUHsU_oUxBnnzHC9X8KM9wlQKJHvg9fIwCKjqcVXQJ3wxKeQzFSSw/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi192LxV5WX5xd_9ukpbR99-sMZAi3fZA-kCBRloS25XJi2sK37ps69JowQj5P_n4biIy0_czJlGjHrTe0j4gdiBIgUHsU_oUxBnnzHC9X8KM9wlQKJHvg9fIwCKjqcVXQJ3wxKeQzFSSw/s400/001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Serrano and the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZOumh7N1XlrFiZmcCWytfjTtn-3UZ7RSVJNZgk1VZG4A7cS5fSevzgdFLxFpw46xBOEI_aZ8gyF2bL7YbBUKHkH9xBGTrRenIyqo8PwyQNFB_YNYf12Vl0c4Noxp42V83lz_WXhCxGE/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZOumh7N1XlrFiZmcCWytfjTtn-3UZ7RSVJNZgk1VZG4A7cS5fSevzgdFLxFpw46xBOEI_aZ8gyF2bL7YbBUKHkH9xBGTrRenIyqo8PwyQNFB_YNYf12Vl0c4Noxp42V83lz_WXhCxGE/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKFwaOwiQ88hIak9tqzlb1rF9UI_cXBg0Zhl_r6hEDJNpQsbmYA7WKPP8TV2rwbfBMoJ2TsALrr62_cRIPO5cx8GSH-yHqviQINi_LNdksG2JPfb7GaUQk2813fel09jjfzytoAV5iWA/s1600/edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKFwaOwiQ88hIak9tqzlb1rF9UI_cXBg0Zhl_r6hEDJNpQsbmYA7WKPP8TV2rwbfBMoJ2TsALrr62_cRIPO5cx8GSH-yHqviQINi_LNdksG2JPfb7GaUQk2813fel09jjfzytoAV5iWA/s400/edit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Serrano, Elder Killpack and an unknown Elder</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPwdsguR5BFNg7XutlGvI2rnI2a9PcxTQk9TQHL0rDtva4KMkoK_lYinugh0j02roBnAG3gyoaQ66qzHEHxiS-WqWWnq52JBaziLjGMOdDHOSZvVeUkUJ4bWRKAXc8IWqa0R7lLwo0iM/s1600/hershey+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPwdsguR5BFNg7XutlGvI2rnI2a9PcxTQk9TQHL0rDtva4KMkoK_lYinugh0j02roBnAG3gyoaQ66qzHEHxiS-WqWWnq52JBaziLjGMOdDHOSZvVeUkUJ4bWRKAXc8IWqa0R7lLwo0iM/s400/hershey+edit.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Elder Serrano visits Hershey World</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265600984071262875.post-85399690066639076352011-09-08T07:44:00.000-07:002011-09-08T07:44:46.900-07:00Harrisburg Week 14<div></div><div></div><div>This week was kind of a slow/fast week. Slow teaching wise, and fast time wise. It was Zone Leader Council week! And Exchanges with the Assistants too. We started the exchange on Tuesday and went to Friday. We had to drive a couple hours to a city called Bedford to meet the assistants coming from Pittsburgh. Then on Thursday we drove out to Pittsburgh which is a 3.5-4 hour drive. That was fun! ZLC was great, we were able to discuss the roles and responsibilities of Zone Leaders, it was very good to learn, and affirm responsibilities. But the moral of the story is, I have done a lot of driving this past week, and I was pretty much defecated by the time Sunday came around. Elder Barry is doing great! He's a really nice kid! The thought occurred to me that he reminds me of Jared Lunt. We'll have a good transfer together though. And Yes, he is a Zone Leader, a brand new one! An awesome thing that happened! Kaylee Y.....r, the youngest of the Y.....r family has a baptismal date of the 29th of October!!!! We are so excited! I don't know if I'll be here for it though... I really hope I'll be able to be in the area for it because they asked me if I would do the Baptizing... it broke my heart to tell them that I probably wouldn't be able to be there for it. I did ask President today to possibly transfer me to a nearby area in the zone. There are 3 areas that will have need for openings that are not far away at all! So I'm crossing my fingers for those.</div><div></div><div>That's really exciting how dad was ordained a High Priest! He gets to hang out with all the old dudes now! It's funny, do you remember Mr. Clark, my geology/physics teacher? He call the High Priest group the "geriatrics group" where they put "all the old guys to die", haha, that made me chuckle to think that Dad is part of it now. Anyway, I'm glad that you had a good week this week, and everything went well! I love you! Have a great week!</div><div></div><div>love,</div><div>Benjamin</div><div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
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NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div><span style="color: #666666;"><br />
</span></div>Sherylhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13608351131183681039noreply@blogger.com0