State College Week 9

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.

So wow, my homecoming address day has been picked out huh? (Feb 19 @9:00) That's pretty surreal!  haha!

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.

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.

Love,
Benjamin

State College Week 8

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 heard 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.

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!

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.

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!

Love,
Benjamin

State College Week 7

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).

Thanksgiving was a great day! That morning we spent some time at a ReHab/Alzheimer home, similar to where Lola (his grandmother) 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.

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!

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!

Love,
Benjamin

State College Week 6

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 :)

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!

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!

Love,
Benjamin

State College Week 5

I 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.

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!

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.

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.

Love,
Benjamin

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State College Week 4

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!

So my investigators:
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.
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.
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!
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!!!!

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!

Love,
Elder Benjamin Serrano

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State College Week 3

I 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.

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!!

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.

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.

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!

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!!

Love,
Benjamin

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