Ben's Mission

 Only a couple of weeks until we pick up Elder Trezise!  We can't wait!  Here is his letter for this week: Hello family!  This week was pretty good! We were able to get a lot of service hours helping people move, and helping people set up for a fundraiser at the park in Sugar City. So that was a lot of fun. We also had a bunch of lessons with the people we're teaching this week, and they're making some steady progress. So things are looking good.  Yesterday I wasn't feeling very good, I think I ate some bad food or something, so whenever I wasn't resting, I was studying. And I was able to get a lot out of my studies.    While studying I re-read a talk that I really love named, "Realize Your Full Potential." In the talk, there are a few paragraphs that really speak to me. He says, "With all my capacity I encourage you to discover who you really are. I invite you to look beyond the daily routine of life. I urge you to discern through the Spi...

 Last week I didn't get to talk to Elder Trezise on Monday because my Skype wasn't working.  I thought he didn't try to call but I guess for some reason I was signed out.  Anyway...he called on Thursday - we got it figured out and was able to speak with Max for a long time.  It made my heart happy for them to talk for so long.  Here is his letter for the week: Hey family,  I've been thinking a lot about what I want to email about. About what I want to say, and I haven't been able to come up with anything good. I have no idea what to say or write here.  So I figured I'd just write about some cool stuff I studied this week. I was able to listen to a talk given by a man named Hyrum Smith called, "Goal Setting and High Moral Values." In it he talks a lot about the importance of setting goals, and how to set goals. He explains that less than 3% of the united states citizens have written, concrete goals that they are working towards. And because of t...

  Hello family!  This week was pretty normal as far as my weeks go. Stuck inside, with a few lessons everyday to breathe some fresh air. I'm doing good though. I had a lot of time to study this week though and that was awesome. And I had a lot of time to just think, which was nice. I was able to listen to a great talk by President Monson, in which he says, "There have been continuing signs that circumstances in the world aren’t necessarily as we would wish. The global economy, which six months ago appeared to be sagging, seems to have taken a nosedive, and for many weeks now the financial outlook has been somewhat grim. In addition, the moral footings of society continue to slip, while those who attempt to safeguard those footings are often ridiculed and, at times, picketed and persecuted. Wars, natural disasters, and personal misfortunes continue to occur.     It would be easy to become discouraged and cynical about the future—or even fearful of what ...

 Elder Trezise continues to struggle.  Quarantine has taken its toll.  He is an amazing missionary and especially loves meeting and serving people.  Our family continues to pray for him.  Here is his letter from this week: Hey,  I figured I'd send a short email just to fill everybody in on how things are here. It's tough being quarantined, and I'm kind of sick of pretending like it's easy. It's not. Most days I feel like I'd be a more effective missionary at home than here. But we're still getting stuff done. We're only teaching a handful of people, but they're progressing well, and things are okay. I got a new companion, Elder Nolan. He's reassigned from Peru, and is a fun guy.  This morning I listened to a song I love called 'Saturn.' The lyrics of the song say,  "You taught me the courage of stars, before you left How light carries on endlessly, even after death With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite How rare a...

This week was a hard one, there was no email.  Elder Trezise was struggling with some things and his mission president called me on Saturday.  I was able to talk to Elder Trezise but he felt like I was ganging up on him with his mission president and told me to leave him alone.  There was a chance that Elder Trezise could have been coming home but he ended up staying.  We love Elder Trezise and are so grateful for his service and example.

Pictures from Elder Trezise's hike in the Tetons: Here is Elder Trezise's email for this week: Hey family!  Sorry this email is super late. I spend an hour driving out to go hike, 3 and a half hours hiking up tablerock mountain, then 2 and a half hiking back down. So its been a long day. A great one, but a long one. This week was a blast, and we got a ton done. We are so close to finding a new person to teach, and are working hard to make it happen. We have a good amount of work going on in the area, and are trying our best to keep things moving forward. It's just a little hard right now. I've been thinking a lot this week about following the promptings that we receive. Sorry if this email is a little rushed, I'm running out of time. But as I pondered on the topic, I was reminded of a funny story I heard in a talk. In the story, the speaker talks about a man from Burbank California. The man was a big burly guy, smoked a big cigar, and had some rough lang...