My Worst Nightmare has Arrived

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

Hey all!

Sunday morning, I woke up (an hour later than normal thanks to Slovene
daylight savings) to a whitewashed world outside my window, with
strange white powder falling from the sky. It had been raining for a
day or two before it got cold enough, so the rivers are once again
really angry. Thankfully we did have some warning. Last Monday night,
we went to go visit a nice lady we've been talking to every week on
her doorstep and she warned us it was forcasted to snow on Friday.
Friday came, and rain, but no snow. Saturday, more rain, thankfully no
snow. And then. And then. Sunday. It came.

It's really strange living in snow considering I've never lived in
snow my whole life. It's not actually super cold yet. Enough to make
it stick, sort of, but it is all kind of slushy stuff by the end of
the day. And no ice yet. I'm really glad I bought boots and wool socks
two weeks ago so I can just walk through the stuff without getting wet
or cold. Elder Hardy says it'll prolly be a cold winter though since
it's already started snowing, and it's only October.

So this week has been a great week. Lots of lessons and sincere
people. Not a lot of contacting, but we did do some more service
cutting drve (firewood) for an older member lady here in Kranj. Last
monday, we went hiking up Šmarjetna Gora, a mountain next to Kranj and
got a great view of all of Kranj and the surroundings. If I can get to
a computer that can upload photos, I'll send those today. I am going
down to Ljubljana...

This week is also going to be super strange. It's a holiday week,
which basically means all the Slovenes take the whole week easy. The
31st is ˝Reformers Day˝ (even though there aren't any protestants to
speak of in Slovenia really) and is a state holiday. The 1st,
meanwhile, isn't technically a state holiday, but the whole country
takes it off because it's a Catholic Holiday here, Dan Mrtve (day of the
dead). A day where everyone (even members here) spend the day
remembering their ancestors and go to the pokopališče (Cemeteris) to
spend time remembering them and leave them something, like a little red
candle. Work basically stops here, even for us. Elder Hardy and I are
planning to maybe go visit a member family on Wednesday and pepper
Kranj with fliers advertising English class. Other than those two
days though, the work looks good.

This week, we had a lesson with a sweet fant (guy) named Janez. His
family met a lot with the missionaries before maybe 5 years ago, but
didn't end up joining. He was buddies with the missionaries, but never
really heard what we have to share. He actually contacted us on the
street as we were walking home. He is a Jazz music major at a faks
(college) in Austria and is part of a band, but lives at home in
Kranj. He was really interested in what we had to say and said ˝you
gave me some new things to ponder about.˝ He really wants to see what
we're all about, but is in Sarajevo, Bosnia for a music festival this
week. He was hesitant to commit to acting because he said he
wasn't sure if he would act on an answer he would receive.... which is
great!

He truly understands the concept of ˝real intent˝ which is the key to
getting answers from God. If we want to know truth, to really receive
wisdom from a higher power for something we don't know (James 1:5),
then we need to be sincere with our asking. If we have no intent of
acting on some answer we get, we are not being sincere and will not
receive an answer, or the answer we get will simply be our own pride.
But if we do ask with a ˝sincere heart and real intent˝, then we can
know the truthfulness or untruthfulness of anything we need from the
Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:3-5). This truth, this knowledge, is the simple
definition of revelation. Knowledge and instruction from God. And god
is unchanging, and will give us truth today just as he gave the
ancient prophets and apostles. And this direction can be a pattern
for living the most productive and happiest life. We simply need to do
our part and be humble and sincere enough and have real intent to be
able to receive the inspiration from on high.

Hope all is well back home. I hear it's starting to cool down there,
too. Pics to come hopefully.

Cheers!
-Starešina Benson