It's Simply, who you are

Zdravo all family and friends!!!

 

This week has been an amazing week. One of the top highlights of the week was on Wednesday, we had a Zone Conference in Zagreb for all of Slovenia and Croatia, where Elder Kearon of the European Presidency, of the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke. It was an amazing experience. He is actually a convent to the church as well, and I felt a particular brotherhood with him as the conference went on and we had the opportunity to interact.

 

One of the main principles he taught is not to focus on what you need to do specifically, to do a particular thing better (ex. become a better teacher, or to become a better finder), but rather, focus on the characteristics of people who do these things well, and work to become better at those characteristics. It is not about how you do what you do, rather it is who you are, which then results in how you do what you do well or not. For example, if I want to be a better, or in other words a great teacher, I need to build my patience, my creativity, my simplicity, and most importantly my love for the people I am teaching.

 

On simplicity as well, he made an excellent point that often, people who have been religious for a long time tend to develop a language of expressing particular things, which actually masks the understanding of what we are describing. Take the feelings and ˝presence˝ (there's one of those words) of the Holy Ghost. We tend to use words like charity, inspiration, fire, to explain it, but what do these words actually mean, especially to someone feeling these things for the first time? Absolutely nothing. We instead need to think deeply about how to simply explain the things perhaps many of us have experienced and grown accustomed to experiencing. How instead to explain the Holy Ghost? Peace. Power. Good. Happy. Strong. Confident. Love.

 

This week we are seeing amazing things happening in Celje. People whom we have been working with for a little bit becoming interested in learning the gospel, and people we have been working with for a long time receiving undeniable evidence from God that the things which we share are true. It is a true blessing to be able to play a part in seeing people form and build testimonies. A true blessing.

 

I hear things are heating up in Texas. The weather here has been up and down. It's cool in the mornings, then heats up until a storm rolls through, then cools down after that until the next morning.

 

I hope all is well.

 

Much love and care-

-Starešina Benson

PS: Transfers are this week. I have no clue what is going to happen, if I will stay in Celje or not or if Elder Simon will stay in Celje or not. Anything could really happen. We'll see!

 

-Starešina Benson

Be at Peace, Have Faith. It's Truth

Lep Pozdrav družina in prijatelji!

First, I want to mention that there is not a lot of time today because we are on our way up to Maribor for P-Day, and we might go to some waterfalls in Croatia today if we can get permission from President Rowe to leave Slovenia. This week is gearing up to be absolutely amazing. On Wednesday we have a Zone conference with all of Slovenia and Croatia combined in Zagreb, and we will be having a special guest for the Zone Conference, Elder Kearen of the Quorum of the Seventy. He spoke in Priesthood session I think a few conferences back about being stung by a scorpion. He is from England and has an English accent. It should be a great day. A few of the missionaries in Slovenia (us included) are going down to Zagreb the night before and sleep over there so we don't have to wake up early and rush the next day.

This week I probably had one of the top spiritual visits (lessons) of my mission so far. We met with the investigator last night who currently has reset his baptismal date to the beginning of June (from middle of may) and has problems with quiting smoking. He has been off and on smoking over the last few weeks, and so we had planned to go over a 12 step spiritual based stop smoking program with him yesterday. However, we soon discovered as the lesson began that the Lord wanted the lesson to go a different direction.

Through a series of questions starting with why exactly again he had the desire to be baptized and the wish to quit smoking, we re hit the concern that he felt as if he hadn't felt the Holy Ghost for some 10 years, despite having met with the missionaries often within that time.Despite doing all the things the missionaries had asked (praying, reading the scriptures, coming to church, he felt as if it was impossible for the Holy Ghost to visit him). He had no idea how he would describe the Holy Ghost.  He felt as if the things we shared were true, that Christ had a possibility to be a savior, that the Bible might be from God, as well as the Book of Mormon, but ultimately all this was based on the testimonies of others and not of his own. The only thing he knew 100% was that God exists.

And so, we began discussing the Holy Ghost. Who is the holy ghost and His relationship with God? What is his role? (3 Nephi 11:32) What can we do over time to have his fruits (Alma 32:28) (Patience, love, long suffering, meekness, joy, etc Galatians 5:22) in our lives, and what, step by step do we have to do to have Him come to us and answer our concerns and calm our troubled hearts? (Moroni 10 :3-5)  As we went through these scriptures sentence by sentence, word by word, pausing frequently to expound the meaning and application to him in his life, he began to better understand more fully, who, why, and how we have the Holy Ghost in our lives.

At the end, despite having gone way over the usual time of a lesson (sorry for being a little late for the mother's day call mom! This is why)  We discussed who he knows as God, his actual Father who has all power and lives in heaven. Then we invited him simply, to ask these things, and then pause during and/or after the prayer and listen. Listen to God.

And so we did. He offered the most sincere, grateful, heartfelt and personal prayer I have ever hear him give, and then, after the close, silence. We sit, reverently, watching for the promptings and feelings of the Holy Ghost to come to us. After a minute and a half or so of silence, he speaks up saying, ˝You wouldn't believe this, but I think I just felt the Holy Ghost.˝ He then described in his own way, undeniably, the power of the Holy Ghost in his heart. The best way he could describe this indescribable feeling? ˝It felt like I had just smoked two cigarettes!˝  Oh man. But progress!!

This experience was truly a testimony to me to have more faith in the promise of Moroni. That God and His Spirit really are real and work in the lives of others all the time. Also it was a testimony of the power of immediately applying what we had been teaching (especially simple, simple, simple, teaching), and seeing the miracles happen, despite the doubt you might have had. That we need to have faith in what we teach, and apply it in our own lives as well to strengthen our own spiritual power such that we can strengthen others. And most importantly, a testimony again that God is real. He speaks to us today through His Spirit. Jesus is the Christ, and the fully restored gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the earth again.

I hope everyone at home is well, and would practice daily what you yourself teach and preach and believe, whatsoever that may be. We can only grow stronger through use.

Much love-

-Starešina Benson

Refiner's Fire

Zdravo vsi družina in prijatelji!

 

The last few days large thunderstorms have been rolling through the mission, bringing lots of rain and cooler weather. They are actually the first thunderstorms I have seen in Slovenia, so it is a good experience. Also it makes me glad that I learned the words for storm and thunder months ago before I needed to actually use them.

 

This week the big success of the work is with one of the people we work with, whom we inherited months ago from the Sisters when they left Celje. She had largely already come to know the truthfulness of the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ we share, but is prevented from baptism because she needs to get married first (a challenge which is proving to be a refiner's fire). None the less, we have been working with her to not lose her fire and light of the gospel through enduring the challenges she must face. Her fire in the gospel shown bright on Sunday as she came to the pulpit and bore a strong, sincere testimony, to which the Spirit accompanied to testify of its truth. I have little doubt she will join the community of the saints one day soon, and be an ever stronger member here in Celje.

 

Largely, I have found that the more opposition, whether from others or from self, they and we must endure to become active members of the restored gospel, the stronger we become once we finally overcome our challenges and enter the waters of baptism. And still after that, if opposition still exists, if we endure it, they continue to become ever stronger and resilient in the faith. I have seen this especially when I was in Kranj, that it was a true sacrifice of time, and for some, money, to travel the 30 minute to hour long trip each way to church each Sunday. This dedication and action, and their very presence, showed and still strengthened their resolve to the gospel of Christ and increased love and dedication to the Savior.

 

Each of us has our own unique challenges and circumstances with which we must each overcome, and it is my wish that we would all use them as opportunities to become ever stronger, instead of letting them pull us down and make us weaker.

 

Much love and care to each of you across the large ocean!

-Starešina Benson

No time, but Pictures!!!

Hello all!

No time to talk today. We're leaving in 15 minutes to go to the Soča Rier Valley on the other side of Triglav which I think pretty much every missionary in Sloenia. So instead of stories and updates and such, I hope that just the word that all is well, warm, and friendly here in Celje. We have another person on date for baptism, and sister missionaries are the best.

Instead of a long list of words, how about a  picture instead? Enjoy!

-Starešina Benson

Go to Pictures on the menu at the top to see the new picture.

Twyla Benson

Vse je mogoče. Verjamaj! (All is possible. Believe!)

Zdravo družina in prijatelji!!

To bo hitro zdaj, ker nimam veliko časa zdaj sicer sem zapisal vse po angleško in slovensko ta teden. Zakaj bi vprašel? Ker ta teden, jaz pa starašina simon pomagava enemu človeku prenehati kajenje, tako da lahko se krstiti. Prav tako, jim pomagati, odločila sva, da bova prenehala angleščino ta teden z njim kot preneha cigarete.

Ampak res, ta teden je bil čudoviten. Sestri sta prišli v ponedeljek, in sta bili tukaj za kot 5 dni. Veliko pomoči sta. Imava več časa zdaj da sta tukaj.

Malo zgodba o tem človeku. On je imel stik z cerkvijo za dolg časa zdaj, pet let? deset let? ne vem. Zelo zelo dolg časa. Ve, brez dvoma da je resnična, ampak imel je samo en problem. Kadi. Prav tako, noben se lahko krstiti kot kadi zaradi besede madrosti (Če hočeš vedeti več o tem, glej mormon.org, ali uprašaj mormona ali misionarske). Mnogi krat se je trudil prenehati, ampak nimel uspeh. In zdaj, zlasti ta teden, se mu bova trudila pomagati. Ima res željo in pričevanje, samo res nore tržave z kajenjem. Ampak vemo da z bogom, vse je mogoče. In upam da z neijno vero, pomočjo, in vero ter pomočjo veje tukaj v Celju, lahko premaga kajanje in stopi skozi vode krsta ter se pridruže zbor svetov v celju.

Želim da vse je prav doma in veliko uspeha!!

Dobra želja

- Starešina Benson

-----

Hello family and friends!

This will be fast now, because I don't have a lot of time, because I have written everything in English and Slovene this week. Why you ask? Because this week, I and Elder Simon are helping a man to quit smoking, so that he can be baptized. Therefore, to help him, we decided that we will quit English for the week as he quits cigarettes.

But really, this week was miraculous. The sisters same on Monday, and were here for like 5 days. They are a lot of help. We two have more time now that they two are here.

A little story about that man. He has had contact with the church for a long time now, five years? Ten years? I don't know. A very very long time. He knows, without doubt that it is true, but he had only one problem. He smokes. Therefore, no one can be baptized as they smoke becasue of the word of wisdom (If you want to know more about that, look at mormon.org, or ask a Mormon or the missionaries). Many times he tried to quit, but he didn't have success. And now, especially this week, we will try to help him. He has a real wish and testimony, only a really crazy problem with smoking. But we know that with God, all is possible. And I hope that with our faith, help, and the faith and help of the branch here in Celje, he can overcome smoking and step into the waters of baptism and join the group of the saints in Celje.

I wish that all is well at home, and a lot of success!!

Good Wishes

- Elder Benson

Spring Cleaning

Hello all family and friends!!

To start with the usual weather report, I think Spring has finally arrived, a bit later than normal, but finally, it is here. The weather today is going to be up to the 20's C (around 70 F) and there isn't a single cloud in the sky. The flowers which started to bloom well over a month ago now are starting to fill the fields with color, and leaves are returning to the trees. Life is well.

This week, big big changes are coming the Celje, again. Initially, President Rowe, the Mission President pulled sisters out of Celje because there weren't enough Sisters in Slovenia, and so Celje pulled up the slack. However, due to some, recent, events, which have transpired in Maribor, the Maribor sisters are going to be splitting their time now, half in Maribor half in Celje (but more time in Celje ;-)!! It is going to be wonderful. This will be the first time in my mission where I have served in a city with more than one missionary companionship. Kranj was alone, and Celje has been alone for the last 3ish weeks.  But it will be great. We have so many people to meet with now, with us being the only ones here, that I don't know if it's even physically possible. My planner, where we think about what to talk about with people, this week doesn't have enough room to hold all the names and plans! So it is truly a Godsend. Then again, there are missionaries the in the world, even in our own mission who would wish to be so stacked with visits, to not have any other free time. But it will all be good.

This week also, in Celje, we had a missionary return. He's from Celje, born and raised, and came back home after serving an honorable two year mission in South Salt Lake City. He is wonderful and it is a great pick up to the branch here in Cleje. Everyone is incredibly happy to see him home.

This week we met with an older lady who has connections with the branch here in Celje. She is incredibly nice and positive about the church, but seems to be perfectly content sitting in the middle ground of recognizing the church is good, but not that it is something for her in her life. I hope the Lord will direct us and her and help her receive a witness directly from God as to her purpose and path in life, and that the church is more than just a good organization, but rather the means of obtaining eternal joy, life, and happiness with her family.

Hope all is well and warm at home.

Muč luv-

-Starešina Benson

Modern Day Guidance

Pozdrav vsemu!

I hope all is warm and sunny at home. Today is the first day in a long long time I haven't seen any clouds in the sky. It is a very welcome sight. Many of the Slovenes around us say that this Winter has been incredibly long, unusually long, especially long, even if it wasn't too particularly harsh. But lots and lots of snow. The wild flowers started blooming long ago, but with the return of the cold, the trees decided to wait a few more weeks, or a month longer before they began blooming out. Soon however, it should be really nice.

The week in Celje has been a quick one. In many ways I can hardly believe that Monday is already here again. The cherry on the top of the cake however was definitely General Conference this weekend. Every six months, we have the opportunity to hear from living prophets and apostles and their council for our lives. It is a true and real blessing and evidence that the living Church of Christ is here on the earth again. As God gave us living prophets in the old testament, and Christ called apostles to guide his church during his life and especially after, we have this blessing here on the Earth again. The greatest blessing of course is the modern day council we receive from them. In many ways, the works of the ancient prophets and apostles are life changing and altering, while God still speaks to us through them and their words in council.  However, our times today are much different than they were back 2000+ years ago, with much different challenges and concerns. As such we have the guidance from God today for our support and direction for the new and unique challenges we face today.

As such God speaks to us today for our specific needs as well. It is an amazing experience to receive help from God in personal needs we need help with through His living apostles. Without a doubt God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and speaks to his chosen leaders today, as He did before, and will forever. 

Hope all is well and warm at home. Things might have a chance of getting warmer here.

Lep pozdrav,

Starešina Benson