The Fourth Missionary, Smelling Roses

This past week has been pretty eventful. We had a false alarm with bed

bugs, transfers just happened, and among the many other things, the

power has gone out in our apartment. With the exception of the three

most important things in the house: the washer and dryer, oven and

stove, and last and not least the refrigerator. *phew

This next Saturday we are having a baptism! (Well 4 people) they are

awesome kids and their grandma that takes care of them won't be to far

behind along with their sister who turns 8 in December. Yea!! The

Spanish is coming slowly but I have such a strong testimony of the

gift of tongues. The Lord truly blesses those that are in the service

of Him.

So it's been quite a ride being here on the mission. I have come to be

extremely grateful for the experiences I've had and the things I have

learned in this short time. Being a missionary is NOT easy. If I

didn't put enough emphasis on what I just said... BEING A MISSIONARY

IS NOT EASY!! So how on earth can so many returned missionaries look

back to their mission as such a great and valuable experience? Well

let me tell you what I have been able to learn so far.

Just recently I read the Fourth Missionary by Elder Corbridge. He

wrote it while he was a missionary president. It explains four

different kinds of missionaries. The first two were disobedient

missionaries that result in them accomplishing nothing on their

missions and they eventually fall away into inactivity or are very

uncomfortable when anything about missionary work comes up. To add, no

one benefited. The third missionary is obedient, only because they

have to, and possibly brings many people unto Christ. Yet they don't

actually change themselves and don't have many spiritual experiences,

even if they are in spiritual lessons. Basically they don't change a

whole lot personally, even if they do good things and follow the

rules. How can that be? They are doing everything they should right?

Well, on paper yes. They follow the rules. They bring others unto

Christ. To add they served a full mission. But they are missing one

quality. They haven't given themselves to Him.

One scripture that we all know talks about this.

"25. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever

will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and

lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

(Matt 16:25,26; emphasis added.) "

The main difference is here in this scripture. The difference is that

the Fourth Missionary GIVES himself. He gives up his own dreams,

wishes and desires. He allows them to be turned to the side and to be

overcome by the dreams, wishes and desires of our Father. This also is

what defines a disciple of Christ. So when you can truly become the

Fourth Missionary you also become a disciple of Christ. One that is

full of "Faith, Hope, Charity and Love with an eye single to the glory

of God." D&C 4:5

This should be the focus of our lives. To become a disciple of Christ.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will

lose his life" in the service of our God "shall find it"

I know that when we truly can turn outward and lose ourselves in the

service of others, we can truly become more like Christ. And whether

we may know it or not, that is what everyone wants to be like in the

end. It's our divine nature to have this desire. I know this church is

true with all of my heart. And through my mission the Lord has been

able to stretch me and mold me into the kind of person he wants me to

become.  In more meaningful and effective ways that will last

throughout this life and through the eternities. I say these things as

a humble missionary and servant of the Lord. In the name of Jesus

Christ. Amen.

Elder Nathan Benson

P.S. Don't forget to stop and smell the roses :)

Blitzing for Baptisms

I really want to be

better at emailing you guys.  I think I am starting to figure it all

out. And Elder Taylor absolutely

loves the letter Brooke wrote him. He is "going to keep it forever"

yes he loved it.

One thing that has been going on for me, to keep you guys in the loop,

is the growth first of all.

My testimony has been stretched, pulled, and formed into something

much more powerful than is comprehend able right now. It has been

quite a ride. I have been going through times of great blessings and

miracles, and at the same time I have had to push on through feelings

of insufficiency and inability. I have felt a roller coaster of

feelings, most have been the ones I have just mentioned.

We have been getting a lot of work lately. Which has been a huge

blessing. There are days that we have so many lessons we have to

reschedule some for future days because other lessons go over time

because they are so good, or because there simply isn't time.

One family is on date for next week. So we are blitzing to get them

ready for their baptismal interview this Saturday. This family is

amazing. They do almost all the homework we give them and this

includes going to church for the past 3-4 weeks! Their grandma is the

only one not on date because she needs to quit smoking, but she is

showing a lot of promise. The 4 grandkids under her care are the ones

on date.

One more family is one that we just taught for the second time just

yesterday. They are so ready. They don't do anything against the word

of wisdom, except very infrequent beers. They share a lot the same

values of our church. At the end we were feeling the spirit so we

invited them to baptism! We didn't set a date but we plan on doing

that soon.

Your updates keep me going, especially when I get to see you guys grow

through the gospel. I promise to write more next time and they will be

better. I love you guys!

P.S. Conference was awesome! I don't have a favorite talk because they

were all so good!

P.S.S. We might have a bed bug problem.... We are taking a lot of

precautions right now. We are praying it was a false alarm.

Elder Nathan Benson