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| All ready to be dropped at the MTC - Nice new suit Elder!! |
Elder Jonathon Scott Bennallack
MTC Mailbox # 100
FRA-TOU 0201
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
4 December 2010
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| Sister Bryers: SL Temple Square, Elder McLean: French Cananda & Elder Bennallack: France Toulouse |
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| Companions: Elder Bennallack & Elder Humphreys |
There was snow when I first got here, but the weather is beautiful and all the snow has melted away. Hopefully it will snow in the upcoming weeks though!!!! The food's pretty average, I stay very close to the salad bar, but I like the food, unlike my Brittish comp who hates everything.
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| It's snowing!! |
There's just sooo many people here at the MTC, oh! and everyone loves my Aussie, and love slightly more, my comps English accent, so we are quite popular here, which is a little bit of a curse because sometimes we have to shoo away the crowds to try and get work done :P
31 December 2010
Lots of fun times here, lots of study, lots of spiritual times. It's kinda cool feeling the spirit here, it's always present, but when It wants to testify to you, boy, it testifies to you. It's kina cool just learning abit more about how the Spirit teaches/talks to me. Just wanted to share a couple of experiences:
D&C 8:2 "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." It's cool to have this happen to me. Like when we'd be teaching a mock investigator and scriptures or certain concerns or doctrinal topics will pop into your head...clearly. The first time was when I was trying to find a concern of the mock investigator (already pre-determined) and while we were talking, a concern from completely left field popped into my mind, which turned out to be that same concern! That happened in the first week, but it freaked me out and excited me both at the same time. Though the situations we practice are fake, the feelings we feel are very, very real!
The second reminded me of 3 Nephi 11:3, when the Saviour was about to descend amongst the Nephites, the voice of the Father introduced him and the scripture reads "...and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice, nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice" (and this is where it gets good) "it did pierce them that did hear to the centre, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea and did cause their hearts to burn." So, I had a tremendously similar experience, (though it was't because I heard the voice of the Father) but like I said, if the Spirit wants to testify here, He really lets you know. It was when we were watching 'Joseph Smith, Propet of the Restoration', I felt the Spirit start from my heart, till it got sooo strong that it just spread. The feeling spread from my heart, to the tip of my head, down each arm and down both legs 'til, from my shins to my forearms, my body was quaking with power. It was kinda cool :)
(Written in French:) I know that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, that our Heavenly Father chose Him before the creation of the world. I know that because of Jesus Christ, me and you, we can be pure and because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we can return to God once more. I know that by Joseph Smith, God has restored the same gospel that Jesus Christ had established that was lost. And by Joseph Smith, God has revealed a new book of scripture, like the Bible which is called The Book of Mormon. And if we pray to God, He will tell us the truths of all things, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Because He wants us to be happy.
I'm lucky to be here and it's way fun, but I stll have lots to do and learn.
1 January 2011
We're a pilot class, there's alot of feedback that we give. So to start off with, a lot of the explanation of verb conjucating and such, was in French but now it's a little bit more in English (still over 50% in french though). We pretty much study the docrine/language, prepare a lesson, then teach that lesson (in French) and thats kind of the cycle we learn in, with a few lessons here and there with teachers. It's good.
It's soo cold here BUT, I love how white everything is. Like the mountains look a million times prettier when they're white and covered in snow. Theres a few polynesians here and we have gym with them (they play volleyball the whole time, so I don't normally play too much with them during gym) but whenever there's snow afterwards, we always have a snow fight with them (coz snow is foreign to both of us!!!!) Needless to say there are A LOT more polynesians than there are me, my companion and Elder McLean, so we lose... badly... everytime :P , but I love it soo much. They're awesome, and snowmen are easiest when the snow's not as powdery ;)
6 January 2011
I'm emailing in the arvo because... this morning I did a session in the Salt Lake Temple!
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| Aussies at the Provo Temple: Elder McLean, Sister Bryers (both Melbourne) and Elder Bennallack (Adelaide) |
31 December 2010
Lots of fun times here, lots of study, lots of spiritual times. It's kinda cool feeling the spirit here, it's always present, but when It wants to testify to you, boy, it testifies to you. It's kina cool just learning abit more about how the Spirit teaches/talks to me. Just wanted to share a couple of experiences:
D&C 8:2 "Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart." It's cool to have this happen to me. Like when we'd be teaching a mock investigator and scriptures or certain concerns or doctrinal topics will pop into your head...clearly. The first time was when I was trying to find a concern of the mock investigator (already pre-determined) and while we were talking, a concern from completely left field popped into my mind, which turned out to be that same concern! That happened in the first week, but it freaked me out and excited me both at the same time. Though the situations we practice are fake, the feelings we feel are very, very real!
The second reminded me of 3 Nephi 11:3, when the Saviour was about to descend amongst the Nephites, the voice of the Father introduced him and the scripture reads "...and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice, nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice" (and this is where it gets good) "it did pierce them that did hear to the centre, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea and did cause their hearts to burn." So, I had a tremendously similar experience, (though it was't because I heard the voice of the Father) but like I said, if the Spirit wants to testify here, He really lets you know. It was when we were watching 'Joseph Smith, Propet of the Restoration', I felt the Spirit start from my heart, till it got sooo strong that it just spread. The feeling spread from my heart, to the tip of my head, down each arm and down both legs 'til, from my shins to my forearms, my body was quaking with power. It was kinda cool :)
(Written in French:) I know that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, that our Heavenly Father chose Him before the creation of the world. I know that because of Jesus Christ, me and you, we can be pure and because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we can return to God once more. I know that by Joseph Smith, God has restored the same gospel that Jesus Christ had established that was lost. And by Joseph Smith, God has revealed a new book of scripture, like the Bible which is called The Book of Mormon. And if we pray to God, He will tell us the truths of all things, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Because He wants us to be happy.
I'm lucky to be here and it's way fun, but I stll have lots to do and learn.
1 January 2011
We're a pilot class, there's alot of feedback that we give. So to start off with, a lot of the explanation of verb conjucating and such, was in French but now it's a little bit more in English (still over 50% in french though). We pretty much study the docrine/language, prepare a lesson, then teach that lesson (in French) and thats kind of the cycle we learn in, with a few lessons here and there with teachers. It's good.
The amount of French my comp picked up this week was very surprising, just out of nowhere now he's gone from nothing to 3,4 or 5 sentences together, so thats kinda cool.
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| Had to do it! Snow Angel!!! |
It's soo cold here BUT, I love how white everything is. Like the mountains look a million times prettier when they're white and covered in snow. Theres a few polynesians here and we have gym with them (they play volleyball the whole time, so I don't normally play too much with them during gym) but whenever there's snow afterwards, we always have a snow fight with them (coz snow is foreign to both of us!!!!) Needless to say there are A LOT more polynesians than there are me, my companion and Elder McLean, so we lose... badly... everytime :P , but I love it soo much. They're awesome, and snowmen are easiest when the snow's not as powdery ;)
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| Snow is foreign to us except Elder Humphreys.. |
6 January 2011
It's way cool!!!!! It's a million times better 'live' I reckon, and its all soo beautiful. The Garden Room and the Terrestrial Room were my favourites. The Celestial Room is good, soo much detail, especially for 120ish years ago!!! Maybe I'm biased but the Adelaide Celestial Room still feels better, sooooo much smaller, but it's home. But boy! I did love the acting part of it and the paintings on the walls. It's so beautiful. And it was cool because only internationals get to go to SL so there were a bunch of Tongans with us, whom I love.
I have only 1 hour left of Pday and I still have to do my laundry which takes about 80 minutes, so a very busy day today, but I loved the chance to go through the Salt Lake Temple.
14 January 2011
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| Our District outside the Provo Temple, Utah |
Yesterday the MTC President finished, so a new presidency came in. I guess they'll probably speak to us on our Sunday night devotionals. There's Sunday night and Tuesday night devotionals, though its mostly the Presidency that speak at those, and then on Tuesday nights we often get 70's, and I think only once has it been a 2nd quorum instead of the first, so it's cool. This week, Tuesday, was this Presidency's last one, but not only that, 7 other new MTC Presidents (and wives) were there also for training, and there was extra 'security' very similar to when Elder Nelson came. So I was thinking someone good was coming, then I recognise Elder Snow on the stand (70 who's already spoken to us since my time here), then maybe 15 minutes before it starts, President Hinckley's son, Richard G Hinckley walks in (it took me about 90 seconds then I realised who it was) so I was getting pretty excited. Then about 8 minutes before the start the Mission President walks in and everyone stands.. because Elder Holland is behind him! It was a very strong spirit in that room :P With Elder Holland, (and as he told us during his talk) four other 70's and then all these incoming MTC presidents! so it was cool.
My leave date is 31st of January, I think the plan is still to fly through Atlanta, but I find out for sure in a week or two. And I'm allowed to call whilst at the airport, so if you're all keen I can do that easily.
21 January 2011
This past week I have almost been obsessed wilth thoughts of the premortal existance and a little bit on the spirit world, but mostly premortal and our obligations and opportuinites while we're here.
21 January 2011
This past week I have almost been obsessed wilth thoughts of the premortal existance and a little bit on the spirit world, but mostly premortal and our obligations and opportuinites while we're here.
Thats what I've been studying mostly in my personal study (I've broken it up, 20 mins scripture reading, 20 mins investigator study (like studying scrips etc for the needs of an investigator), and 20 mins on my choice, which this week has been pre mortal existance. It's way cool to think about the grand councils that were held, presumably for a long period of time and I could imagine Satan saying,'Hey I love Jesus just as much as all of you do, but still He's just one of us, yeah, He's the oldest but he's still just one of us. What if he fails? What if he fails and all of you are lost for ever, are you willing to bet on that?" And then especially, as we are here in this the latter days, we must have stood up and literally bet our lives on Christ, that He would have been able to do exactly what He did. And how much of a greater appreciation has that given me, of Christ! I also loved reading about, like, how we really can't procrastinate our time in this life, and if we are diligent, how so much of a great advantage we'll have in the life to come! I'll have to study more, but the feeling I'm having at the moment, is that in this life, we can learn and grow soo much faster than that of the next, and that's why its important to get into good habits especially, because those habits will go with us into the next relm and those bad habbits will be SO much harder to kick. But yeah its cool to imagine myself in the premortal relm and to just think of my obligations here now as a son of God born into a righteous family.
I recieved my travel plans yesterday, I fly out on the 31st of January, I fly from SL at 8 30 in the morning so I have to leave here at 5.00am. I fly from here to Minneapolis and then to Paris and then to Toulouse! So I'll get to Toulouse 11.30 ish on the 1st of Feb. There's four of us going (one is speaking chinese), and I'll have to be incharge of them :S but should be fun! Because I have a layover for like 3 hours, for a good hour and a bit, I could call you all...
29 January 2011
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| Our French District |
It has been the craziest of weeks, where to start!? I think I'll start for the excitement of the happenings tonight. So Elder Humphrey is a very sociable elder, most people tend to like him, Elder McLean and myself, especially in the lunch room (cafaterie). See, there are heaps of people who work there, they're all from BYU, and there's this one guy especially that we all get along with. About the 4th week in, we found out he's not LDS, which made it even more fun talking to him etc etc. So this week we hung out with him and another friend who works at the cafeteria and we went for a walk around the Temple and just chilled and chatted in a spare hour of ours. We were going to ask if we could share a lesson with him, but it didn't feel right, and then yesterday we were visited by a bloke who's in one of Harold's (our friend) classes and long story short, he asked him if he wanted to hear more. He said only if it's from us as we're the only missionaries that he likes. So tonight will be our first lesson (in English) but it's cool. We had already bought a Book of Mormon for him and wrote our testimonies in in a few days ago, but its kinda cool how everything has worked out. I just hope all goes well.
So we're teaching tonight, but only Elder McLean and I will be teaching as my companion has headed back to England this week for a bit. Long story short, there were some things that needed to be taken care of before the mission which hadn't been done, so this week I have spent many hours outside different priesthood leaders offices. It's comforting that these decisions weren't made lightly and I know it's the right thing for everyone. Luckily he wrote his testimony in Harold's book when he first bought it (before we knew we were teaching him), but yeah its kind of a bitter sweet feeling. Knowing he won't be heading to Toulouse with us, which is sad but he's in the right place forr him.
With all these events going on, there were many occasions for priesthood blessings...and it was actually physically draining giving a blessing, one time in particular.
Finally, my teacher served in Toulouse and he got an email from Pres Carter this week telling him (as this Mission President leavse in July) that as of July (there are 3 missions in France: mine, Paris and Geneva Switzerland, which is like all of Easern France and then the TINIEST bit of Switzerland because only the tiniest bit speaks French but that's the title of the mission) Anyways, so as of July there will only be TWO missions in France, Paris and the FRANCE LYON missions!!! I have no idea what's happening with the bounderies etc but I think for the most part, Toulouse and Switzerland willl combine with maybe 30% going to Paris, but thats only a rumour, it will be one of the first questions I'll ask my president. Kinda cool though.
Finally, my teacher served in Toulouse and he got an email from Pres Carter this week telling him (as this Mission President leavse in July) that as of July (there are 3 missions in France: mine, Paris and Geneva Switzerland, which is like all of Easern France and then the TINIEST bit of Switzerland because only the tiniest bit speaks French but that's the title of the mission) Anyways, so as of July there will only be TWO missions in France, Paris and the FRANCE LYON missions!!! I have no idea what's happening with the bounderies etc but I think for the most part, Toulouse and Switzerland willl combine with maybe 30% going to Paris, but thats only a rumour, it will be one of the first questions I'll ask my president. Kinda cool though.
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| Elder Bennallack & Brother Rees (French Teacher) |
I'm feeling very ready for France, I'm sure it will be hard adjusting at first, but I'm very ready.
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