The Tour de Benson

 (Pronounced Tour de BenSEAUX)

เฮลโล Hello!

What a crazy crazy week, y'all. This being the last week of the transfer, unfortunately Elder Stradling will not be with us anymore. But no need to be glum, sugarplum. I'm getting a new companion, who I will meet later today. It should be a glorious experience, at least for him. 

THE TOUR DE BENSEAUX

On Sunday, as our last day for Elder Stradling, we met with all of our favorite families from around the ward. Yep. All. We biked the entire area to meet with all these people. If that's not dedication for a great farewell tour, I don't know what is. We aren't Kobe, but then again neither was Paul Pierce so I'd say we're in good company. We biked to 10 houses (on fast sunday, so we were naturally speedier, granted) after church. With plenty of time to say hi, take a picture and reassure them that even though Elder Stradling would be leaving, I am still loyal to Benson Hill. We did get fed two dinners on our tour, a jug of orange juice, and a box of chocolates. Also, side tangent, life is not like a box of chocolates. Every single time you grab something out of one, you got chocolate. Foolishness.

GENEOLOGY I AM DOING IT

We have been trying to do a little more family history work. We were at a members house and we all decided to open the family search app and naturally find out how far you can go. I traced my way back to Adam and Eve a few times. Pretty cool, pretty cool. Thanks family members who actually put in work so I can tap on the screen for a few minutes.

GIVE THEM LEARN

We taught a few more english classes and an actual lesson with one of our friends. What happened? I'm so glad you asked. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a Buddhist monk, for one. It was probably one of the coolest moments of my mission life. Not gonna lie, if you told me I'd teach lessons to a monk on my mission, I wouldn't think you meant in Washington. Another one of our lessons, our friend had to use headphones that had the absolute worst microphone in the world. So now ive spoken English, Thai, and Robot. And finally, we got one of our friends on date for baptism! She was a referral and it was our first lesson with her, but we were both feeling it so we just shot the question! She accepted, no hesitation. It's the best.

LAST THINGS LAST

- one more transfer in Benson Hill, let's go!

- I pulled a muscle in my forearm while I was ripping out some carpet. So typing this email is a labor of love.

- hope y'all had a great Halloween! We've got more candy than we know what to do with, so please come by and partake ;)

- have you ever wondered, who does Elder Barrett love? The answer may surprise you: YOU!!

เอ็ลเดอร์ปั่นจักรยาน (Elder Cycling)

Elder Barrett

Mormons Can Be Buddhist, Too.

 เฮลโล Hello!

Welcome back to a week in the life of Elder Calvin "The Grizzly" Bear. It's getting cold in Seattle, y'all. And for some reason, there's a sign in our apartment that says not to turn the thermostat past 50°. I'm not sure if it's just a prank or if I'm gonna bankrupt the church from an outrageous heating bill. For now, I'll just wear some sweatshirts and wrap in a few blankets while I finish my personal study.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN A THAI LESSON???

I know! TWO Thai lessons! Y'know how I've been teaching some english classes to Thai people in the Seattle area? Well, you'll never believe it, but we actually had two students who wanted to learn about the church! Our first lesson (which took place in a treehouse out of necessity and level of coolness), one of our students, who is one that we thought wouldn't be interested at all, asked us what's different between our church and other christian churches. What a question!! We got into the Restoration lesson and it was all in Thai! My companion was struggling to find his footing, since we havent really taught in Thai for months, but here's a miracle: I had like zero rust. It was amazing! My words were just flowing and the spirit was there and it was an amazing lesson. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to talk about it much further after we finished the Restoration. But I was just having an amazing conversation about the similarities between our religion and buddhism. It was super cool! Next time we'll talk more. I'm so excited. But we taught another lesson the next day. This one friend we had already taught to pray and she is interested in christianity. This time, we offered to take her on a church tour and she MET US AT THE TEMPLE!!! We got to take her on a tour of the temple grounds and share the Restoration again!!! It was amazing. She accepted a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet (which had Elder Stradling's notes all over it, but we promised to get her a fresh copy haha) and she is so amazing!!!!

I'm very lucky to have been blessed with the ability to learn languages. The gift of tongues is super real, y'all. This week, I had conversations about things I had never talked about totally in Thai. I was able to contribute and understand what they were saying! I talked about preparing someone for a driver's test, hiking a mountain, meditation, and made a few jokes about how missionaries aren't very rich. Even outside of Thailand, I'm getting to use Thai a little bit almost every day. That's such a big deal for me and I'm so grateful.

KNOCK KNOCK

Who's there? The missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. What? Isn't it Rona season? Nah, fam. It's time for you to hear about the Book of Mormon!!! We are actually allowed to knock doors now! I was a little hesitant, I'll admit. But we had a really good experience going out one day to find some people. We found one lady who is more than happy to let us come back one day and also a family where the mom told the kids to tell us that they don't speak english haha. It's interesting, but at least I can actually feel a little bit more like a missionary now.

YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU SHOULD BE

This week, at Zone Conference, it hit me that even though in the end I want to make it back to Thailand to finish out my mission, I need to be happy about where I am, what I'm doing, and what experiences I will have here! I wrote: I"'ve gotten into the habit of looking forward to the next step in my life without taking time to be happy about where I am. I need to work on being happy to be here and to be doing what I'm doing. There is nothing else in the world that I should be doing right now." Still working on it, but I'm totally happy to be here, chilling out and sharing the gospel!

LAST THINGS LAST

- how to rob a bank with your friends: step 1, buy matching hats.

- Thai is very feminine sounding compared to Lao. A man with a very large beard told me that, and he looks like he has authority on that subject.

- happy Halloween, y'all! Halloween is scary, but do you know what's scarier? That's right, that one phantom stair at the top of the staircase.

- I love you! Take it from me, I'm an expert on all things me. And me love you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ศาสนาพุทธ (Elder Buddhism)

Elder Barrett

 

Good Thai Food of Great Joy

 เฮลโล Hello!

So. What a week, y'all. It was a pretty typical week, full of service, great food, and most importantly, it's such a great time to be a missionary!!!

REVENGE OF THE SIMP

We had our first companion exchanges since I got here at the end of June. If I were to describe it in a spanish word, it would have to be picante. I got paired up with Elder Chidester, who's actually from Spanish Fork. We stayed in Benson Hill and we stayed BUSY! We helped a member's friend with some boxes of food, I shared my secret hawaiian sliders recipe (email me for info if you're worthy), taught a member while sitting on top of a litter of kittens, got a box of pizza from a member, taught an english class, and helped a family in Tiffany Park move out. It was such a party day, finally Spanish and Thai coming together as one.

IT AIN'T MUCH BUT IT'S HONEST WORK

I got to drive a tractor this week. Yes it was amazing, yes it was probably very attractive, and no there was no property damage. We spent 7 hours in one day digging piles of dirt, spreading mulch, and flattening the earth (helping out the flat-earther's case a bit, I'll admit). I got to drive a riding lawnmower, which has also been a lifelong dream of mine, and transport mulch for a few hours, which was less of a dream but I won't complain. It was tough work, and we were both so exhausted by the end of the day that we could barely walk haha. We also got to do some raking, some weed pulling, and just some more general yardwork. It's always a party.

OH WELL THATS NICE

We were invited to a member's house to watch stake conference this sunday. Mini miracle alert! They offered for us to show up in our pajamas, so naturally we accepted. This means I got to wear a big thick sweatshirt rather than my thin dress shirts. Might seem like a minor thing, but in the middle of the stake conference, their daughter puts a rabbit on my stomach. I don't mind too much, conference was honestly getting a little boring and now something new and exciting was here on me. Well, the rabbit seemed to think it was VERY new and exciting. When the little girl took the rabbit off me, there was a big dark spot where it had been, with some fun little brown pellets to garnish. Now that seems like a pretty lousy thing to have happened. BUT! Had I been wearing my missionary clothes rather than pajamas, that would've seeped right through my shirt, and onto the man beneath the clothes. But probably not quite to the nucleus. But the members had us come in our thick, warm PJs. Which means that it never got past my sweatshirt and it was an easy clean. Bless up.

LAST THINGS LAST

- I passed my one year mark this week! Radical!

- the house is too cold to get away with just one blanket on my bed now. Tubular!

- somehow, we're still getting fed Thai food on a consistent basis. Psychedelic!

-Twinkies are now a cereal!! Too legit to quit!!!!!

- you are a fantastic beast and i know where to find you. On my list of people I love. 

เอ็ลเดอร์อุจจาระกระต่าย (Elder rabbit feces)

Elder Barrett

"I need to get you and your family DUNKED!"

 เฮลโล Hello!

How much do you want God's blessings? Are you willing to work for them? Willing to take whatever comes your way trusting that your struggles and efforts will be worth it? These were the questions filling my mind while we were biking to the church building at 6 AM in the pouring rain. The answers for me? A lot, apparently, and absolutely!!!

WHYS STEVE CRYING?

Cuz his wife got dunked (on)!! Mina got baptized!!! Yes, for real!!! We had a small service at 8 AM on Saturday with just 6 people and it was so amazing. The spirit and peace and just overwhelming joy of the whole thing were the best. We've been working with them for a month or so and they are the best couple ever. They've been working together on this goal and they are so solid. The sweetest, extra most bestest people ever. They were so happy and I am so lucky to have been a part of it. The meeting itself was really small, but super personal and I couldn't stop smiling! And while her husband was giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost, his angelic phone alarm came on and it was the best. Definitely unintentional, definitely fantastic.

PRESIDENT PENDLETON PULLS NO PUNCHES

While we were planning out our week, we got the feeling that we needed to visit President Pendleton, the 97 year old former stake president who can talk to you all day and who had a birthday the day before. We called him, no answer. So we made ourselves some lunch and we got a call from the 2nd counselor who asked if we had visited him recently, because he was thinking about him a lot. So we decided that was a sign and we booked it to his house. He started talking to us about his WWII stories (Grandpa Bird, you two would get along) and about all of his super strong political opinions (Dad, you two would get along). While we were talking, he got a call from one of his friends that he's been trying to get to meet with the missionaries for so long. She said she was coming over to drop off some things for him and he said, "I want you to talk to these great young men, because I need to get you and your family dunked!!" She came and we got to meet her! She's going through a very difficult time and shared her situation with us. President Pendleton says to her, "now I'm going to say something and I dont mean to offend you..." At this point I'm thinking, "Oh shoot, he's about to spew out something super politically polarizing." But NO! He finishes, "...but I'd like for these missionaries to give you a blessing of comfort." And she accepted! The blessing was great, and she was much more open and happy afterwards. I hope she gets to see missionaries again sometime soon.

LAST THINGS LAST

- bringing my "I AM MORMON" reflective vest from Thailand was the best idea ever.

- Benson Hill BBQ Club is unstoppably delicious.

- We took away Sister Jex's ability to cheat in games by speaking Lao. Thai boiz for the win.

- Seattle rain is here. Heaven help us.

- I love you! You're a legend.

เอ็ลเดอร์หนาวจังเลย (Elder is soo cold.)

Elder Barrett

The video is me throwing a lob to a BYU commit. This is for posterity.

"Alexa, play The A-Team theme song"

 เฮลโล Hello!

Did y'all watch General Conference this weekend??? It was so good! I highly recommend it. I had answered prayers and personal revelation while I watched and listened, so don't take it lightly when I say WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! If you watched it already, rewatch it! What did Steven J Lund talk about? That's what I thought, so rewatch it!!

MEMBER MADNESS

The members in Benson Hill are amazing!!! We got fed so much this week. Thai, pizza, cookies, more cookies, sandwiches, and fry bread??? So good, y'all. I crossed off a bucket list item by playing pickleball in its birth state, not to mention I high fived a crossing light on one of our morning runs as it flashed onto the sign. Two bucket list items. We did some service at one members and followed it with painting their nonmember friend's chimney on the sketchiest ladder in the cul de sac. We wrote a letter and sent it with flowers for one of our older friends, and got to work in the Lord's vineyard (technically when you're in the service of your fellow man, you're only in the service of your God. So yes, it WAS the Lord's vineyard). I also rode the back of a riding lawnmower over an insane dip in a members yard while listening to the theme song from The A-Team. It took all of my inner Mr. T to hold onto the back of that John Deere.

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING

Now that we're back on bikes, were trying to get into some serious shape. What does that mean? My running shoes are getting some much needed milage. Luckily, the Washington autumn has been throwing us a bone. Every morning is foggy and misty. Now, to the pessimistic non runner, this might sound miserable. Cold, dark, wet?? What could be good about that? I'm so glad you asked. When I'm running and I start to get hot and sweaty, it's hard to stay cool in the burning sun. But when the sun is gone and I'm running through a relaxing mist, there are no problems. I feel like I could just run forever. But I'm so out of shape, I probably couldn't... it's a work in progress!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

You all should really get on that General Conference commitment I mentioned earlier. Don't get me wrong, it's an honor that you'd rather read my email before you catch up on actual inspiration from God, but just so you dont leave here empty-handed, here's a takeaway from one of my favorite talks. It's the one from Matthew S. Holland isn't that a familiar name?). He tells us about how repentance takes misery and turns it into blissfulness. Repentance is given for us to have joy. And although sometimes, we have struggles and difficulties that truly no one on earth can understand, our Savior understands completely. Please, please, please let me let me let me tell you from personal experience, that He truly does understand everything you're going through. Let Him help you. 

LAST THINGS LAST

- Bike jousting is lame.

- We shoved 2 plum trees in a trash can. How baller is that?

- I got to join a zoom call with the Alumni of the Thailand Bangkok Mission from the last few years. And the previous mission president of the best mission in the world gave a talk in general conference Sunday afternoon!!

- Those of you who caught my The Smiths reference in this email, I love you. For the rest of you, I love you and I forgive you. But I never forget.

เอ็ลเดอร์ เขียนอย่างช้า (Elder writes slowly.)

Elder Barrett

Goodbye wifi, it's been nice.

เฮลโล Hello!

This was a WEEK, y'all.

WHAT WE LOST:

- our wifi

- the car

- light in our apartment

- service-approved weather

WHAT WE GAINED:

- trunkiness for Thailand

- character, probably

Yeah this transfer wasnt too kind for us here in Benson Hill. Us Thai boyz are staying together in here, but as you can see we lost a lot of stuff at the transfers mark. I forgot to bring a mask when we went to transfers, so that was a little awkward, but I'm pretty sure I didnt wreck the entire mission with the sickness... pretty sure.

CAMPING OUT

We spent an entire day marooned at the skyway church. We made lots of videos and ate street tacos, so it wasn't a very trying experience haha. It was honestly super fun, we made a takraw-based ad for our english page, where Elder Stradling did a bicycle kick into the mud. He sacrificed his clean white shirt for the greater good of the Seattle area. That's a hero. But we spent the entire day there teaching english, making videos, and keeping it 100 as always.

GOLDWIN IS THE GOAT

We had a crazy Saturday where we got thai food with a member, taught a lesson on the floor in the church, and walked over to a non member's house in the rain. We got to clean his carpets and in return he ordered us pizza!!! Miracle #1: he ordered a hawaiian and a supreme. What was delivered? 2 hawaiian pizzas. God is good. Miracle #2: we taught him the Restoration of the gospel and it was the best, most personal lesson I've ever had. This was the first lesson where it really felt like I wasnt just teaching from a list, but I was sharing in MY way. I got to share it only the way Elder Bear could do it. The spirit was so strong and I'm sure he felt it. He accepted a Book of Mormon too!!! He's going to make us breakfast one of these days. Its gonna be great!!

ENGLISH CLASS

We've taught so many english classes this week! We've met so many people and Thai people are just the nicest people in the world. I love them so much. That wouldn't be an issue if we were in Thailand. One day, maybe haha. But yeah we've been packed with them. We made an amazing video that I'll just leave the link right here: 

https://www.facebook.com/110258204124497/posts/140642524419398/?sfnsn=mo&extid=r8EXUgBySQrYxEUe

LAST THINGS LAST

- BYU is rockin and rollin and its beautiful.

- my aspen grove instincts are still helping me. Member's kids can't get enough of me. Makes it hard to focus on service, but that's low key a blessing.

- Hurry! Go run into your bathroom!!!! I found someone I love in the mirror! Oh wait. That's just you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ ลูกอมวันอาทิตย์ (Elder Sunday Candy)

Elder Barrett

Mingalaba! *SPIKE*

เฮลโล Hello! 

This was a crazy week. We had to stay in for most of the week, because of the smoke from the wildfires, but we didnt let that get in the way of having some fun! 

VOLLEY WITH POLYS We were given a tip from some Sisters in Seattle that there was a Thai person that played volleyball every day at this park in Seattle. Naturally, we had to go check it out. We get there and we see a group of mostly Tongans and a few asians playing volleyball, so we join in to see if maybe our guy is playing with this group. I havent done it since the MTC, so I forgot how fun volleyball with tongans is. It's very fun. After a few games of that, we saw a group of kinda Thai looking people setting up a net. We went and helped them set up and found out that they're Burmese!! We played some games with them and it was so much fun. They dont speak an ounce of Thai and maybe just half an ounce of english, but it was so much fun. We never met our Thai boy, but it was the best. 

DONT BE A PUNK, EAT THE BALUT We got to make a special birthday breakfast for one of the Elders in our district. We got to their Ward Mission Leader's house early and started cooking up some bacon and pancakes. While were cooking and getting to know him, he offers to cook us up some balut. For those of you who arent in the know, let me bring you up to speed. Balut is a food popular in the Philippines and many areas in southeast Asia. It's a chicken embryo still in the shell. He boiled them up for us and we got to give it a try. I kinda liked it. It's basically just a hard boiled egg with some meat in it. My companion didn't see it the same way and almost threw up a few times. 😂😂 I thought there was always a chance that I'd eat balut on my mission. I just never figured it would be in Renton, Washington. 

LET ME LEARN YA HOW TO ENGLISH We're starting to teach more english to Thai people!!! It's so exciting! We're getting a bunch of texts from Thai people around Seattle every day and it's so fun to actually be able to use Thai! We've had a few in person classes and I'll be honest, I like it a lot more when they dont speak much english, because then I get to try out some more Thai haha. My companion still struggles a little bit with his Thai, but were helping each other get better. One lady asked how I can speak Thai after just 3 months in Thailand. I told her that honestly, it's a blessing from God. She said yeah right ok I'll just guess it's because you studied really hard. But honestly, the gift of tongues is so real, so yeah not gonna act like any of my ability isn't coming from God. 

OH MY GOSH OK ITS HAPPENING We got one of our friends on date to be baptized!!! Her husband is already a member and they've been taking lessons so they can get married in the temple. They're the nicest people ever. So when we challenged her to get baptized, she said, "YES!!!!" She's so excited it's the greatest. So we're shooting for October 10th for her baptism!! 

LAST THINGS LAST - We got our transfer calls and I'm staying in Benson Hill! - Card games can and will ruin friendships. - We watched a member play a game for 4 hours. It felt longer. - Our wifi is betraying us. - No matter where you are or what your middle name is, I love you! 

เอ็ลเดอร์ไม่มีเน็ต (Elder without Net)

Elder Barrett