Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/31/11

The work is doing really well and we've been playing a lot of soccer. I´ll probably get the birthday package you sent on the 17th of February. I will let you know for sure. I´m excited to receive it.

Yes, Raul did get baptized.
Picture of Raul (on the left), he was baptized by his buddy Paco (who practically threw him in the water).

It was the oddest baptism ever. 3 weeks ago, we gave Raul a tour of the church and he asked then to be baptized. We taught him everything in the following weeks. He made time for us to teach him despite his lack of free time due to his demanding job and unpredictable work schedule. He didn´t have a single doubt with any of the commandments. Tithing? we told him the money is used to help people & build new Churches and Temples. The Word of Wisdom? He´s a gymnast and he doesn´t smoke (which is rare). So at the end of the 3 weeks, he was ready and was baptized. We are super happy!!!!This makes number 7 for me!
We had a total of 9 baptisms in our ward in 2 months. Awsome, right? They say Europe is difficult, but, I don´t understand. We´re just seeing so much success.

Our lessons this week were low, but we were super busy!! We spent almost 2 entire days making a super cool presentation board about the Restoration to use on the street and for the Church tours.


We had 2 tours of the church this week. The first tour was with the mayor elect Maria Jose Palallo and her political staff.


Bishop Jesús and President Lopez teaching the Mayor elect, María José Palallo


Political toast with the mayor elect Maria Jose Palallo!!!

and the second tour was with the current mayor of the city and her political staff.
President Lopez teaching the Mayor of the city

The mayor was interested in family history


Hermano Girón teaching about temples

Both tours were pretty good, they liked what they saw and heard. We watched a movie and showed them the different rooms of the church. They liked that we don´t have paid ministry, that we do geneology work and have the missionnary program. We have a couple of people from these political parties that are interested in learning more about the Gospel. One guy knew Utah, because he liked the Utah Jazz (which I thought was cool.)

Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/24/11

Thank you for the birthday wish. It's good to be 20. The mp3 player sounds like a good idea. I have an extra SD card as well. Thank you for the Christmas money and birthday money. My birthday has been good so far.

All the following pics were taken at an ancient castle named Alcazar. It's such a cool place.



This week was really good. We´ve been working a lot on our presentation board which will be shown on the street. The baptism of Manoli was way good, and we have another baptism coming up this weekend. His name is Raul. And the tour with the mayor will also be coming up.



We also had our first trickle of success from the English class. We had 4 new people that came. We set another baptismal date with a lady we contacted on the street. We almost reached the "Missionary standards of excellence" this week again but just missing one person at church. The mission work in Europe is going really well.


I will get your package sometime soon, I'm sure.

Happy Birthday son. 20 YEARS!!

Today (January 24th) is Elder Bennett's birthday.

Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/24/11

MALAGA MISSION HOME - SPECIALIZED TRAINING.
Elder Waite playing the Harmonica accompanied by Elder Bennett on the guitar. They played "the Army of helaman".

The San fernando zone.

Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/17/11

Did uncle Gille send me his package yet?? I have not heard or received anything from him yet. And if he has not, size 54 jacket and size 48 pants should work. It's hard to find a bigger size. Just the European pants do not fit my calves.

The baptism went really well. Her name is Manoli, and her boyfriend Paco Galán baptized her. He's one of the members in the ward. We had one investigator at the baptism who loved it and he wants to be baptized as well. We are in the process of teaching him.
Elder Bennett, Manoli, Paco Galan & Elder Waite.

Me and my companion Elder Waite met the mission's "Standard of Excellence" this week. We taught 22 lessons, set 2 baptismal dates, acquired 3 new investigators from referrals and 7 more investigators by talking to people on the street. We have also baptized one person. This is the first time on my mission that I have met this standard. I feel good!
Pic of a beautiful Sunrise at a random park

My zone in Cadiz and the priesthood leadership is awesome. They are all mission active and we are doing many things. The ward has given us a ton of references with this new plan, 1 of 5. Where they give us 5 names and they contact them, and one of them will be baptized.

Also this week is a tour with the mayor elect and her campaign staff. It is going to be really good. I'm so exited!!
Pic of a sunset

I am glad to hear that Joseph and Dylan are doing awesome. Joseph will do way good. How is Phillip doing?

Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/10/11

Yeah, the missionary work is doing well but was not always going well. We had 8 elders here in this area at the beginning of last year. They usually taught an average of 3 lessons weekly but were not having any baptisms. Now we are changing that. One of the converts is really doing a lot missionary work. He is referring all of his friends. He came with us on a tour of the church with one of his friends. He showed his friend the baptismal font first and said, this is where you will be baptize. After the tour, the man asked, if I study these things and find out that they are true, what do I have to do to be baptized? It's promising, I can feel it! We also have one baptism schedued for this Saturday. This new convert really wants to promote the church. He knows the mayor elect personally, and we will be giving her and her associates a tour of the church and inviting them to be baptized as well. Also this man has connections with the radio, TV news, and newspaper, and he wants to put our name out there. We are really excited.

We just finished celebrating a huge event here in Cadiz called the 3 kings day. This is one important event in Spain. It is virtually as important as Christmas itself especially for kids, as this is the day when they get their presents! It's celebrated on the 6th of January. The children look forward to this day. Every town and city in Spain will have a procession on the night of 5th January where tons of sweets will be thrown from the passing floats to children and adults. From this event, we've got chocolate and socks and a few presents.

We took that night to organize the area book. Jerez is pretty cool. It's one of the most awesome cities. We played soccer with the locals on our P-day and it was pretty fun.

That's awesome about Joseph. I am so glad for him.

Jerez de la Frontera Cadiz 01/03/11

I don´t have much time to write, I will write more next week. But, I´m glad you enjoyed the package. I don´t need anything really.
The pic of above was taken with the view of a muslim castle and a cathedral behind.

this guy and the barrel is named "eat drink and be merry, for tommorow we die".

On new year's Eve, the people here don´t really stay up until midnight.... Midnight is when it starts. They usually stay up on average until 5-8 in the morning.
They don´t have a count down either but they do have a cool tradition called the Uva. When the clock strikes 12, they eat 12 grapes every second, then they make a wish. Sorry it's so short! Enjoy the pix.

The next four pictures below are a panoramic view of Ubrique.




Now, enjoy the beautiful rainbow....