Berry, Benjamin T

Hey everyone, I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I apologize for not sending an email last week, but here I am. These past few weeks have just been different than the rest of my mission (in a good way). I've been out for about 9 months now! I'm halfway done with a sister mission! Jkjk This Christmas season has been quite remarkable, and I can't remember a time in my life so focused on Jesus Christ, especially on His humble birth. I feel the Spirit every time I read and ponder on His beloved coming into this world. On Christmas, we actually didn't have any plans besides some that morning, so we got with other elders and went caroling for about 4 hours and saw tons and tons of members and friends. Everyone answered the door except one. It's funny because we sang the same song, "Silent Night," each time. We got Burger King too, and it was lit. We got transfer news, and I'm staying in Exeter, CA. Elder Quigley is leaving, and I'll be with Elder Kes...

It's ya boy Chips Ahoy, and I wish y'all a Merry Christmas! I hope everyone's been doing well and you're finding a way this year to make Christmas centered on Jesus Christ. This week has been very good! We've had lots of service opportunities! We got to help a member paint his house as well as set up some stuff in a lash studio. This week we had a zone conference completely centered on Jesus Christ. It was really nice getting to hear people's testimonies and their favorite stories of Jesus Christ. I liked this zone conference, and personally, I'm not the biggest fan of zone conferences. I feel like it's a long time to sit. Speaking of a long time to sit, apparently, I've never realized how much I fidget when I sit, and let's just say my companion is not a big fan of that during personal study. We watched this video called "The Christ Child," which is a really good depiction of the nativity and birth of Jesus Christ. I really felt the Sp...

Hey, it's been a little bit, but I'm doing well! Missions are not easy, but at least I knew that coming into this. It's just a different kind of hard, a different kind of challenge. I had my birthday, and I'm 20 now. Like, what the heck. I actually had a good birthday! It started off great with my companion secretly waking up at 4 a.m. and blowing up a bunch of balloons so when I woke up, I'd see them! It made my day. Also, my dad would probably like some recognition that he was the FIRST (I think) to text me on my birthday, haha. My brother Conner had incredible charm on my birthday and somehow got married to this super cool chick named Morgan. She's sweet and very kind. I gotta be honest, when I first found out they were going to get married on my birthday, I didn't know what to think, but I'm low-key cool with it and honestly just so happy for them. They'll probably get me cool gifts for my birthday too. I'm not a homesick person, but if there...

Howdy my beloved and faithful family and friends! To be honest, this week felt so long and short at the same time. I'm thankful for Thanksgiving and all the good people and food. I had some Costco pumpkin spice cheesecake and it was SO good. One thing that I enjoyed doing was focusing my prayers on things I'm grateful for. Some prayers I would just say things I'm purely thankful for. The Lord has blessed us with so much, so by showing we're grateful for the things He's already blessed us with, we're more humble and receptive to His will and blessings He yet has in store for us. I invite you to say a gratitude prayer this week. It feels like the festive attitude is out! Now the whole debate on when the Christmas season ACTUALLY starts is over and hopefully everyone at this point can agree now. Let me know when y'all think it's appropriate to set the Christmas tree up! It's a different kind of missionary work at this time of year. My companion kept get...