Berry, Benjamin T

Hey everyone, I'm here. This week, nothing too crazy happened because I was sick. It started on Wednesday. I got that little tickle in my throat. Then it progressively got worse, and Friday ended up being the worst day. It's hard being sick as a missionary because you can't do much when you're sick, and you can't talk to anyone. I talk to so many people daily, and it was limited so quickly. Members were still great and brought us meals, and the Spanish elders went on exchanges with my companion, covering both areas and handling our lessons and such. But I'm finally good again—I was beginning to lose my mind. On Sunday, we were out walking, and this guy wouldn't really talk to us, but then he paused and asked me, "Describe the process of photosynthesis." I was thrown off. My high school science teachers would kill me if they were here right now. I answered clumsily and halfway correctly, and he wasn't too impressed. He began to treat me like I w...

Yo, what's up! I'm still here. I realized after I sent out last week's email that I didn't add any photos—my bad. Also, that email was typed up so quickly, so that's why. This week was kind of exhausting but good. It felt like I was swimming underwater holding my breath—not sure how far I swam, but when I came up for air, I actually covered some distance. The work here in Madera has been going great. The Lord somehow manages to use dull, dollar-store plastic toys (me) to do His work. I’m a good plastic shovel, I guess. I remember always buying those toy animals or dinosaurs that "grow" in water, only for them to come out slightly bigger, curved, and extremely disfigured. I got scammed. It’s so easy to scam kids. This week felt like we ran into tons of good people! Normally in English work, people are pretty blunt, but this week they were all chill and kind. The weather is slightly cooling off, so everyone is in a better mood. I went on an exchange with the...

Yo, how's it going? Back at it. This transfer has been exhausting. I'm so tired all the time! I need a teddy bear or something. But the work is great! We had interviews with the President, and those are always amazing. I've talked to him probably a total of 40 minutes my whole mission so far. But I guess he trusts me or something—or thinks I smell. He also said I'm going to have another transfer here in Madera, which means I'd be here for about a quarter of my mission. I like it here, though. It was nice to see my family come to California for a week and "couldn't see me." I'm glad they had a good time, though. It's hot here in the Central Valley, so I don't blame them. It's been nice to see myself grow out here. Back at home, I just handled problems so much differently. But every day, there is different stuff going on out here, and it's nice to see how quickly the Lord is willing to help if we lean on Him. I feel like I've been...

Hey everyone, I've lived another week here in California. This week felt pretty quick but very good. Anyhow, enough rambling—let's get to it. The title of this email is what it is because we watched a car wreck in front of us the other day. It was the first time I've ever seen a car wreck. I'm talking lightly about it because no one got hurt. A lady ran a red light and hit another car that was going when it had the green light. They started screaming at each other and getting all hysterical. I hope their day got better. We've had a lot of good contacts this week, and now we're teaching a Hindi lady. It's very difficult to teach someone who has no background in or knows little to nothing about Christianity. But it is a fun challenge and helps us teach simply. We got to go to the temple and had several exchanges. The temple was nice, and it's always good to see the temple cat. The mission has made me like dogs way better than cats because cats aren't t...

How's it going? This week was fun but hard. But that's expected, I guess. Training has been a lot of fun and probably more learning for me than my companion, Elder Bunker. He's been improving, which is good because he's a stud. One of the most righteous elders I've ever met. If I stay with Elder Bunker for two transfers, it's likely I'll stay in Madera for a quarter of my mission, which I'm fine with because it's great here. Plus, the members all know and love us. We went to the Mexican flea market, and I got myself some Crocs. Pretty sure they're fake, but I don't really care. We've had some great food this week from members and got lots of cantaloupe from this guy we met at the food bank. Undoubtedly the best cantaloupe I've ever had. Probably my favorite fruit? I don't know if it's a fruit or a vegetable. Doesn't matter—it's tasty. We were in the Family History Center at the church, and we heard these faint thumping...

This week has been long; it's been eight days since the last P-day. But anyway, let's get to it so I don't make y'all read a fluffy email. I had to say goodbye to Elder Lovejoy... truly heartbreaking. He's an amazing elder, and I'll definitely keep in contact with him throughout the mission. I'm going to miss working with him. Later, I went to Fresno with Elder Tingey while we waited on our new trainees! Elder Tingey is a literal angel and a stud. He's so easy to work with and keeps the spirit along the way. We did lots of finding at Woodward Park and got bashed a few times, but that's expected. One guy kept joking with us about the Book of Mormon musical, which was hilarious. But we had lots of success, and most people were really nice! Finally, I got my trainee, Elder Bunker! He's a stud and is trying his best to improve every day! He is very sensitive to the spirit and has a strong testimony of the gospel. He's from Cedar Falls, Iowa. I th...

No, no, I don't mean that literally, or else my butt would be home so quick. We’ve got transfer news for this upcoming transfer! Transfers are usually six weeks long, and I'm in my second transfer, fixing to go into my third transfer. My trainer, Elder Lovejoy, will sadly be leaving and going to the city of Fresno to be a Tech Elder! He’ll be taking care of all the technology, videos, and online training for missionaries, as well as regular missionary work too. I'm going to be training a brand-new missionary from the MTC (Missionary Training Center)! I'm quite terrified, considering I only have about 3 1/2 months of experience out in the field, but, hey, I’m also excited. I just got out of training too, haha. It's like graduating from kindergarten and becoming a kindergarten teacher. But nonetheless, all things are possible through Jesus Christ. And even though it's scary, I know He'll take care of me as I lean on Him. I'm super excited to find out who i...