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...

Okay, transfer news. Sorry I didn't write an email last week. Anyways, yes, I still love y'all and appreciate it so much when y'all write me. I do read them! I typed up an email last week but never sent it, and I'm not gonna send both because that's too much to read! I'm heartbroken to leave Sanger because I really liked it there, and we revived the area with the help of the Lord. Nevertheless, it's in good hands with my trusted Trainee Elder Pancheri. We were sad to leave each other but knew we'd see each other again. I am in Exeter, CA now, in a smaller ward with mostly older people. My companion's name is Elder Quigley, and I'm finishing off his training. He's a jolly fella and has a kind heart. He's from Santaquin, Utah! In this area, I feel so strengthened by the Lord, and I am so thankful. Days have been really rough on paper, but they haven't felt as rough as they ought to have felt. Like, we'll go a whole day getting strai...

Yo, it's your boy Chips Ahoy. It's finally getting cooler up here in California. It was fun to see all the election stuff, haha. This week was one of the better weeks in the mission (every week is usually pretty great). So, how about I talk about it? It was nice getting opportunities to do some service for some people. I dug this hole for over an hour to plant a tree. That dirt was so darn tough I had to use a dig bar every single inch I dug to break up the dirt. It felt so invigorating though! The tree we planted already looked half dead, so we'll see if it survives and I didn't dig a hole for nothing. I want to know how people (probably kids) think you can dig a hole to China. Why is it always China? We also helped another lady pull up tons of weeds out of her garden, and Elder Pancheri kept chucking oranges and lemons at me! It felt good, though it sucks to see that the washer didn't wash all the dirt out of my jeans later that week. We also were driving during a...

Yo, how's it going? It's been a minute since I emailed. I've been doing great here in Sanger! I was originally in a trio, but then the third (Elder Kennington) left for the Saratoga Springs, Utah mission! So now it's just me and Elder Pancheri. We have a great time out here, and the companionship unity is on point, even though he's in his training. We did a deep clean on our apartment and threw away four or five trash bags full of junk. We vacuumed everything, swept, mopped—the whole ordeal. My mom wouldn't believe how clean we got it. I was notorious back at home for halfway doing everything, if you even want to call it that. I would just put my clothes under my blanket on my bed and call the room "clean." Or just chuck my shoes in my closet or stuff things into my drawers. My mom always didn't like how I left my drawers out (I still do it sometimes out here). Speaking of cleanliness, we have this thing in our mission where if you keep your car su...