BEN REACHED THE SIX MONTH MARK!!!!

I’ll now report on a few things that have taken place during these past 6 weeks since his arrival in Deán Funes. In our previous updates we told you a bit about his his new companion, Elder Davis, and how he was known for being an enthusiastic, hard worker, and that he only had 5 weeks left before going home. Well, to say that Elder Corbett and Elder Davis, worked extremely hard is an understatement! Benjamin reported that their first week they found 19 new people to teach and taught about 64 lessons. . In his own words, it was the best week of his mission so far(although he added that every night when he goes to sleep it seems that the alarm goes off 5 minutes later). Needless to say, he and his companion got along very well and felt the Spirit of this great work during their time together.

Besides teaching people the gospel, Benjamin and his companion also had the chance to do some cooking. He reported that about three weeks ago they fixed a Mexican taco dinner for one of the families that they were teaching. The family had never even heard of tacos before. Benjamin reported that the tacos were very good and that he made some banana bread for dessert.

They also had some “interesting” experiences. Like about 2 weeks ago Benjamin said they had a very windy day. Later that day when they went to visit the home of a Church member he saw his name tag lying on the table. He said he was a little confused on how it had gotten there until she told him that a girl found it lying in the street and brought it to the house knowing that she was a member. It had blown off in the wind and he didn’t even notice. Some wind!


On August 24th Benjamin’s companion. Elder Davis, completed his mission and returned to the U.S. Benjamin was sad to see him go as they had grown quite close during the past month as they worked together in the service of the Lord. They were thrilled that on the 22nd two of the people that they had been teaching, a mother and her teenage daughter, decided to get baptized(See photo)

AND, on August 25th Benjamin reached the 6 month-mark of his mission! He reported that to commemorate the event, he burned one of this ties, as is the tradition in his mission.

Since transfers didn’t take place until September 1st, Benjamin worked one week with a young man from the Church who wanted to have a “mini-mission” experience. Although Benjamin was quite apprehensive about being the companion in charge of directing their efforts and not having great fluency with Spanish, the week went quite well, and they are teaching this woman who wants to be baptized later this month. However, he noted that he basically had to do everything, planning, contacting and teaching, and, in his own words, has concluded that “learning how to lead is a lot harder than learning how to follow!”

Then when transfers came, Benjamin got some very surprising news: His new companion was going to be a new missionary coming from the Missionary Training Center in Utah. In other words, Benjamin had been made “senior” companion after only 3 ½ months in Argentina and was going to be asked to be a trainer. However, since this new missionary isn’t going to be able to get his visa for another two weeks, Benjamin is now working with a missionary with only 6 weeks more experience than he has. Some pictures are found below.

Elder Davis and Ben in the capital of Cordoba-Guns Up! :)

Contreras Family- Go Tech! :)

Ben helping cook! Looks good!

Pollo Al Disco con Jose

Contreras Family Baptism

Deán Funes - One Week and Pictures!

Ben and Elder Maw hiked this mountain on his last day in Merlo. He said it took him two hours.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Deán Funes, the city Ben just transferred to:

Deán Funes is a city in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. It has 20,164 inhabitants per the 2001 census [INDEC], and is the head town of the Ischilín Department. It is the largest city in the northwest of the province. It lies by National Route 60, 118 km from the provincial capital Córdoba.
The settlement was founded as Villa de Deán Funes on 9 March 1875, when the Ferrocarril Central Norte from Córdoba reached the area. It received its name honouring Gregorio Funes, a writer and deacon of the Archdiocese of Córdoba who was a deputy to the Junta Grande after the May Revolution of 1810. It received a strong wave of immigration, chiefly made up of Spaniards, Italians, people from Arab countries, and Yugoslavians. The town was officially declared a city on 29 October 1929.
The city hosts the Northern Córdoba Tradition Festival annually on the first half of January.

Ben's new companion: Elder Davis

Elder Davis is from Holladay, Utah. He played defense in Soccer. He loves hunting and is the middle child of 7 children. Ben said he is a great missionary and leader. Ben is really excited about the transfer.

As we said, Ben transferred last week to Deán Funes. It's population is 24000. Ben said the people are really nice and listen to the Elders. He said they way they speak is very distinct: "Not an Italian Spanish accent, but more of a distinct change in tone when speaking." For those of you who know a little Spanish, he said the rr is pronounce shh. He loves it.

He lives in a larger pension than the last place. The pension is like their apartment. It used to be a church as opposed to living on top of the church building. He said it is nice condition and looks more like a house. Even though he says it's nice condition, Ben has found mouse poop in his bed and says they have huge spiders... I'm still waiting for the pictures of those! They live with another set of missionaries: Elder Basualdo and Elder Jeppson. Elder Basualdo is Spanish speaking and has been helping Ben with practicing his Spanish.

This building is just a cool building there:

Ben is so excited about his transfer. He loves his new companion and the prospects of the new city. He said their goal is to baptise a family this transfer. They have zone conference in Cordoba tomorrow.

Well I'll leave some of it for him to tell you when you write him! Task to the readers of this blog: Stop for 10 minutes and write Ben a letter! He would love to hear from you!

I'll leave you with some final words from Ben's letter, it is sooo Ben! :)

Saludos to the barrio..... Elder Corbett

Surprise, Surprise!! Benjamin got transferred!

Well, was Benjamin ever surprised when he got a phone call on Sunday(July 19th) to let him know that he was being transferred to Deán Funes in the province of Córdoba. He and his companion, Elder Maw, had understood that Elder Maw would get moved, since he had been in Merlo 6 weeks longer. So Ben boarded a bus at 200am on Monday(July 19th) and after about 12 hours arrived at his new assignment. His companion is Elder Davis, who has been serving as an assistant to President Olsen, and this will be his last transfer. Ben is very excited to serve with him as he has been a good leader and a hard worker(and also likes to play soccer). The two of them are living in a boarding house with two other missionaries, one of which is from Perú. So Ben is happy that he will get more practice with Spanish.