October 10, 2011

  Family,
My new city is Palmira. It is real close to Cali and it is hot. But I still don’t like to shower with cold water. Nothing about the package. I will call the office today. My companion is from Ecuador he is 24 and his mom and sisters are members but his dad isn´t. He is a convert. I do like working with converts, they have such powerful witnesses of the gospel. We go to cali every month for Zone leader Council. We have some investigators that they left us. The problem is is that the left the area without any baptismal dates so for two weeks we wont see baptisms. We are finding with the members and i have organized a couple of activities that will be really great.
It has been a good first few days here in Palmira. We are trying to get to know the area a little more and to win the confidence of the members. It is awesome here because it is a whole different culture and a very different people. There is a basketball court right outside the door of the house. I´ll tell you it has been excellent playing ball every morning. All the young men play every morning at 6 30 with the missionaries... stop it... I have loved it. The branch here is doing okay. We don’t have a chapel so everyone has to travel far to get to church in another area. That is hard but it will be okay.
I am stoked about the zone. We have so many goals and what we are going to do to get them done. In November Palmira will be the best zone of the mission..
All is well. I had an extremely powerful experience in a baptismal interview I did this week. It was great. We have sisters here in the zone. It will be the first time I have had sisters in my same zone. We will see how that goes. We have zone conference on Wednesday. So stoked. Love you all. Elder Belnap

October 3, 2011

Hello,Yes i am being transferred. I will be in palmira, I dont know many details because i am still in chinchina. My new companion is elder fiestas. I have met him before. he is from ecuador. My feelings are very mixed. The president called yesterday at about ten o clock and said that i would be leaving chinchina to be a zone leader in palmira. I wasn´t sure what to say to him. We will be entering the area my companion and i completely new. The two missionaries that were there before were transferred. Palmira is real close to Cali and it is hot. That will be different from this perfect mountain climate.
Conference it is something i cant describe. Conference truly touched me and I felt the love of the lord. We were able to watch it here in chinchina with the members it was a blessing. I expected more members to come. only 7 were in the priesthood session... wow... We had investigators saturday and sunday. our convert Luz was in every single session. She is so powerful, she was so prepared to accept this gospel. Of course I loved all the talks. I felt inspired by the Asian Elder and Elder Holland in priesthood meeting. He truly made we want to repent and be better.We had a great week. I had a feeling i would be transfered so I wanted to leave it all on the court here in chinchina. We worked hard. There will be many more baptisms to come here in chinchina. I love chinchina. Thinking about leaving these people is a pain that cant be described. I am bound together with these people and i will love them forever. I have seen the saviour change lives i have seen miracles happen. I am so grateful to have been a small part in the lords work. he truly blesses you with such peace as you do all you can. i feel that in my heart. i have included many pictures. From a parade they did in chinchina and today we went to the finka. (I dont know how to say that word in english) I got to work with a machete all day. It was great. I have some awesome videos and it was beautiful. When they announced the temple there were a few cheers and a lot of talking and many people crying. I cried with them. Another temple in their country is a big deal.I love you all. pray for palmira. It is about to be the best zone in the mission colombia cali. Elder Benjamin Belnap

September 21, 2011

Good News: He got my package and it didn’t cost him but there is still a package out there somewhere which has not arrived.
I got your package mom. It was great. However you sent the package was great because it got here quick and didn´t cost me anything to get it. i think the best way is through the postal service. Not a private company. Maybe i would like a hymn book in english?? Jackee sent me the other one. It was awesome.These are the questions about: conference, the streets and marriage
I hope that we  can listen to it here in Chinchina but we might have to go to the city. That is not what we want. It would be nearly impossible for our invest. To go and see it if it really is in the city. Almost all the streets here are paved. Couples getting married. that is the eternal battle. The family system is so messed up here. The men almost always have more then one girl and the women just want to have someone so they dont really care. It is a hard thing. We are always trying to help people get married and baptized. It is really difficult.
We had leadership training in pereira. It was a really great day. We learned a lot of things. However, the most impactful moment for me was not in the training. It was at lunch when i had about an hour talk with the assistent. He is a gringo. He is from mantua. I think that is how you spell it. He does speak the language great. i know him and the things he has done in the mission. So i asked him, Elder how do you do it? He explained some great things to me that i have taken to heart. He said, my whole life i had to fight and work. I always had a job and helped my dad out on the farm. He said, there is no substitute for hard work. He tripled the baptism in the zone of medellin in one month. only because he believed and worked harder then you have ever seen a missionary work. It hit me hard. I realized that i was not giving it my all. That maybe i was giving 95 but i wasn´t running at maximum power. Now that has changed. We worked so hard this past week. My companion was dying but it felt so good to get to the house at night after teaching so many lessons and finding new people. I love the work and i am leaving it all on the court in chinchina. This could be my last week here, and if so i want the lord to know that i couldn´t have done more here.
We played soccer with some members and invest. I rolled my ankle pretty bad. I guess it is all part of the process. And yes i did have my ankle brace on. Enjoy the photos. The missionary is the assistent, Elder Farr.
I love you all, I love conference on the mission. Elder belnap

September 5, 2011

 Hello Hello, First the water. That was a tough week in the water situation. The whole town was without for 4 days. We bought water and there were a couple neighborhoods that had water luckily there was a member who lived there so we could shower.  I will be sending pictures today. Mom dont forget i sent my memory card with elder crompton. He lives in logan i dont know how you can track down his number. he has yours. No letters or packages. It has been like two months or so without seeing mail haha. The baptism of william was a very special day. Our ward mission leader jhon baptized him. Jhon is probably my best friend here. He is in all the pictures and he is in the picture of us fishing with the net. William bore his testimony after and simply said it was true and testified to his mom that she needs to be baptized i had a very powerful experience the day of his baptism. I felt the power of the lord and i felt like he was forgiving me of my sins. I felt peace and joy. I felt like what i was doing was changing lives. I felt love for the saviour and desire to follow him. Baptisms are great in the lives of missionaries. We are teaching some great people. Luz londono she was prepared by the lord to accept our message. She will be baptized on the 17th of this month. Gislena is her best friend and we are teaching her also. Liliana patricia, she came to church for the first time. She believes everything we say to her and she is very poor. She has ten kids and they beg every day to eat. It has been sad seeing the lives of the family but we are doing all we can to help them. Those are the main people that will be baptized this month. We will see about who we find next. haha Find teach baptize. That is what we do and that is why we are here. Our area is so small it is fantastic. we never have to go in bus. Chinchina is a tiny tiny town and everyone lives on top of eachother so it is great. We have seen many changes in the mission. President prince has many ideas that are really helping the work. He is an inspired man that is trying to help in the lords work. I love you all. i should see mail this next week. Elder Billy belnap

August 30, 2011

Hello,To answer your questions I was not transferred and I am still here with my son elder Jara. I haven´t seen a package or mail in quite some time. Ya, mom a large jersey of the US soccer team. And peanut butter please.I do not remember what the daughters name is.This week was good. I brought my camera to send some sick pictures but I forgot the chord so it looks like another week without pictures. The whole town has been without water for 2 days now. We will see what we will do. They had some accident and it won’t be back for 3 days. We don’t know what to do quite yet but  we will figure it out.Today was awesome, we went fishing with our ward mission leader. But not normal fishing we went with bamboo and a net. I felt like Peter fishing haha. We laughed a lot and I thought of my brothers and my dad. I learned a lot fly fishing. I think fly fishing should be a part of mission prep and hauling hay. It is obvious that my companion has never done something hard in his life. Physical labor about kills him  haha.I got a letter from my first companion today which was cool. I always thought about my Grandma Myrne and how much I love her and how much her strength has helped me to be a better missionary. We are happy and I am very happy I wasn´t transferred. God bless you all. Benny B.(I asked him if he caught anything)  We did it all we chucked the net we did some other things. It was fun. Dad would have laughed hard. but it was great to be on the river. We aren´t going to eat them no haha.I asked him if we was going to bathe in the river since they don’t have water) Of course I wanted to bathe in the river but I didn´t know if as a missionary that would be a good idea. haha. Water to drink if we buy it.

August 22, 2011

Hello everyone!William’s baptism will be on Friday because his grandma has been in the hospital. So we felt good about putting it for this week. We will know about transfers tonight. I could be gone as early as tomorrow. Mom I am sending my broken camera and also a memory card with elder Crompton. He lives in Logan. His homecoming will be on the 11 of September. He will call you next week so you can get in touch with him. My companion gets homesick when his favorite soccer team is playing but that is about it now ha-ha-ha. No package yet. We will see. For the shirt it would be a large. ya I think a large.This week has been great. The Lord has placed many new people in our path. We are teaching Luz who we found in the street. She was truly prepared by the lord. She will be baptized in September but first she needs to have an interview with the mission president. William is awesome. Today we were with him. Also the president gave Mamani permission to come to Chinchina for the afternoon. It was cool to be with him again and to see all of our converts we had together. I don’t know what the lord has in store for me but I have loved Chinchina. If I am transferred I will leave a lot of things behind. But, the lord knows I gave it my all here and did all that I could to help other people. I have grown a lot and passed through every type of experience. I am always reminded of the deep love of the lord. He is our light. We represent him. Every day I strive more to be like him and every day I realize how short I come. I am trying to be like Jesus. I love you all family. Until next week after our baptism, enjoy some photos.
With much love Elder Belnap. I am happy to see Preston got to Paraguay and I loved the picture of all the boys from Bountiful in the MTC. The MTC was great. But I thank heaven I am not there anymore ha-ha. The pictures were going too slow I couldn´t wait ha-ha.

August 15, 2011

No, I didn’t get a package and they forgot to bring mail. So no mail ha-ha. My clothes are fine. Ya I couldn´t wait I opened all my garments and shirts. I waited for like six months maybe. That was pretty good. I speak English maybe 4 minutes every week when I get to see elder Crompton or elder Holden.Zone conference was great this week. It was good to be with the president. The president asked me to speak on some different things were doing here in Chinchina. That was a good thing. I will just say that conference was completely different. Pres. prince is so chill. He is a very good man. I do relate very well with him. He also came to visit us in our apartment this week with his wife and his daughter. He talked a lot about activities and how they help in the mission work. How true it is. We have tried to keep the members excited and to help the people have a great experience in the church. We had some new people come to church which made us feel good. William is getting baptized this weekend and we should have a few more before the end of the month. I don’t think I want to leave Chinchina quite yet. This is my home. I have a great relationship with the people. we went to fly kites today. It was grim. Every 15 de august the people all go to this one spot to fly kites and play games. It would be like the parade for us. I felt like dad. Just going to the parade ha-ha. I love you all. I hope you send me dear elders from KO because I at least want to know how he is if he can’t write me. Elder Belnap

August 8, 2011

Hello We had a good week here. I should be getting dear elders on Thursday. It is zone conference. It will be awesome. (No pictures this week) I will be able to meet up with my old companion Elder Mamani one last time before he leaves. I really do love him a lot. Things are going well. We are working with angela and she is progressing. It is fun teaching here cause every time I have to try hard not to laugh ha-ha. No just a joke but really she´s a bag of marbles. We are also teaching William, he is progressing and has been in church almost every week for about a month. He has met a lot of new people through the activities we have done. we are trying to do more for him and to help him.My companion is a little sick but he will be okay. Sometimes I am not too sure what to do with him or how to help. Each companion is different but I have gotten along great with each one that I have had. I hope all is well at home. I wish I could’ve gone to Jackson with you all this past week. Don’t forget the photos laura and all that good stuff. Everyone sends their love. I really love Chinchina, I have a lot of family here that are very special people. Pray for Elder Jara. Con amor elder Belnap

Letter from the mission Presidents wife

  Sister Belnap,I was able to spend some time with Elder Belnap this week.  We visited them in their apartment where I did an apartment inspection (yes, he passed!)  and President Prince had interviews with Elder Belnap and his companion, Elder Jara.   Elder Belnap had been ill with a virus that is going around, but he is looking great (a little skinny...but he is eating again!!)  He is a hard working missionary and has been a great trainer for our new Elder Jara.  They are out in a city a way from the zone, but are holding their own and moving the missionary work forward with the members there. We had Zone Conference in Pereira yesterday and spent the day with him there.  I've attached a picture of him and his zone.  We are working at getting all the pictures up from the conference...hopefully by Monday. Elder Belnap is doing great!!  Thank you for all your support. Un abrazo...Hermana Prince

August 1, 2011

Mother,

I am feeling much better. What caused the sickness... Interesting question. Not sure??? Yes my companion was sick but he didnt take medicine so he was sick longer then i was. I will send my camera card this way i believe, I will give it to elder crompton. In cali he will give it to elder knight that lives in bountiful. Elder Knight will give it to you. You will have to find out the day of his home coming so you can go to it. Yes we had invest. in the church this week. But, not tons... Because right now they are all converts, BIG BABY!!!  haha Most of the time well i have eaten rice everyday for 9 months and some times meat always some sort of salad.  Banana fruit all that good stuff.(Again, these are the answers to my questions first)
This week was great, We played soccer with william an investigator on saturday and invited him to the baptism that night. He came and felt the spirit. Now he has friends in the church and we put a baptismal date for 20 august. He will be baptized for sure. We did some service last night. My companion learned how to help a family move. HAha I dont think he has done hard labor in his life haha. Carrying the couches in the middle of the street to another house really freaked him out haha. It was great to serve, I like to do physical labor because we never do. So that was good stuff. Today we are having a bbq in the river. We will have some inv. some less active members and the missionaries from our district. It will be awesome.
Also Adiela was baptized on saturday, She changed so much to be baptized. We really felt the spirit in the baptism. It was very special. We are happy here in Chinchina. I love you all. It has been so cool with the under 20 world cup here. It  is all over the place. Parties and fireworks it is really cool.

I will be expecting an email from James Collier this week. You tell him that.

KO can’t write me: sad

Love you all, Elder Belnap

July 18, 2011

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Elder Benjamin Belnap: July 18th, 2011
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 Reply |Laura Belnap
show details Jul 18 (6 days ago)
Just to ease everyone’s mind…He got his packages that we sent him the end of May……I am so happy that he got them. Mom, I did not get transfered. I am here in Chinchina. I dont get to see the president very often. Once every two to three months. I will try to send a camera card. I think i am going to buy a camera this week. I didnt want to have to do it but my camera i think is dead. Two months trying to fix it and i dont think they can. Every month or so someone goes to cali. I think what i will do with my camera card is send it home with elder crompton he lives in logan and goes home in august. He is one of my best friends here. It would be great if you went to his talk.
This week went by so fast. With transfers and everything. I am with Elder Jara from Argentina. It is a lot different. He is new from the MTC and I am trying to teach him how to do missionary work. I would like to tell you about a miracle we have seen. Luceli is the mom and the grandma of two of my converts. She always said no i dont want anything to do with it and smoked 20 cig. a day. We didnt give up on her. we were always with her we got here to start coming to church and she started to read the book of mormon. She has completely finished the book and hasnt missed a sunday in two months. She absolutely loves me. I call her grandma and she calls me grandson. She is a special person. I will be baptizing her on saturday. It will be a very emotional and spiritul day. I have been with her from the beginning and seen a complete change. I love being a missionary. I have included pictures with my son and from the activity we did today at the river with our ward mission leader. We are trying to get his brothers going. We will see. pray for our baptisms this weekend. We should have 4 I hope and pray. Love Elder BelnapI loved the beef jerky. I cant even describe to you how much i loved it. Also, can you send pictures of the church? I really love the classical music kimi sent me. some more of that would be cool.

Sister Belnap,Elder Belnap is a happy, hard working missionary!  We enjoyed meeting him yesterday!Love from Colombia!Sister Prince

July 11, 2011

 Mother,
It was great meeting the new president. I loved getting my mp3 player but i havent looked at my card yet. As far as a package goes hymn books are great. I have rings.(CTR) I also think of things then i forget. so we will have to see. I love beef jerky laura you know that. Candy and stuff is nice also. The weather is great. It is about 75 80 and i dont think there is a lot of huminity but i am not sure haha.
This week was good.  We are preparing for one baptism for the 16th and we are loaded for bear for the 23rd with 6. I hope we can do it. With your prayers and mine and our hard work, they will all be baptized. Listening to the talks that dad sent me i have learned so much and i couldnt stop listening to them. I loved it. I felt god was speaking in my ear about faith. I am trying to develop more faith. I have seen miracles in the work this week. I know the lord leads the work. I know that he answers prayers. I know that Jesus is the christ and the savior of the world. I love him with all my heart. I listened to KO’s farewell talk and it was powerful how he testified of christ. I am trying to bring people unto him, our lord christ. I am so happy to serve here in colombia. I have learned so much, I have also learned how happy i am to be from bountiful utah. We are incredibly blessed in every aspect of the word.
We also have transfers this wednesday. I dont think i will leave. I pray that i wont. It scares me to think of leaving chinchina.
I love you all so much. I have included fotos from an activity we did and also meeting the family of president prince. It was so great to meet them.Love, Elder Benjamin Belnap

He is the top Left…..I can’t see him because the picture is too small!!Mom I don’t know if you can see the picture very good but its of almost our whole mission and President Nash of the seventy. Jordan Jensen, Mike Knight are also in the photo it was great to see them in Cali. (These are two boys from Bountiful)

July 4, 2011

   Hello Mother,I will meet the president tomorrow. We have a conference in another city. So we will see if he has a package or letters for me. We had a great sunday. This week we had 8 invest. in church. That was great. The best part was of the 8 that were there 6 have a baptismal date for this month. We are working hard trying to help them. The lord is blessing us so greatly and i am happy. Okay, We had an awesome week and were busy. We are now working in both areas and trying to improve the other part of Chinchina. We are trying to have a lot of friends in the ward for our invest. It is incredible the progress they make as they have many friends in the ward and feel at home. That is a big difference between colombia and bountiful utah. They need more love and need to be more outgoing. We found someone named mauricio this week. He is the nephew of cielo that was baptized last week. He came to our activity monday and liked it so we taught him. In just a week he has recieved an answer from our father in heaven that it is true. He bore his testimony in church and said he was grateful for the missionaries and i quote "As a future member of the church of Jesus Christ Thank you for letting me be with you today" it was great. I cried haha. He is only twenty but is really mature. However, he cant serve a mission because he has a daughter that lives in ecuador. We are working hard here, all of my baptisms I have had on my mission are referencias from other people. It’s been a while since I knocked a door. Dont tell anyone but, I hate knocking doors. hahaha.I am excited to see how the mission will change with President Prince and what will be his vision for the best mission in the world Colombia Cali. I am so happy to be here as a missionary and I am also very proud to be an American. USA The greatest nation in  the world. I love you all Elder Belnap

June 27, 2011

I waited all day for him to write….He was very late today….

No package...... I don’t know when I will get it. They didn’t bring any packages because they didn’t go to Cali. We had a good meeting and the zone is improving but we are not having enough baptisms. The baptisms were great. Luz marina asked me to baptize her, She was the first person I taught here in Chinchina. Also Cielo, she understands a lot more then Luz marina and has a powerful testimony. We worked really hard so she would have a lot of friends in the ward. In this moment she is a part of the happy LDS family. The primary kids here, there are a lot of them. Every fast Sunday is a line of little kids bearing their testimony just like you would hear in the ward back home. 

I am writing late today. We were very busy today. We put together a get together with our converts and members to really help them enter the ward. It was awesome. We were in the street all day. They danced, we played soccer in the street, dodge ball, and many other games. While this was all happening we had a fire in the street with delicious Colombian food cooking. I am so sun burned!! It was probably the best p day I have had on my mission. We have some great photos but my other memory card is in the house so I can’t send pictures of that. 

This week was the big farewell of President Bolivar. Yes, it was sad to say goodbye. He is a man filled with love for Christ. HE is filled with the spirit. I hope someday I can be like him. I can also say that I am so excited for President Prince. It will be the bomb!!! Gringo president big baby! 

More news, the other two elders are getting transferred tomorrow. Things were not going well in the other part of Chinchina. We will take over the area and will be working here with just us two. I am really loving working with my companion but we need to stay on target.

love you

 If I wasn’t a missionary, I would be home with you. I think this is so funny!!!

June 20, 2011

Mother,

No package yet we will see today. I want to answer all your questions but I have limited time because we are leaving for Manizales.
What a great week it was. We had lots of people in church today. We are working in a different way now. We got sick of doing the same old thing and we saw miracles because of it. The way to do it is one by one. The same way that one by one the people came unto Christ to feel his hands and feet. We have two baptisms Saturday with Cielo and Luz marina. I feel a deep connection with them because we have been through it all and we are arriving at this beautiful day. I am so grateful for this short time I have to work in the Lords vineyard.
On a different note this week was the finals for Colombian soccer. It was so awesome!!!!! I loved it. The jersey I sent home to Sawyer is the team that won it all. It is my favorite team. I have never seen so much passion for winning the championship. The city went absolutely insane. There was a parade of motorcycles and cars of thousands completely dressed in green. They were throwing sand everywhere and fireworks all night. But here their version of fireworks is just a bomb. I saw flairs and it was so cool the only thing that wasn’t fun is having to go to the house and miss all the party hahahaha. I wanted to put my Nacional jersey on and join the parade!! It was a cool experience.

I love you all!!! Love Elder Belnap

 

June 13, 2011

Pictures: My friend Geraldo on his birthday and us cleaning the chapel

Hello hello,

I have not gotten a package. I will see the zone leaders in a week so maybe they have it. We had a good experience with Carlos and there is still light. I think he will be okay because of the faith that you have had and the fasting and prayers we have done as a companionship. We meet as a district every week here in Chinchina it’s only us four missionaries so nothing too special and about once a month with the whole zone. The main religion is catholic. Everyone is catholic. But, that generally means that they were baptized but don’t do anything. There is also a pretty strong Jehovah Witness branch and some other church I can’t remember what it is called. The president of the branch left. He moved to Chile to work so we will see who will be the new president. We do have a lot more help here then we had in Medellin. We have been taking all kinds of people to lessons with us and we are seeing the miracles here.

There is really only one thing that I want to write about. It is our friend Geraldo. He is an old man of 83 years. He was baptized two years ago and loves the missionaries. We were with him every day. He lived alone and was always looking out the window waiting for us. He loved to be with us and we loved to be with him. He came with us to an appointment on Thursday night and we took him to his house at 9:30. He had a doctor’s appointment the next morning. He woke up at 4 in the morning by himself and dressed and was leaving the house. It was dark and he walked the wrong way and fell down a flight of cement stairs. They took him to the hospital and we found out that he was there at about 1 o clock on Friday afternoon. We ran to the hospital. He was unconscious and alone in the hospital bed. They wouldn’t let both of us in so I went by myself.  It was so difficult to see my old friend lying there. They told me I had two minutes I took out my oil and gave him a blessing by myself. At first I was crying however after a few seconds I felt so much peace. Like it all was going to be okay. The doctors were looking at me like what are you doing?  It was such a powerful experience. Geraldo died yesterday morning. It is so hard and we have cried, laughed, and cried some more. I will miss Geraldo. I will never forget him. He wrote in his journal the night before he died about the missionaries. He really loved us. Today is the funeral it will be very interesting to see how they do it here in Colombia. We will be going in to the Catholic Church for mass. He was the only member in his family so they will be doing the catholic traditions. I will work harder for Geraldo. I love you all so much. Love elder belnap.

Mom I know you are sad you got released, I am too.

The picture is great of you and the new president!!!

 

pictures

June 7, 2011

No package yet mom. I am getting my dear elders and always the letters from the family and from Jackee. The temp is really nice. But, it has been raining a lot lately but that is okay. There are a few areas where we can´t go into at night and we try to avoid for the day time. But everyone knows who we are here in Chinchina well they know we are some guys that have something to do with God so they don’t bother us really. We had transfers and I am happy to be staying here in Chinchina with my companion Elder Mamani. We are getting along great. That is the truth also. (These are the answers to my questions)

So before we run out of time we had a great baptism on Friday. Marcela, she is 16 and very powerful. Her mom will be baptized on the 24th of this month. The scary part of the baptism was the confirmation. Because, she had to go to the hospital to help her grandma so she didn´t know if she could make it to sacrament. She showed up right after the opening hymn. She was confirmed. It was so great. I felt so relieved. I also bore my testimony mom. I felt impressed to bear it in English first. I simply testified that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and the Redeemer of all mankind. It was great. I then finished in Spanish. The spirit was felt this Sunday and I pray that we can work even harder this week.

I love you all Elder Belnap.

I know you will be okay honey in Kentucky. I love you so much

May 9 2011

Tell grandma I loved hearing from her. Love you mom!

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 3:57 PM, Benjamin Belnap <benjamin.belnap@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Mom I am looking for fun games like we play with the family. So after we are done teaching we can all play together. Ideas like that. Simple games. ha-ha But I will use these. Thank you so much. If anyone has fun games to play after family night I would love to send him the ideas.
No you don’t need to send a camera with president prince( His new mission President that I met this past week in St. George)  I will be fine. I was thinking about something you could send but I forgot. ha-ha I sleep like a rock ha-ha the beds aren’t too bad and my pillow is excellent. No I am not cold. It’s not cold here in Chichina.

Hello, I am sitting here in the internet cafe and the guy next to me is from Canada and he doesn´t speak Spanish. It is fun talking in English and I think we are going to go to his house to teach him and his wife the gospel. I hope that we can. I just got their cell phone number to call them. Oh YA! He came to Colombia looking for girls ha-ha. So family it was so great to talk to you yesterday. It came and went so fast. But, it really gave me a strong desire to help families.

We had a difficult experience last night. I told you mom about Jairo, He has been trying to quit smoking but he can’t and it´s been hard. I love his family. His wife and children are beautiful and I want them to be sealed for all eternity. Well we were teaching him and making goals to quit smoking. He had to go quickly to the neighbor’s house so we were talking to his wife and she began to talk about his problems. He not only smokes but he is so addicted to slot machines that he uses his daughter’s school money to gamble. He plays every day and only thinks about that. It broke my heart. He sells a drink in the street called mas ammora. I had been buying it for ten times what it was worth because the family is really poor and he was using all of it to gamble. It is a black hole. Gambling you can never have enough. There is no end, there is no fulfillment. Win or lose you are filled with desire for more. I hate slot machines.

We will keep moving forward! The baptism was amazing this week. Juliana is such a good girl and she has changed so much.

I love chinchina.

I love you family.

Elder Belnap

He got some letters!!

This is such a cute video. He was so excited about getting letters finally. He would love it if you had the time to write him a letter. You can either send him one through dearelder.com or message me for his address. Thank you for all your support, love and prayers on his behalf.

Ben's first area Medellin Colombia



Looking over the city of medellin... His first area.



Having a little lunch with some of the Elders

This is Ben's first area. Medellin Colombia! His trainer and Companion (first comepanion) Elder Miranda. He is a Colombia native. Ben is no longer in Medellin. He is in Chinchina now.

This is a very sweet video. This is the Primary children singing. ( We are not sure of the song)

He was so EXCITED to get some letters from home!

His Kitchen

The closet/storage space for him and his companion

april 18, 2011

(These are the answers to my questions)

Yes mother I was transferred... The Address is calle 10 Carerra 7 #63 apartemnto 303. Chichina Manizales. I haven’t got a new photo card yet but I will buy one. The best thing that she could do and the most secure way is to give the package to the missionaries in Belen and they will give it to the zone leaders. The zone leaders will give it to the office and the office will give it to the zone leaders of Manizales. That is what you need to tell her to do. Give it to elder Miranda in Belen. (He is talking about a Colombian woman who came to visit us this past week.  She will take him back a package. )Some candy would be cool and some razors. I don’t think I need anything else. Still no mail. Hopefully on Tuesday we will get mail because the zone leaders are coming here. Oh not this Tuesday in one week.

So yes I was transferred. It was really sad to leave Medellin. My investigators cried and I cried with my converts. You are really attached to them at a spiritual level.
I hope you liked the pictures and videos ha-ha I am sure they are just really weird but it’s all chill. I will buy a card and we can keep sending it back and forth. So my new area, I am in Chichina it is about an hour away from the city of Manizales. It is beautiful like indescribable. I am up in the Amazon and it is a small, small Puebla. It is a branch of about 90 members attending. Which is pretty big. I love it here. I think I might like it here more than Medellin. Today we hung out with members in the president of the branches house it was awesome and before we played with all the primary and young men young women it was the so awesome. It is a bit colder here cause we are in the mountains. I hope I answered all your questions. I am out of time but I am happy with my new companion elder Mamani from Bolivia. Keep praying for baptisms. I love the mission and it will be such an adventure working here in Chichina! I am happy to hear Spence spoke in the good old seventh ward. Hit a home run from the sounds of it. He is a good man and I think he is heading out here in a couple weeks ha-ha I think he is probably nervous ha-ha. Don’t worry bro the mission is hakuna matata. ha-ha

Love you all,

Elder Belnap

April 11 2011

Hello Mother.

Transfers are tomorrow I am very excited to see what will happen. I dunno I sent my memory card with her and she is going to give it to you. (A lady from Medellin is coming to our home on Friday night) I haven´t gotten the package yet. I am really hoping this week. Could you send beef jerky haha I know that´s a weird request but, I would love some. Tell dad to buy the good stuff haha.

Language stories, here is one. We knocked doors and find some people to teach. The lady was nice and offered me some water and said would you like some ¨tinto¨ also. I had no idea what it was but I said yes being nice. My companion was laughing but didn´t say anything. He said after a while...  you now that tinto is coffee right hahahahaha I hope the lord can forgive my ignorance.

This week has been good. I can´t explain how fast time goes it is almost unreal. I am sure there is something that is making the earth spin super fast and we don´t know about it. I am going on to my sixth month in the mission it has flown by. I thought a lot about the Savior and the commencement of the church this Wednesday (also I think it was Peteys birthday happy birthday Petey) The Savior truly is leading and guiding this week. We are promised that he will send his angels to go before us. I know that it is true. I feel it as they speak through the power of the Holy Ghost. I love Medellin, I told my companion this week that this is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I think it might be the most beautiful in the world. I love being a missionary. I was able to bear testimony a lot this week that Jesus Is the Christ the son of our Father in Heaven. I love you all, Elder Ben Belnap.

Mom maybe an electric shaver would be nice. But I want one like James Collier.

Letter 04-04-11

Okay mother,

My companion has two more transfers then he is going home. I couldn´t watch the MTC special they played something else I think. No news on the package but I do get mail about once a month (a truly glorious day). The food was great this week we ate in the street with our buddies from our zone. It was so fun. We laughed and it was a good time. Spanish is coming. I would say the hardest is the phone. People talk faster and slur on the phone and it is hard for me. My companion yells at me when I can´t understand the people on the phone and he has to talk hahaha but it will all come.

I don´t know if I answered all your questions but I want to use my time to share my experience from this weekend.

Before conference I had a feeling that it was going to be difficult watching conference without you all and without going to priesthood with dad. It was true it was difficult but it was the best weekend spiritually of my life. When we stood to sing Redeemer of Israel as a Priesthood, I couldn´t help but recognize the overpowering presence of the Holy Ghost. It was six months ago to the night that Grandma Elen passed away. Singing that song, standing with the priesthood, I felt her. I felt my brother Bubba on the other side of the veil and my brother Og on this side of the veil. I thought about dad standing and singing that and the spirit was felt in great abundance. We are sealed together as an eternal family, bound through the priesthood never to be separated. I serve, dad serves, mom serves, Bubba serves. We are an Eternal Family. That is why I am here to bring the way that families can be eternal.

We  had investigators in the Sunday morning session and it was such a different experience, watching in Spanish in the church. But, it was magnificent to see the spirit testify to our investigators of the truthfulness. They loved the feelings they had at church and want to come again so they can have that with them all the time. I would say D Todd Christofferson and David Burtons talks will stick with me the most. Oh and Deiter F. Uchtdorf in priesthood was incredible.

It was hard to be away from you this weekend but I was with you and you were with me.

I love you all so much.

Love Elder Belnap

P.s. I ate McDonald’s this week. Wasn´t the same but the fries were pretty close hahaha

A few pictures from Colombia

Ben's companion and trainer!

Beatrice's baptism

Where Ben lives

Ben and His companion (their house)

Ben's whole zone

Letter 3-28-11

Well mother,

Things are great here in Medellin. My companion is from Barranquilla. His family is not too involved in his mission process. His sister is the only active member. There are 3 Americans here. 40 natives in Medellin and 3 gringos haha. I got the letters this week it was so fun mom!!! I loved opening them and reading about all my friends. I got a letter from grandma and from Og and Jackee. Tell James that I got his letter too. I love James Taylor. I will let you know when I get the package I am so excited for it.

So this week was really good and so so fast. The best experience was a lesson with Olga and Isabel. They say they are my mom’s haha. They are about 70 and they are best friends. Isabel is really Catholic but said she would pray to know if she should be baptized. She believes in the Book of Mormon but like I said she has a lot of tradition in the Catholic church. She prayed and had a dream, In her dream she saw herself and elder Miranda and I in a pool of water. She saw me baptizing her and the water turned to dirty mud. She was crying when she told us this story. She accepted a baptismal date for the 16th of April and she understands the importance of being washed clean through baptism. AWESOME!!!!! So so sweet.

The worst Experience... We were eating lunch with a member in the street because he doesn’t like to feed us in his house. And we saw an accident, 2 motorcycles and a truck. One guy was fine and the guy in the truck was fine. But, this is a very busy road and they were going fast one of the other guys tried to avoid the truck and went over the curb. He went over the bars and his body and head smashed into a cement block holding a light post. It was a very dramatic experience and it took me a couple hours to recover mentally from it. I don’t know if he lived or died. I don´t really want to know.

So on a different note. I am excited for conference haha I hope that it´s good on the mission. Unfortunately it will all be in Spanish. haha. Mom I talked to Kathy Erickson’s friend. It was awesome. I will be sending a little box with her cause she is coming to Utah next month!!!

I love you all very much hope all is well. Someone told me this week that Pablo Escobar was the richest man in the world in his day. Can you let me know if that is true.

Again I can´t send photos but I am sending my memory card with Kathy’s friend.

Love, Elder Benjamin Belnap

Letter 3-21-11

I got dear elders from Og and letter from grandma which was great. I should get mail tomorrow from the zone leaders. The food is excellent. It really is like gourmet every lunch. It’s huge too. Lots of bananas rice chicken beef, sausage and soup every day. Yuka papa. Love it! Driving is a little crazy. You have to be 16 to drive but none of them have cars so it´s just the crazy busses and taxis.

We had three investigators this week, Marta who always comes but doesn´t want to be baptized Kayla she is 17 and pregnant. Oh think about this, Kayla’s grandpa is 53. And he is already a great grandpa. That´s how young people are having children. It is really sad. They really don´t have to travel too far the church it is in the middle of most things. No scary situations mom don´t worry. I haven´t been robbed. I don’t know what else I want in a package. I always think of stuff but I forget. Maybe Nyquil.

This week was awesome. We had training for all the missionaries in Medellin. I learned a lot and I am excited for the future month. The goal for the Colombia Cali mission next month is 397 baptisms. It would be the most in history of this mission but I am going to work really hard. I don´t really like thinking in goals though to be honest. I just think about the people. If we don´t make our goals, it´s okay cause I know what I am doing and I am giving these people my all. My companion is tired he is finishing his mission so he is really sick and his body hurts but he keeps on moving and we keep working. I would love to hear more news of what is going on in the world mom.

We are in a different cafe this week and I can´t figure out the pictures but next week I will send you some more. I have a picture of Daniel and Beatriz together. It is the best picture I have ever seen. A convert baptizing another convert. Oh ya!!!

I love you all so much. Have an excellent week. I know I have more to say but time is up.

Love, Elder Benjamin Belnap

Letter 3-14-11

 These are the answers to my weekly questions:
The food was all really good. No issues there. We have to walk of course but
our area is massive so we go in bus. There are areas we go in taxi so they
can take us right to the house cause some areas we can't walk in the
streets. peligroso!!! haha We are having a training this week which should
be pretty much just like zone conference. It´s on Tuesday and Wednesday all
day long. So maybe I will get mail then. I hope you can find that choir
music. I kind of want Vitamin string quartet but I don´t know if that is
considered classical. Consult with Og on that one. We can listen to anything
by Motab hymns in any form and classical style music. So we listen to some
Enya and Josh Groban but some Josh Groban is a little romantic so we don't
listen to all his stuff. Washing clothes Sucks!!!! I have a brush and a bar
of soap and that is all. I use my debit card sometimes to buy stuff if I
need it. I hardly ever see the president once every three months or two
months haha.

This week was awesome. I included photos from the baptism of Beatriz. it was
such a special day. Daniel baptized her! That was one of the best parts. We
baptized Daniel about a month ago and he baptized Beatriz on Saturday. It
was a powerful experience. She bore her testimony after and said when she
woke up she didn´t want to be baptized and she was really scared. ( This is
normal. The Devil wants to make people scared and afraid. Before baptism he
tries to make people doubt.) She said she just trusted in the truth and came
to the baptism. When She got in the font she was crying. She said that she
felt so much peace and all the fear was taken away. She said she is so
grateful she found the true church of Jesus Christ. What a great day. I love
being a missionary. I know that in reality this is the true church of
Christ. I am so grateful for the experience Ï am having here. I hope
everyone can see the pictures from the baptism.
Love you all Elder Belnap.

Mom maybe send some vitamins to have more strength and energy. love you mom.

Letter 3-7-11

The soccer team is Naccional. They beat Barranquilla this weekend so everyone has been so so drunk haha they love Naccional it is crazy. They are really good too. I can hear the stadium sometimes so sick. haha I am still taking cold showers, and I still absolutely despise it. I know some houses have warm water but not here. Oh ya I am staying here and so is my companion another six weeks in Medellin. Food is excellent however, on Sunday I did not enjoy cow stomach.... It was not horrible but I just hated the texture. But worse than that some sister put ketchup all over my noodles because I am American and they love ketchup. It was horrible. I was able to sneak most of it off my plate. haha I can eat cows stomach and pigs feet but can´t bear the thought of eating ketchup haha. I am missing Carl’s Junior, Taco Bell and KFC the most from home. I want a cheeseburger, I real cheeseburger. haha But I get to make my own food for dinner and breakfast so it´s all good.

We can play basketball but no one really likes to so it never happens. I played a little bit. I enjoyed myself.

P day is a normal morning we study and after clean the house and then whatever we want but we hardly do anything so we sleep and eat and listen to music. Speaking of music haha... oh you are going to be mad at me mom. But could you find my choir CD’s and send them to me you might have to buy new ones from Larry or ask Preston cause I think I put them on his computer. sorrrry..... luff you. (Interesting, I just purchased these CD’s on Friday..Thanks, Lizz)

It has been a good week! Before I start how sick is that Spence Is going to Russia. They always send the geniuses to Russia. I am so stoked for him. Tell Erin to hit me up with an email on her thoughts. Also Curt dogger Bulgaria, I have no idea where that is but I am  happy he is going to Europe.

Beatriz is ready to go for her baptism on Saturday. It has been a great journey teaching her and watching her learn and grow and find a testimony of Jesus Christ. It is so amazing to be a missionary and help people make the changes that will bless them now in their lives and for eternity. I am so happy to be in Belen and Medellin. I know the work will continue to grow for us here. I love you all so much and Elder Belnap is happy and doing well. I don´t have any more time mama. I love you so much lady!! Love Elder Belnap I miss writing you too mommy!

Letter 2-28-11

Hello,

Yes, mom I got my blessing I have an hour to email and I print off a bunch of emails. It’s expensive. We didn’t have zone conference they zone leaders had a conference in Cali so they brought mail. Transfers are tomorrow!! I don’t know what will happen. To be honest I am a little nervous I love Belen and I want one more transfer with my trainer because we are doing work!!! So we will see what happens this week. I got about 20 emails saying how awesome Daniel was (which is to be expected) but that is good stuff. How is Joust doing no one has told me anything about him so I don´t know anything....

This week was excellent, I feel so good to be a missionary. Ser mormon es ser feliz. My companion always tells me that. It’s true. He is so happy and loved his mission so much. We are teaching some people that are really powerful. Beatriz she is 19 and has no family but just moved in with the members. ( BOOO YAAAAA!!!) Members are the only way to do missionary work. We never knock doors I mean we do but not too much haha. So Beatriz loved the plan of salvaccion. The spirit was so strong with her. I didn´t know why she didn´t have a family but I testified that I knew she could live with her family I talked about Bubba and Sarah which I don´t really do too often and I was crying and she was crying and the spirit of the truth was poured out on us. She is getting baptized on March 12 hopefully I don´t get transferred so I can be there. I love being with her she is so powerful. We have two families that are progressing but the thing is they are never married. So we are working on that. But it is a little expensive to get them married. Mom I hope you spell check this cause I write so fast I don’t really look at what I  am saying. How is everyone at home? I would love a note about the NBA. That is something I would like to know haha LeBron specifically. The language is coming along. I am pleased about that.

I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior of the world. Missionary work is incredible. I love to be a missionary. I am going to go sleep now cause p day is sleepy time daddyyy.. Love you all so much.  I miss Sawyer!!! I hope I didn’t forget to tell you anything... oh ya mom I got all the post cards and letters !!!! So fun to open them. Tell Mons I got his note. Is he playing basketball or no? Ser mormon es ser  feliz. Don’t  forget it everyone!!!

Love, Elder Belnap

Letter 2-28-11

Hello hello! I didn´t eat any strange food this week. Just absolutely
delicious food. I love the avocado here, there are tons of trees and I eat
them all the time. There are a lot of areas we have to stay away from. a lot
a lot. And some we can go to during the day and not at night. We are pretty
careful. I thought I was going to have to fight the other night walking back
to the house. There were about six of them but nothing really happened. So
no worries there mamma!!! I am safe. We have to be in by 9 just like other
missions.
Companion study...... Well in my opinion it´s super boring hahaha That might
sound messed up but practicing lessons and stuff I just don´t like it that
much but we do it every day. My companion is the bomb. Did I tell you he
speaks English?? Yes he failed to mention this to me for my first two weeks
when I couldn´t talk to him hahahaha. He has lots of other sons in the
mission. Oh and he isn´t 25 he is 27. wow really old. He is the same age as
our bishop hahaha. It´s pretty sick.
Tomorrow We´ll be getting mail because the zone leaders went to Cali this
week so I am happy about that. pretty excited. Over all I like mail hahaha.
I am excited to get a new mission president. it should be cool. Yes meet him
mom. And make sure you tell him that we want to play soccer on p day not go
to museums!!!!!!!!! haha So this week was great. Andrea (I think I mentioned
her is awesome) She has almost read the whole book of Mormon and is getting
baptized the 5th of march. but she is trying to find another house to live
so we don´t know for sure if we´ll baptize her or what. We can´t teach her
in her old house anymore. The guy that lives there is a Nazi Skin Head.
Scared me the first time I saw him. Big old Swastika tattoo. I do not know
how to spell either of those words. haha but he told us to never go back
there.
Our ward is really excited with new members. They are giving us more
references and bringing more inv. to church. Daniel, I found out was the
first Man to be baptized in this ward in years. so they are really happy! I
love you all. All is well. Oh and this city loves soccer it´s crazy. When
Medellin is playing no one does anything, just drink and watch the game.
Church is just unimportant at that point. haha Oh Daniel Hunter Lalli had a
birthday. He´s getting close to leaving. that is so sick. North Carolina!!!.

Love Elder Belnap.

Letter 2-14-11

Hello,

I haven´t gotten anything letters or any postcards. We are ten hours away from Cali so we don´t really get mail that often. I ate a pigs foot a couple of days ago that was kind of nasty It was just fat and bone and we were supposed to eat. I didn´t enjoy that really... haha I sent 4 pictures One of me at a less active members house looking over Belen at night. Pretty sick, the others are from Magerli´s baptism. Also Daniels Baptism. Magerli asked me to do her baptism. I was so happy. She is my first investigator I have seen from start to finish. It was incredible, the water was freezing But just like the day of Kelon’s Baptism I could feel the spirit in my toes. My legs were on fire and she was crying. She told me she never thought that this would happen and she is so happy. That is her sister in the pictures she has helped her a lot she is a member. Daniel wants to serve a mission!! He is the first boy to be baptized in Belen Medellin for over two years.!! The bishop is so happy. I feel great when we are obedient and working hard. We can really see the success also! I thought about sawyer this week and how cool it will be for Erica and B when he is 8 and gets baptized!!! Hopefully B will be done with school by then haha.

So that is the happy story for the week.

The other is We did an exorcism on a house in a area called Rincon. They were seeing a man and a young boy in the house. The little boy was telling the little girl (she is like 2 or 3) to do stuff. I was scared.... We went upstairs where they said they were seeing it and I really didn´t feel good... I was like oh no here comes some paranormal activity, the ring, grudge kind of stuff. We knelt down and said a prayer that whatever was there would leave and the house would have the spirit. It was powerful.. My hands were shaking and I was sweating. The little girl was doing some very weird things during the prayer. But, we feel like whatever was there has now left!! Satan tried to attack me with fear. But, I am still happy and I am not scared I love this work everyone. It is really hard but I am happy!!! I met a lady who reminded me of Pat Oberg she was super nice and had so much faith! I miss the Oberg’s. I love you all so much. I know this is true. I wouldn´t come half way around the world to preach a lie to the people here. I hope Stephen is happy heading out this week. I will be praying for him.

Love Elder Belnap

.Letter 2-7-11

Hello everyone!

Yes mom I know Elder Peek he is in my zone. I like him a lot. He is a good man and really has been looking after me. haha  (Elder Peek’s mother is on the missionary moms email list with me) Didn´t meet any of Kathy’s friends. I get like 180 dollars a month so they say I usually always have enough. I don´t get hungry really during the day. The lunch is so so huge that I´m not hungry until about six so all is well on the food front. I don´t need more pictures of Christ, and right now I don´t know if I need more CTR rings. I will be giving the hymn books a way this week to Magerli and Daniel cause they are being baptized on Saturday.!!! I gave the present to the president they seemed pleased. Unfortunately I have to do my own laundry bucket and soap and a little scrubber I honestly hate it. haha I am taking pictures and will send them but, I forget my camera this week and will send more next week. We don’t ever carry our cameras cause if we got robbed it would be bad. The landscape is mountains and hills and also part in the valley. It´s beautiful here. Especially in the mornings. I love it But walking in the hills when it´s the hot part of the day is not fun haha.

So it´s been a good week!! We have two baptisms and they both are really powerful, Daniel bore his testimony this week in church. He is 19 and wants to serve a mission! Magerli is doing well but, her family is having a really hard time. They are really poor and her mom Claudia lost her job cause she´s been at the hospital for almost 3 weeks with Maria Kamila. That isn´t all... Kayla her 17 year old daughter(not a member but we are teaching her) she is pregnant and this week she drank a container of medicine to try to kill herself... so she is in the hospital also, same hospital as Maria Kamila. So sad for me, I feel so bad for Claudia the mother. We fasted for them, for dad, and for our investigators to come to church and progress. It is kind of hard to fast as a missionary, so thirsty!! haha. one thing that I miss about home so much, I absolutely hate showering here. The water is ice cold!!! you know I hate cold water!!! Every morning I wake up and I dread it, I dread having to take a shower. It is horrible. I am assuming it´s the same in Paraguay Kayo is going to hate it. hahahaha. Oh and happy birthday to Jacqueline. Happy birthday Jack!!! We taught a lesson with Andréa last night and it was my most powerful yet. She says she is feeling something she has never felt before as we talk and as she reads the book of Mormon. it is the spirit, the spirit speaks through feelings of peace and love. The book of Mormon has the power to change people’s lives. It changed my dad’s life. It changed mine. I love you all. Have an excellent week.

Elder Benjamin Belnap

Freaking packers... I´ll take them seriously when Aaron Rogers stops wearing a kickers helmet.