Late Night Study

Last week I attended two institute classes--Preparing For An Eternal Marriage and The Book of Revelation. While they were both VERY good classes, I believe The Book of Revelation class may have already benefited me greatly. There was something about sitting in that class and learning from the teacher and from the scriptures that sparked something that hasn't been sparked since my mission--a desire to have a good, in-depth study of the scriptures. Of course, I am reading the Book of Mormon daily, and I have been blessed with knowledge and peace from doing so, but this desire to sit down and study the scriptures and write down thoughts and impressions in a journal has been rekindled, and I am extremely excited about that.

I was so excited that I whipped out my study journal, and I started looking through it. My last entry was November 30, 2011 (a week after I got home from my mission). So yes, I continued the good habit of writing in a study journal after my mission, but...only for a week. That gave me a good laugh.

Now, the point of this post: I flipped through my study journal, and on page 2 there was a section called "Late Night Study Session (11:01 PM)." It was written while sitting on my top-bunk bed on May 19, 2011 (a year ago!) while I was, of course, on my mission. You see, I used to do that! There was a point in my mission where I was so obsessed (for lack of a better word) with studying the scriptures that I would take 10-15 minutes to do a "late night study session."

And the study I had that day was a good one so I wanted to share it with you all. That night I decided to begin my study of God The Father. My hope was to study every scripture that the Topical Guide had about God--His attributes, His foreknowledge, His eternal nature, His Gifts, etc. But before doing so, I decided to read what the Bible Dictionary said about Him. And there was a line that caught my attention. In the fourth paragraph in the Bible Dictionary, it says, "God can be known only be revelation."

Now this can be read and interpreted in a few ways, but when I read that sentence that late night, I looked at it in a personal-revelation kind of way. Each and every one of us can know God better through revelation. But how do we receive revelation? Well, as missionaries, we taught investigators three basic principles to seek and receive revelation: praying daily, reading The Book of Mormon daily, and going to church weekly. (Yes, the sunday school/seminary answers.)

So how do we know God better? How do we draw closer to Him? Through revelation. And we are allowed such revelation only when we are constantly striving to read, pray, and go to church. And I know that by doing so, we truly can know God.

It might sound simple to you, but I am grateful for those extra 10-15 minutes that I took that late night to make that small discovery about God while on my mission.

Best. Yearbook. Message. Ever. (Brought To You By Logan Nelson)

The following message was found in my senior high school yearbook, and so it was probably written in June of 2009. This was by far the funniest thing I have read in a very long time. This is from my little brother Logan M. Nelson. Enjoy!

Benji,

My good brother this year you have been a great example to me this year. The beigning of this year wasn't as fun, but we had good times. I went to key hole cayon one weekend, and I came back to see you so happy, because you had a excellent time at youth conference. After that I had the weirdest, and the funniest days of my life. You have changed a lot over this year, and I'm happy your my brother.

p.s. Good looks on mission!

-Logan Nelson

The Kindest Lady I've Ever Known.

This month marks the one year anniversary of the passing of my convert Olfa Elius Cortez Castillo. I think about her often, and I will never forget her. She was truly one of the greatest people I have ever been able to become acquainted with. And I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about her story.

On February 1 2011, I was transferred to a new area called Reñaca Alto. I was in my previous area for only one transfer (six weeks), and I remember being filled with mixed emotions that day. I was a bit confused as to why I had been transferred despite doing extremely well in my last area. However, that confusion and disappointment soon left me during the first week of that transfer. As I got to know Reñaca Alto and my new companion Elder Judd, I immediately knew that it was where the Lord wanted me to be.

I had a lot of trust in Elder Judd right from the start of our transfer together. Despite being a new missionary, my first impression was, "Dang. This kid is a stud." He had a lot of patience with me as he quickly showed me the new area and introduced me to the unfamiliar members and investigators. I remember one of my first days in the area I pointed up at the list of investigators, and I said, "Wait, so who's Olfa again?" (He had already explained to me who she was once or twice before.) He very patiently explained to me that she was an investigator with a baptismal date for March 19th, 2011. But before I could get way too excited, he explained to me that we weren't able to teach her for a few weeks because she was in the hospital being treated for her cancer. It sounds harsh and sad, but a lot of missionaries over-react when they first hear of investigators like Olfa, and a common question some would ask was, "Should we really be spending time with this person? Will they progress?" I paused for a moment, however, and--despite never meeting this lady quite yet--I just knew that we needed to give her a chance.

I first met Olfa on February 11, 2011. She was finally back from the hospital, and so we knocked on her door. She stuck her head out and said something along the lines of, "I can't meet with you two today. I am not feeling well. But come back tomorrow." When I heard those words, I doubted a little bit because people told us that every single day, and they were never there the next day. But--again--I felt like we needed to give this lady a chance.

We returned the next day, and she did indeed receive us into her home. She was feeling a lot better, and I could not believe how nice this lady was. When she asked us questions about ourselves, it was so obvious that she truly cared about our well-being. She told us stories of how missionaries visited her sixteen years earlier when she lived in Villa Alemana, Chile, and how she never forgot those missionaries. She almost always gave us food to take along with us. In El Cambio Espiritual: Volume III (my journal), I wrote: "We also taught Olfa last night. It was awesome! She'll probably go down in history as one of my greatest investigators. She's great!" The next day was a Sunday, and Olfa attended church with us. It was our second day teaching her together, and she was already progressing.

And she progressed quickly. She approached us one day and asked, "Wait, when am I getting baptized again?" Elder Judd pulled out his calender and told her, "March 19." She replied, "Oh. Could we change it to March 5? I'll be in the hospital on March 19." We explained to her that she could as long as she continued to progress. Her progression was a quick process, and on February 26 she had her baptismal interview. I will never forget that day because instead of having the interview at the church, we did it in her house. Well, the interview is between the district leader and the baptismal candidate only. So what happened to me? Our district leader had me go upstairs and wait in Olfa's cluttered bedroom. I waited on the floor, sitting on a pile of dirty clothes. It was perhaps the strangest environment for an interview that I was ever in, but I was just happy that Olfa was taking one step closer to being baptized.

March 5 finally arrived, and we were excited for Olfa's baptism. But, unfortunately, we were shattered by the news that the chapel's water was cut for the day, which meant we couldn't fill up the baptismal font. In the end, the baptism was rescheduled for the next day after church at the stake center. There were no worries until sacrament meeting started and Olfa hadn't shown up. Big sighs of relief came out of both me and Elder Judd as Olfa walked into the chapel a few minutes into sacrament meeting. Long story short, she was baptized on March 6, 2011, but she couldn't be confirmed until the next Sunday.

She didn't show up the next Sunday, which worried us until we found out that she was sick and had to go to the hospital. Elder Judd was transferred that next week, and so Olfa was confirmed on March 20, which also happened to be Elder Gasik's (the missionary I trained) first day of church in Chile. That would be the last time that Olfa ever attended church with us. Sometime during that next week the Vergara family (the family that fellowshipped Olfa) informed us that Olfa was in the hospital, and she wasn't doing that great.

The weeks passed, and the family Vergara kept us posted on Olfa's condition. They often told us things like, "Olfa is worried about you two, and she always asks about you" or "Olfa really wants to get better so that she can feed you Elders." (They were able to go see her in the hospital; we could not without permission.) April began, and the Vergara family informed us that Olfa wasn't doing very well at all. So we finally asked for permission, and we paid her a surprise visit on April 11. I will never forget the smile that she had on her face when she saw us! We had a great conversation with her, but we were saddened to see her in such poor conditions.

I had faith that Olfa would make a full recovery and rejoin us in Reñaca Alto--especially after hearing from the Vergara family that Olfa was doing a little bit better. But on May 22, more than a month after our surprise visit, we received a phone call from Brother Vergara during our Sunday lunch appointment. He said that he had some bad news. His son was married the day before, and so I first thought, "Dang. They won't be there tonight for us to stop by to pick up his son's extra wedding cake." I asked him what the bad news was, and when he told me that Olfa had passed away, I froze. I lost my appetite. Elder Gasik and I left the lunch appointment. Fighting back tears, Elder Gasik told me, "Sorry, man." I told him it was okay, and that I just needed some time accept it all. We sat for a while, and we shared our feelings with each other about what had happened.

Since her family was all Catholic, her funeral was at a Catholic church. We attended, and I must say it was one of the saddest gatherings I have ever been a part of. But despite all the sadness expressed by those around us, the family Vergara, Elder Gasik, and I all knew that she was going to be rewarded for those decisions that she made during those weeks that we shared with her.

A year has passed since her passing, and I carry the below picture in my Book of Mormon with me at all times to remind me of the kindest lady that I've ever known. We love you, Olfa, and we look forward to the day when we will all reunite.