Hairy Lips and Vanity

October 6, 2014

Dear Family,

I thought once I left the MTC that the saying "every day feels like a week, every week feels like a day" would not apply, but it still does... just in a different sense. By the end of this week I will be out on my mission for just about 4 months. Doesn't mean it has been easy to be away, but sometimes it does feel like just yesterday that I was home, well not really, but sometimes. The time is definitely speeding up.

Well by next Monday, I will be informing you about what transfer calls were made. Seriously I am almost at the point of begging president to let me stay with Sister Tobler in Warsaw. People are right. Most people only dream of having a companion and first transfer like mine, but that isn't stopping me from praying really really hard for one more. Next transfer is Sister Tobler's last transfer and I would love the opportunity of sharing it with her. Needless to say whatever happens is going to be God's will. I just pray that I still will find joy in the work no matter what happens.

We are still working with Kaja and also have two other really cool YSA aged girls that are fantastic. Thus we are planning a fun YSA Halloween party for this month to help get everyone introduced to each other, maybe once we do this they will bring friends and then maybe things will continue to explode. It is just a super cool thing to be a part of. All of them speak fluent English as well so I think though their personalities are all different that they will get along great!

The things that added up to me going on a mission were small and simple, not the huge revelation that I wanted, but that doesn't mean that I am not supposed to be right here where I am. This week has just been full of personal revelation that has helped me realize that just because an angel didn't visit me and tell me to go on a mission, doesn't mean I am not supposed to be here. In alma 32:27 it talks about having a desire to believe. This scripture actually really describes me going on a mission. I had a small desire that was growing, but the Lord waited for me to act on that desire and show Him that I could choose the right path even without Him hitting me over the head with a pile of bricks. I know now that that is the way the Lord wanted it to be. I would have still been a good person if I hadn't come on a mission. But now being here I can see that my potential to be great would have been limited. By turning my life over to the Lord I have truly now seen how through Him, He is making more of my life than I ever could by myself. My hope is that I will still keep working on that desire to believe and still allowing Him to shape my life and create the daughter that He knows I can become.

So on to the title of this weeks email. Hairy lips and vanity. There is a missionary joke here that says the Polish water makes your facial hair grow. Actually its a combination of humidity (not that I can tell) and hormones. All the same, we are talking legit facial hair here. Sometimes you see old women walking around with these huge gigantic hairs coming off the upper lip and chin. Sister Tobler has this facial hair remover cream. She put some on on Friday and it effectively removed her upper lip hair. Well upon further examination, I found a healthy peach fuzz growing from my upper lip and on my lower jaw in general. Not noticeable to most of the public eye, but very noticeable to me because apparently I am a vain idiot. Thus Sister Tobler let me borrow some of her cream. I put it all over my upper lip and then thought... hey, why not, lets get the whole lower jaw. Well I disregarded the fact that the cream had made Sister Toblers lip numb all day. When I wiped the cream off after five minutes most of the hair came off, but so did probably the upper layer of my skin. It was on fire for days and turned bright red. You could say I was Sister Red Beard the Pirate. Essentially I burned my whole lower face. It has been a pretty humbling and humiliating experience. Most of it is no longer red and has turned scaly and dry now, because heck that looks better right psh... not! But anyways today we found the second part of that cream you are supposed to apply second in a suitcase. It probably wouldn't have helped much anyways. I hate skin!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Benson