Baptism Week

Hello to all of my fam and friends back home, at school, or doing whatever you do.  I hope this letter finds you well.  I have learned from letters from Mom and Dad, as well as other emails I have received from all of y'all, that more people read my letters than I thought.  I guess that's a good thing, and I'm so glad that I have been able to make a difference in some of your lives by serving a mission.  I hope that I can continue to be a good influence on anyone and everyone who reads my writings.

Last Tuesday as we were driving out to Skylar's house to continue teaching her, we got a text from one of our investigators named Deana.  Backstory:  Elder Hastings has told me that she is super solid, believes the Book of Mormon and everything, and is basically ready for baptism.  She actually had a date set not too long ago, but her husband wouldn't agree to let her be baptized, so that didn't happen.  We still thought that she would be baptized eventually, her husband just needed to agree to it.  We have tried to see her a couple of times during the last couple of weeks, but I still have yet to meet her.  I always just thought that we couldn't catch her at a good time.  Anyway, she texts us while we were driving, so Elder Hastings hands me the phone to read it.  Deana said something to the effect of, "I just watched a video of an ex-Mormon guy exposing Joseph Smith.  Needless to say, I'm no longer interested in becoming a Mormon."  Like I said, I've never even met her, but I was just crushed.  We asked if we could call her, but she just said no and goodbye.  I was pretty sure we never were going to speak with or see here again.  However, we have still been texting with her.  We have tried to help her remember what she felt when she first read the Book of Mormon, and how much she loved/believed it.  She told us that she is just really confused right now, and she is still searching for the truth.  I know that she feels that way because she has found the truth, but know she is questioning herself and questioning the answers and feelings that she received as she learned of the truth.  It's a tough situation, but I hope that we can be able to help her in whatever way we can to remember what she came to know was true just a few short weeks ago.  

After receiving that text from Deana, we had to go in and teach Skylar.  Elder Hastings taught me this really cool way to begin reading 1 Nephi 1 with an investigator and explain it to them to help them understand it, liken it to themselves, and get hooked on reading.  That's what we did with Skylar.  I feel like it went pretty well, but I think that she is still going to have a hard time understanding what she reads in the Book of Mormon if someone isn't there to explain it to her.  I hope and pray that she will do her best, and that her parents will help her with it.  Her family still hasn't been to church since we started teaching her, so I wonder how on board they really are.  We have talked with the Branch Presidency about baptizing her, and they have told us that there is almost no point in doing it if she and her family are not ready to commit to come back to church and to do those things that they need to.  I hope that they will see the importance of what we missionaries are asking/inviting them to do.

On a better note, Friday was Diane's baptism!  It was awesome, and she loved it.  Her son, Donnie, drove here from Texas so that he could baptize her.  It was a great service, and I got to give a quick talk about baptism.  It helped me throughout the week to think about my own baptismal covenants as I prepared to give that talk throughout the week.  It was a great opportunity for me.  During the time that Diane and Donnie were changing after the baptism, we asked all of the members that came to the service to write Diane a little note/testimony, and then we put them all in a jar and gave them to her after it was all over.  I really love the members here, and they all seem to love each other.  Lots of people in the branch are very supportive of Diane, and I'm glad that they all were willing to share their testimonies with her.  She has told us that she really enjoys the branch and feels at home there.  I'm grateful for that, because often times converts will quickly fall away if they don't have those feelings or if they don't have a few friends at church.  I know that Diane has lots of friends at church, and I'm thankful for the members and their love towards her.  

Friday night we had a zone conference call, and at each of our conference calls we are given a "focus question" a few hours before, and then a couple of people are called on to share their thoughts.  The focus question this week was kind of two questions, but it was, "What blessings have you seen this week, and what can we do to remain happy/positive during our service?"  I didn't get called on to share, but I thought about those questions a little bit.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, I learned this week that probably a lot more people than I previously thought read my writings each week.  And the blessing that I have seen is that my service as a missionary and my experiences that I write about are having a positive impact on those who read about them.  As far as being happy goes, I remembered hearing a talk/devotional that we listened to the other day while we were driving, and it talked about exactly that.  So, how can we be happy?  Most of these can be found in 2 Nephi, but they are all in the Book of Mormon.  1)  Accentuate the positive (for example, see the differences in attitude between Nephi and Laman/Lemuel while they are in the wilderness),  2)  Learn how to work, and learn the value of work (2 Nephi 5:15, 17),  3) Keep the commandments (2 Nephi 5:10),  4)  Attend the Temple (2 Nephi 5:16),  and 5) Cut out contention (4 Nephi 1:15-16).  I know that as we do these 5 things, we will be able to "live after the manner of happiness (2 Nephi 5:27).  As we do these things, we will not only be/feel more happy, but we will be able to recognize that happiness and recognize other blessings that we receive for doing them. 

On Saturday we got to get up at 5 AM and drive down to Birmingham for a multi-Zone Conference with Elder Craig C. Christensen, one of the Presidents of the Seventy.  He was a really cool guy, and we were lucky to be able to meet with him and hear his words.  He had a lot of things to share, and I learned a lot, but here is one thing I'll share with you: D&C 67:10.  It says that if we strip ourselves of jealousy and fear, and humble ourselves before the Lord, "the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am."  What a promise!  1 John 4:18 says that "perfect love casteth out fear."  I know that we can strip ourselves of fear and jealousy if we have love.  When and if we are able to love others as our Heavenly Father and as Jesus Christ love us, then the veil will be rent, and we will not only be able to see/know Them, but see others as They do.  That was just a cool scripture that Elder Christensen shared with us.  

It was also awesome on Saturday at that conference to be able to see some of my old MTC friends and some of the people that I flew out with a few weeks ago.  You become friends with people so easily out here.  It was so great to see people that I know and love.  I feel like I'm just friends with everyone I meet - my MTC pals, my new district and zone members, and all of Elder Hastings' former companions.  It's so much fun to meet and associate with all of the missionaries out here.  They say that ABM (Alabama Birmingham Mission) really stands for America's Best Mission, and they're right.  Everyone here is awesome.

On Sunday night we went to go see Nathan.  He and his family were baptized a few months ago, but haven't really been active since then.  His wife Brittney, and his kids have been to church the last couple of weeks, but Nathan hasn't come to church for a while.  His family is the one who we went to see when the ZLs Elders Krupa and Fotu were here last week.  Elder Hastings and I went to see Nathan last night, and he was actually really excited to read the scriptures with us.  I'm not sure why exactly he hasn't come to church, because he still seems like he has a pretty strong testimony and a desire to do what's right.  Anyway, we read 3 Nephi 11 with him, when Christ appears to the people in the Americas.  We got to the part where Jesus tells the people to come and feel the prints in his hands and feet, and somehow we got talking about how resurrected beings are perfected.  Nathan then asks us, "So if you are perfect after being resurrected, how come Jesus still had those scars?"  I had never really thought about that, but Elder Hastings shared a scripture and a thought that were the perfect answer.  Isaiah 49:15-16 says, "I will not forget thee.  Behold, I have Graven thee upon the palms of my hands; the walls are continually before me."  Elder Hastings explained that Jesus kept those scars as a reminder to Him of the love He has for us, and also to remind us of what He did for us, and how much He has to love us to do what He did.  We are always on His mind.  He will never forget us, and He will never stop loving us with his perfect love.  I'm so glad that we have a Savior who loves us and cares about us no matter what.  I know that He will never leave us.  It was a good lesson that we had with Nathan, and I hope he finds a way to make it back to church.

Again, I'm always glad to be here in America's Best Mission.  I love y'all back home, but I know that the most important thing I could be doing right now is not at home, but here in Alabama.  I love the people, and I love the work, and I love all of you too.

Love, 

Elder Beach

Diane's Baptism!

I got to see my MTC comp at the multi-zone conference!

One Month + Baptism Week

Hello to all of my loving and supportive family and friends back home or wherever you may be.  Right after we emailed last week I got to drive down to Birmingham to go to the Temple.  Elder Hastings and I drove with Elders Rumel (one of Elder Hasting's former companions) and Graham (who flew out with me).  During our drive down, they were telling us about all of the crazy investigators that they have.  It was pretty hilarious, and I'm glad that we don't have anyone crazy to teach like they do.  Their teaching pool has some interesting people in it.   When we finally got to the Temple, we waited a while for everyone else to get there because we were a little early.  When all the other missionaries got there, President Sainsbury told us before the session, to take a look at the chandelier in the Celestial Room.  He said that each of us were like each individual crystal in that chandelier: beautiful in and of itself, but so much more when it is together with all of the other ones.  And what makes it more beautiful still is when the light shines through each of the crystals, and all of those lights and colors are shown.  He compared that light to the Light of Christ shining through each and every one of us missionaries.  I thought that was a cool analogy.

After our session, one of the workers asked us if we would help clean the temple.  5 other Elders and I got to help vacuum, and I don't know why, but that was kind of cool.  I got to vacuum the Endowment room, and just sit in there all by myself for a few minutes while I did it and just think.  I'm not sure how many people get to be in the temple alone.  It was too bad that I didn't get to do the Celestial Room.  Anyway, I finished the Endowment Room pretty quick, so the workers told me to go vacuum the office, and the Temple President's office too.  After we all finished vacuuming, we took some pictures outside the temple and then started to head home.

On our way home we got a call from someone in the Branch that said we needed to go give a blessing to Sister Foster, who also lives in the Branch.  She had been having some health problems and kidney stone surgeries and some other things.  When we got to her house and stepped out of the car, Elder Hastings said to me, "You ready to give a blessing?"  I told him that I guess I am if she asks me to.  So we went into her house and talked for a little bit, and then she says, "Elder Hastings, will you anoint, and Elder Beach will you give the blessing?"  We agreed, but I was still really nervous.  This was about to be my first blessing.  On the porch before we went into her house, and the during the anointing, I just silently prayed that I would know what Heavenly Father would have her hear.  After Elder Hastings anointed and I blessed, she said to me, "You said exactly what I had hoped you would say."  I was relieved, and thankful that my prayers were heard.

The next day, Thursday, we actually met some weird people.  I told you that Elders Rumel and Graham had all the weird ones, but I guess we have some, too.  One of them is named Elden.  He is probably 55, and he is a less active guy.  Apparently he went less active because a long time ago some missionaries were at his house, and for whatever reason they punched his cat.  He's been less active since.  At least that's what Elder Hastings told me.  Either way, Elden is a pretty weird but super funny guy.  He kept trying to tell us that a true Christian will have read the Bible once for every year of their life, and that a non-Christian will have only read the Bible once for every 3 years of their life.  I didn't understand why he thought a non-Christian would read the Bible at all, but whatever.  I guess by his standards, I'm not a Christian because I haven't read through the whole Bible 18 times.  He also kept trying to tell us that it's really easy to come up with answers to Gospel questions.  "Anyone can come up with answers," he said.  "The hard part is asking questions."  He said that a Jewish Rabbi (in his words, a Jewish Rabbi has read the Bible 3-4 times per year for their whole lives) is given answers, and then is able to come up with about 300 questions based on that answer.  He was making no sense, but he decided to "test us," as if we were Jewish Rabbis.  He told us that he would give us an answer, and then we would have to come up with a bunch of questions.  His "answer" was just him reading some random verse from the Bible.  We didn't really get what was going on, and Elder Hastings and I kind of just laughed at each other the whole time because he was making no sense at all.  It was a weird visit.  Later that day we went to go see a lady that we had found in our area book.  When we got there, we were told that she had moved, but the couple that lived there now invited us in. They told us they were Pagan, and all into witchcraft and stuff.  It was super weird, but she also told us that she loved learning about other religions.  We talked to her about our beliefs, shared a couple of verses from the Book of Mormon, and gave her a copy.  I doubt that anything will come of it, but I know that the Book of Mormon has the power to change lives.  Who knows what might happen with those two if they choose to read it?

On Friday I had my first District Meeting.  To begin, we went and played a quick game in the gym at the church, and then started our meeting.  It amazes me how we can have so much fun together and be a little bit rowdy in the gym, and then settle down so quickly and have a serious gospel discussion.  Elder Hastings is the DL, so he led the discussion.  We discussed Alma 17, and read several verses that talked about our purpose/focus as missionaries.  They were things I probably never would have picked up on, so it was a great training.  We also got to go back to the Stoneking's home to teach Skylar.  I learned very quickly that our lessons go much better when her mom and brother are not present.  This lesson on Friday, only she and her dad were there in the lesson, and it went really well.  There were few distractions, and her dad said he would help her with her Book of Mormon reading and help her practice praying.  I hope he does, and I hope that the rest of the family can get on board and help her do what she needs to do to meet her baptism date and then stay active afterwards.  It makes me sad that her progression rests so much on her parents right now.  I hope and pray that they can help her in any way they can.

Saturday was my one month anniversary of being a missionary!!!  It wasn't that exciting.  I did nothing to celebrate, except more missionary work, so that was fun.  I also read a lot in the Book of Mormon this morning about America.  I love reading about things in the scriptures that give you those moments when you think, "these prophets are totally talking about our day."  Ether 2:12 is one of my favorite America scriptures.  Most of the time when the Book of Mormon talks about America, it just says that this land will be a land of freedom and liberty to its inhabitants if we don't get prideful and always remember our Heavenly Father.  It makes me sad when people don't.  I hope I can be the one to help many people here in the South to remember Him.  I have also realized on the mission that personal study is one of the best times of the day, and that an hour is not long enough.  A few months ago, an hour would have been forever.  Today, it seems to fly by during personal study.

On Sunday the Zone Leaders (Elders Krupa and Fotu) came to interview Diane for her baptism on Friday.  Elder Fotu did the interview, and afterwards he said she was solid, and she is so ready for Friday.  I'm really excited for her.  She was pretty much ready to be baptized before I even got to Scottsboro, we just had to teach her the last two lessons and follow up with some things.  Even though I haven't done as much as Elder Hastings and his last companion to get her prepared, I'm glad that I got to help.  She is so ready to be baptized, and I am so excited and grateful that I get to participate in a baptism this early in my mission.  We went with the ZLs to go see Brittney and Nathan, a less active couple.  Elder Fotu really wanted to see them because he was really close with them when he was serving in Scottsboro.  He gave them a lesson, and we all read part of Alma 32 together.  Elder Fotu talked to them about things that they can do to exercise their faith, and constantly nourish it.  He called it "CPR" - (Church, Prayer, Read the Book of Mormon).  I remember hearing the same type of thing at the MTC, only there it was called "being brilliant at the basics."  I know that as we remember to do those simple things, CPR, our faith is constantly nourished and we will always be learning and growing.  Lastly on Sunday, we went to meet Amanda and her son, Evan.  Not sure if I mentioned them last week, but they are awesome.  We met them last Sunday, gave them a Book of Mormon, and talked to them about it.  When they came to the door last night, Amanda told us that she had read the introduction, but hadn't started the Book itself yet.  She seemed disappointed in herself, which gives me hope that she does have a desire to read it.  I'm sure she and Evan will this week.  We talked a little bit more about the Book of Mormon, and referred them to Mormon.org.  I have high hopes for them, especially if they read this week.  I'm almost sure that they will.

That's about it for this week.  It's been a good week, and I'm thankful to be here in Scottsboro.  It's awesome being a missionary, and I love doing the work.  I miss y'all, and pray for you daily.  Thanks for all of your prayers and support that you keep sending my way.

Love,

Elder Beach 

Driving to the temple.

Temple trip!

First (real) week!

Hello to all of my family and friends back home.  This week has been long, but it has finally been real work.  The MTC was super fun, lots of work, and I'm thankful for the experience.  But out here is much different.  There are rarely set appointments, and there is no schedule that you follow minute my minute like at the MTC.  That being said, it's been pretty awesome. 

I flew in last Tuesday, and we stayed at the Mission Home for dinner and for interviews with President Sainsbury.  While everyone was being interviewed, we just listened to Sister Sainsbury talk for like 3 hours.  I'm pretty sure everyone fell asleep at some point, and some of us were asleep the whole time she was talking.  Two Elders told me I was snoring a little bit while Sister Sainsbury was talking.  I felt bad, but I didn't care too much.  We had all been awake since 2:30 that morning.  Anyway, we stayed in a hotel Tuesday night and then went to the Birmingham Stake Center Wednesday morning to meet our new trainers.  Mine is named Elder Hastings and he is a great guy.  He's from Las Vegas, and has been out for about 13 months.  I'm glad that I have him because we get along well and he knows the area really well.  I still don't know my way around that great, but he knows how to get just about anywhere, and knows where almost everyone lives.

On Wednesday, after a 2+ hour drive to our area in Scottsboro, we did some finding.  We knocked doors in the rain for a couple of hours, and I got my first taste of life as a missionary.  I learned really quickly that knocking doors and talking to people is not that weird, that it's not that hard, and that most people are super nice, they just don't really care what we have to say.  I also learned that it is a lot easier to have conversations with people when you know the area.  It's getting easier after a week of being here, but Elder Hastings actually knows this town really well, so he is better at that kind of stuff.  I'm doing my best, and it has gotten easier to approach random people and just discuss our beliefs.  

Also on my first day here I learned that we have a lady on date for Baptism, on the 25th!  She has been coming to church for about a month or so, maybe a bit longer.  She is probably 60 or so, and her son is driving out from Texas to baptize her on the 25th.  Elder Hastings and his old companion, Elder Peterson, taught her the first few lessons, and we have been meeting with her to finish up the lessons and help her prepare for baptism.  Last Thursday we taught her a few of the commandments, including the Word of Wisdom, and she said she has been making great effort to stop drinking tea and coffee.  It has been and will be a struggle for her, but we were able to give her a blessing to help, and I think she will be able to stop.  Other than that, she is super solid.  She has been coming to church regularly, reading the Book of Mormon, and is even studying the Gospel Principles manual.  She is excited to be baptized, and we are super excited for her.  I'm very glad that I get to have a day like this so close to the beginning of my mission.  I often thought about that before I left:  What if I got to baptize someone in the first week or first month of my mission?  Well, I'm not baptizing her, and I sure haven't done as much work to help her as others have before I got here, but it's still pretty incredible to be able to help someone make the decision to follow Christ's example into the waters of baptism.  

Another highlight from this week is that we got another person on date for baptism, on September 16!  Her name is Skylar, and she is 12.  She expressed desire to be baptized on her own, and the Branch President asked us to go over to her house.  Her family is all members, but they inconsistently went to church, haven't been to church for several months, and she hasn't been baptized.  We went over to their house yesterday to teach her the first lesson, and formally invite her to be baptized and set a date with her.  I don't feel like there is any reason her baptismal date won't work out, unless her family just decides not to come to church.  I really hope and pray that her family can be supportive of her and help her to prepare for baptism.  We are going to continue to meet with her and her family over the next few weeks to teach her all of the lessons and help her get ready to be baptized.

Weird story:  A couple of times a week we go do service at the library or at a local food pantry.  Yesterday we went to do service at the library.  Elder Hastings told me, "They have you do the most random things ever here.  I've done everything from clean shelves to organize legos."  Well, as soon as we walked in, they put us to work...painting rocks.  They are having kids come over to paint their own rocks, and I guess the paint stays on better if there is already a white coat of paint on the rocks.  So that's what we did for an hour yesterday morning: paint a bunch of rocks white.  It was pretty weird, but pretty fun.  One of our jobs as missionaries is to serve, so that's what we do.

Speaking of service, on Monday morning we went to go mow a lawn for a lady.  Her lawn was about 18 inches long, and her mower was super old and super tiny.  It got clogged about every 3 feet, so we had to go really slow.  My shoes were destroyed by the end, but I was able to clean them up when we got home.  We got her lawn to look a lot better, and she was very thankful for us.  If we ever mow for her again, we better do it soon or it's going to be that long again.  Like I said, one of our jobs is to serve, so we do that any way that we can.  

Anyway, this has been a fun week, and I'm glad to be here in Scottsboro.  We are working hard, teaching, finding, and studying, and I love it.  I appreciate the awesome support system I have back home, and I'm thankful for your letters and your prayers.  Love y'all.

Elder Beach

Arrival in Alabama!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Alabama Birmingham Mission

Elder Jackson Alonzo Beach has safely arrived in the

Alabama Birmingham Mission!

We are impressed with your son and want to thank you for all that you have done in preparing this wonderful young man for his mission.  

Attached are photos of Elder Beach, one with President and Sister Sainsbury, and one with all the new missionaries at the Mission Home.  He will bless this mission greatly with his enthusiasm and dedication. We love him and pledge our best efforts in directing his service here.

Elder Beach has accepted a call that will change his life and the lives of those with whom he is serving.  These first few months will be full of new and challenging experiences, and your support in the form of encouraging and uplifting letters will help him greatly.

Our greatest hope is that each missionary has a positive and growing experience, which will help give them a foundation for a lifetime of service to others. We appreciate the time you have spent raising your son to be such a responsible young man.  We thank you for your willingness to share Elder Beach with us.

President and Sister Stanford C. Sainsbury

Utah to Alabama (week 3)

Hello to everybody back home. This week has flown by, and I can't believe it's already time to leave the MTC. In some ways it feels like I've been here for 6 months, but in most ways it feels like I just got here 2 days ago. In any case, we'll only be here for a few more hours. (We leave for the airport at 3:30 tomorrow morning.)

Last night (Sunday) we had the "last supper" with our district. We partied and ate all of the food and candy that everyone's family had sent. We actually still have a ton of food. Hopefully we can find a home for it when we leave in the morning. The reason we had the last supper last night was that most of our district flew out this morning. 12 of the 16 of us left at 3:30 this morning, and that's what I get to do tomorrow morning. It was a pretty sad, but fun filled night last night. Actually the highlight of the day, week, and MTC experience was last night. Though I wish I could say that the highlight of the last 3 weeks was our last supper, it wasn't. Here is what was: Each Sunday, there are about 10 different videos shown around the MTC that are from Apostles and others, and these videos are the last meeting of the day.  Last night, the MTC presidency said that the whole MTC would watch the "Character of Christ" video from Elder Bednar again. So the whole MTC watched this video for the second time. As amazing as it was 2 weeks ago, it was even better the second time. There are so many things to learn, and hearing an Apostle teach you is incredible. I'm glad President Martino had everyone watch it again. Well, as soon as the video was over, everyone stood up to stack chairs, head back to the dorms, etc., when all of a sudden everyone stood up, looked forward, and went silent. I didn't know who was there because I was towards the back. But about 10 seconds after the silence, Elder Bednar himself walks up to the podium at the front of the room, accompanied by his wife. I was so pumped. We got to listen to an Apostle speak and converse with us for a little over an hour. We were all dead tired, as Sundays are long days full of meetings, devotionals, and classes. Everyone was ready for bed by the end of the video, but nobody wanted to leave after Elder Bednar showed up. Elder Bednar just turned that 80 or so minutes into a big Q and A session. It was so cool to listen to his testimony and his answers to questions that some missionaries had. Almost everything that was talked about in the session with Elder Bednar was stuff that we had been talking about in class and in our TRCs all week long. It was really awesome. After Elder Bednar gave his final testimony to close the meeting, I just had this thought: I'm almost sure that he and the other Apostles have spoken with God and with Christ. Obviously that is something they would never disclose, as it is too sacred, and I don't know exactly what the Brethren do at their meetings and in the Temple together. I don't think it happens often, but I really feel like the First Presidency and the Twelve have spoken with God and with Christ face to face. He spoke a lot about prayer, the importance of working hard for the right reasons; service; exercising faith; and the gifts that a prophet, seer, and revelator has. One thing that was awesome is that in class on Friday we were kind of throwing out theories that our prophets today have Urim and Thummims. If you read Mosiah 8:12-19 and Mosiah 28:11-20, you just might think what I do about our prophets, who we all sustain as seers, having seer stones and/or Urim and Thummims of their own. It's just a theory, but I think I've convinced myself that they do. Anyway, Elder Bednar, while answering his very first question that he was asked, brought up these verses in Mosiah 8:16 about how being a seer is the greatest gift anyone can ever have except for the literal power of God. It would be so cool to be an Apostle. I learned a lot from Elder Bednar last night, and I'm so glad I had the chance to listen to him live at the MTC.

I mentioned last week that we were struggling with our investigator, Benjamin. As of our last lesson with him on Friday, that is no longer the case. We had a lesson with him on Wednesday about faith. I told you that he doesn't like the concept of faith because he feels like you have to know something to have faith in it, and you have to have faith in something in order to know it. We helped him understand that having faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things, but to have a desire and a willingness to work to receive a perfect knowledge of things. I felt like he came to a better understanding of faith and grew in his desire to exercise what faith he has. Our lesson on Friday with him was about prayer. Like Benjamin, we often have had investigators say, "Yeah I prayed, but I didn't really get an answer." We helped him to learn how to pray in a way that will give him the best opportunity to receive answers, and we helped him to be able to better recognize answers when they do come. Our lesson with him was kind of based on a lesson our district had with Brother Abadillo the day before, and on another lesson we had had with a different teacher on the morning before we met with Benjamin. We helped him to understand better Moroni's promise (the formula to praying and receiving answers). In Moroni 10:3-4 it states this "formula". We must 1. "Receive these things" - we need to read the scriptures or learn something from the missionaries. 2. Ponder them. 3. Ask God in the name of Christ, with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ. We helped explain what each of these things meant. We also turned to the Bible Dictionary entry on prayer. That entry explains what it means to pray "in the name of Christ." Let me tell you, it's so much more that just ending our prayers with those words before we say amen. I encourage all of you to read Moroni's promise again, and also to read the Bible Dictionary entry on prayer. Look especially at the last two paragraphs of that entry. If you follow its counsel, I promise that it will change the way you pray and it will make your prayers much more meaningful. Bro. Abadillo said to us, "I never close my prayers until I feel like I am in the presence of God." That's not an easy thing to do, but I know as we pray "in the name of Christ" that we will be able to feel that same way. One thing that it says in the Bible Dictionary is this: "prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child (us) are brought into correspondence with each other." That is the purest definition of prayer, and may we all begin to think of prayer that way. I know my prayers have have changed since I've been at the MTC, and they changed again after the lesson of prayer from Bro. Abadillo, and after our lesson on prayer with Benjamin. I hope you all will take the time to read the Bible Dictionary entry on prayer and to give what it says in the last 2 paragraphs some thought. I know it will help you as you pray.

I told you that I was very worried about teaching Benjamin again after the first lesson, but I'm honestly going to miss meeting with him. He is a super nice guy, and though progress was slow, I was excited to see his faith and desires grow. I know that God answers prayers, and I prayed a lot that God would fill my mouth with what to say to him to help him learn and come closer to Christ. I prayed for that and then studied to find things to help him, and it all worked out great. I'm thankful that God answers prayers.

This week we also had a district testimony meeting, just on our own. We started it last week, but after an hour it was time to go to dinner and we had only heard from 5-6 people. We finally finished our testimony meeting Saturday. I thought I knew my district, but wow they have some crazy lives. So many of them come from divorced families, broken homes, and hardships left and right. My life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, but I'm so glad I had the upbringing I did, I have the family support I have, and I have the parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who are so supportive and so loving. I love all of you and I pray for you daily. Grandpa, I hope you and your doctors can get you feeling better. It makes me sad when I hear that you aren't feeling well. I want you all to be healthy and happy all the time. To my aunt Camille, I never met your dad, but I was heartbroken when I heard what had happened. You and your family are always in my prayers. I love you, Heavenly Father loves you, and I'm so grateful for the knowledge we have of His Plan. As sad as this is, I know in my heart that you can be together again someday, and experience pure joy together with your family and together with God. I also need to thank you, Brad, and your boys for the package. It means a lot that I have such a loving and supportive family, and I hope that I can continue to be an example to you as you are to me.

I'm excited to go out to Bama and serve the people there. I don't know exactly how these next couple of days are going to go down, but I pray that I will be able to have a good trainer, that I will settle in quickly, and get to work. I like to believe that there is one person down in the south who is ready and waiting for ME to come talk to them and share the Gospel with them. I often pray that I will be able to see people as God sees them, and that I will be able to treat everyone I meet as that one person that is ready to receive the Gospel and that Heavenly Father has placed in my path. I love all of you and keep you in my prayers daily. Thanks for your love, prayers, and support. Talk to you you next week. I don't know when my p-day is in the field, but I guess you'll find out when I email. Love you!

Love,
Elder Beach

Our District with our teacher, Sister Erickson.

Me and Woody, my high school buddy from home.  I didn't realize I still had my tie tucked in from dinner!

Our Zone (two districts) with our teacher, Brother Abadillo.

Me and Brother Abadillo.

Our District at the temple.

The Alabama Missionaries!

Our District's final night together at the MTC.

Week 2

Hello family, friends, and everybody else.  Week 2 at the MTC has flown by.  I've heard that "days are long, and weeks are short," and I have come to realize that this week.  Though this week may have seemed fast, we sure got a lot done.  Here's what I did during the last full week at the MTC:

Sometime this week, I can't remember when, we received our flight plans for when we leave.  Almost our whole district is leaving Monday morning. But Elder Deschamps and I, as well as two Sisters from our district, are leaving on Tuesday morning...at 3:30 AM.  I have no idea what we are going to be doing on Monday.

Last Tuesday/Wednesday we continued our TRCs (lessons) with Viktoria and Tanner.  Viktoria is basically the dream investigator.  On our second visit, after having not even taught her about the Book of Mormon, she says to us, "I had a question about the last lesson, so I went to the Book of Mormon..." and we were just like, "Wow, that's awesome," and so we taught her about the Book of Mormon and encouraged her to continue to read.  We had four total lessons with her this week, and after each one Elder Deschamps and I just laughed and said to each other, "Why are we even teaching her? She pretty much is already doing what we invite her to do before we even extend the invitation."  She really understood a lot and wanted to learn on her own, so we were basically just there to encourage her to keep doing what she was already doing.  Finally, on our fourth and last lesson, we extended the invitation to be baptized.  She said that it was the most confident YES of her life.  Even though she wasn't a real investigator (I think) and she was super easy to teach and baptism was a no-brainer decision for her, I was super pumped.  That was one of the best moments I had had as a missionary up to that point.  I know that those moments will most likely be few and far between out in the field, but I can't wait to hear that "yes" with a real investigator who is really willing to take that step to change their life for the better.  

During our Wednesday TRC with Tanner, we taught him about the Book of Mormon also.  We taught what it is, where it came from, what's in it, and we shared with him the introduction and 2 Nephi 25:26.  He agreed to begin reading, and that verse set up nicely for our next lesson with him on Friday, when we taught him about the Atonement.  He kind of understood what the Atonement is already, so we shared Alma 7:11-13 and explained to him that it's about so much more than sin and death.  In fact, those are the last two things that those verses prophesy that the Savior will take upon Himself.  He also took upon Himself our sickness, our heartache, our temptations, our grief.  In the book "The Continuous Atonement" it says, "He's got us covered."  And He does.  He covered everything.  Elder Deschamps shared the story of when Peter walked on the water, but he began to doubt and he started to sink.  However, as soon as he started sinking, the Savior was there to grab Peter's hand a pull him up.  That's the same thing with us in our lives.  Jesus is always there to pull us up if we will just put out our hand, grab His, and let Him pull.  Tanner really liked that analogy, and as that was our last TRC with him, I felt like we ended on a high note with him.  

Also on Friday, right after our TRC with Viktoria (at about 8:30 AM) we headed to class, which started at 9:30.  We were so pumped about having such a good lesson with her that we didn't even realize until we got to class that President Eyring was at the MTC, and he was in the building that we had just walked out of.  There is a big commons/lobby type area that we walked through on our way out of the TRC on our way to class, and that's where President Eyring was.  We walked right through the same room he was in and we had no idea until we got to class and everyone was chatting about him being here.  We still had about 12 minutes until class started, so Elders Deschamps, Williams, Goodrich, and I went to go see if we could see President Eyring.  By the time we got back to the building he was in, there were security guards at all of the ground floor doors, so they wouldn't let us in.  So we went up to the roof where there is a little study area and went into the building from there.  We ran down the stairs into the lobby area where he was, but by the time we got there we could only see his entourage walking down the hallway and out the door to go outside.  We were told by security to go out the door closest to the stairs we had just come down, and so we ran outside and around the building to get a look at President Eyring while he was outside.  We got there just in time to see him and his group of family/security walk into another building.  It would have been cool to see him close up, or maybe even meet him, but that's okay.  I don't need to meet him to know he is a prophet.  Anyway, that was one of many cool experiences this week.

The coolest thing I did this week, and quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my life, was on Saturday night, when we had another fantastic lesson from Brother Abadillo.  I think last week I said he was 5'2", but I think he is really like 4'11".  But let me tell you, that man is a spiritual giant.  I love all of his lessons, because he is so smart, and has such good ways of explaining things.  Often times he doesn't actually explain things, but just sits there and asks us questions that perfectly lead us to finding answers for ourselves.  Anyway, this lesson was focused on invitations and commitments.  The steps to doing that he explained as follows: 1) invite, 2) promise blessings, 3) testify, and 4) follow up.  Most of the lesson was focused on #2, promising blessings.  People often accept invitations, but they probably won't often actually follow through with them unless they understand why they need to do what we ask them to do.  And that's where promising blessings comes in.  Bro. Abadillo took our class, split up our companionships, and placed us each with new companions for a few minutes.  I was assigned to be with Elder Williams for this activity.  Brother Abadillo then says to us, "Okay everyone.  You have three minutes to receive revelation for your new companion.  I want you to use the scriptures, teach them something, invite them to do something, and promise them blessings from our Heavenly Father."  This was no mere role play, like we had been doing for the last 11 days.  This was us, receiving revelation from God specifically for our companion.  We were all pretty much in shock.   How were we supposed to do that?  We didn't know what our fellow missionaries needed promised to them... but God did.  I said a quick prayer and just opened my Book of Mormon to some of my favorite chapters, hoping to find something that Elder Williams needed to hear.  I quickly went through 2 Nephi 2, 2 Nephi 9, Alma chapters 34 and 42, and finally settled on Alma 26.  And by "settled," I mean that I felt very strongly that this was where I was supposed to be in the scriptures.  I shared with Elder Williams verses 27, and 30-31 of Alma 26.  These verses talk about one of the struggles of being a missionary: feeling depressed when you feel like you aren't successful.  They speak of being patient in your afflictions, and God will give unto you success.  You will find joy in the salvation of many souls, and you will be able to look back on your mission and recognize not just a few successes that you have had, but many of them.  I invited Elder Williams to be patient with himself and with others, and I promised him these things.  Or rather, God promised him through me that he will be a successful missionary, and that he will find joy in the many successes that he will have.  It may not sound that cool, but as we sat there and bawled together, I realized that that wasn't me talking.  I was being led the whole time.  A quote from Bruce R. McConkie came to mind, called "Our Missionary Commission."  The quote goes like this: "I am called of God.  My authority is above that of the kings of the earth.  By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him.  To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me.  My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine.  My commission is to do what he wants done.  To say what he wants said.  To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work."  This quote became very real to me on Saturday night.  In my journal I wrote, "I literally spoke for God tonight.  I promised things that God Himself would have promised if He were on the Earth...Brother Abadillo said that this lesson would change my life.  I have yet to hear that man tell a lie.  I have power as a missionary and as a representative of Christ that I didn't fully understand until tonight.  I'm excited to exercise that power again."

Sundays are long days here in the MTC.  I've had some pretty busy Sundays in the past 6 months, with home teaching, mission prep class, homebound Sacrament, and interviews with the Bishop or Stake President all in the same day.  But Sundays here are twice as long.  They are really awesome, especially when I don't get chosen to give a talk.  Actually this week, the Elder that does comedy all night long in our dorm building, got called on to give a talk.  His name is Elder Duford, and I can in no way take him serious because of his stupid stories he tells every night.  He got called on to speak and everyone laughed.  His talk was better than I expected, but he still didn't seem totally prepared to give it.  We have lots of classes on Sunday, but all of them this week were really good.  We had a couple of lessons from Brother and Sister Garlick (from our Branch Presidency) about the Apostasy/Restoration, and later about Family History.  We also had a Priesthood lesson about recognizing and feeling the Spirit, from Elders Rippy and Johnson.  It pretty much turned into a discussion rather than a lesson, which is what you want, so that was good.  I gained a lot of insight on how/when the Spirit speaks, and how the environment has to be right for it to happen.

On Monday (yesterday) we got new investigators for TRCs.  One of them, Benjamin, is like the worst investigator ever, and yet I loved talking to him.  It's so hard to describe him and his views.  Basically he believes in God, but doesn't understand who or what God is exactly.  We explained to him that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and kind of tried to go through the Restoration lesson.  I basically told him that he can't just take our word for things, and that he can find out if what we taught is true, and if God is really there and if He loves you.  I asked him, "What would it mean if God Himself told you these things were true?"  I was totally unprepared for his response: "Honestly, that wouldn't mean anything to me."  He has some interesting beliefs, and I think the strongest of those is that he fails to see why we need God, Jesus, the commandments, or religion in general at all.  He told us this: "Here's what I believe... If you do good things, good things happen to you.  If you do bad things, bad things happen to you.  I don't know why I need religion to just live those beliefs."  It was super weird talking to him because he wasn't disrespectful or rude in any way.  He just told us what he believes and that he wants to keep that while we keep what we believe to be true.  He also told us that he hates the concept of faith, because its almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy, or "confirmation bias" as he called it.  He thinks that faith is dumb because if you believe in something (have a hypothesis about it), and then you test it out (by praying), he explained that whether you receive an answer or not, you will believe in your mind that you did receive an answer just because you wanted to receive an answer.  Man, the whole lesson with him was super weird.  If I didn't have a strong testimony of these things that we teach, my own faith might have been shaken--why do we need a God?  Why can't we just do good and let good things happen to us in return?  I know these answers.  He doesn't.  But I'm still having a hard time explaining these answers to him.  And yet, he wasn't out to bash with us and/or prove us wrong in any way.  He just didn't want to accept what we had to say.  At the end of listening to him, Elder Deschamps and I just bore our testimonies.  It was a super weird experience, and yet we both felt like the Spirit was there.  Honestly, if we weren't obligated to go back and talk to him (since that is what is on the schedule on Wednesday), I don't know if I would.  I have no idea what to say to him about the stuff that we discussed yesterday.  We talked to Brother Abadillo about it last night, and he helped us with a few things, but honestly, I don't have any idea at this point how our next 2 lessons with him are going to go.  We went to the temple this morning and I specifically had the question of what to say to him in mind.  I'm still not sure what to say to him tomorrow night, but I do have a testimony of the lesson-planning process.  Elder Deschamps and I will continue to employ it, and hopefully receive inspiration about what course to pursue in our next discussion with him.  Our purpose is to help him come unto Christ, and I have hope that if we make that our goal while we plan and while we teach, our thoughts and our mouths will be filled with what God knows he needs to hear.  I have had that experience before (see 2 paragraphs previous), and I have confidence that it can happen again if that's what God wants.

Anyway, the MTC has been fun, and I'm going to miss it when I leave next week.  At the same time, I'm really excited to get out in the field and actually do real missionary work and teach real people.  I'm very glad that God has answered my prayers by giving me such an awesome companion and district.  I'm going to miss the ones that aren't headed to my mission.  I hope God will answer my prayers for my future companions, especially my trainer.  I miss all of you, but I'm happy to be out here serving.  I can't wait to go serve in Alabama.  Thank you for your prayers in my behalf.  I pray for all of you every day.  I love you all. 

Love,

Elder Beach

The Temple, "Merica"

Elders Goodrich, Beach, Williams, and Deschamps at the temple.

Me with Elders Rippy, Champlin, and Deschamps.

Me with Elders Hart, Barden, Goodrich, and Williams.

Me and Elder  Champlin.

There are murals on each floor of buildings T3 and T4 (the newest classroom buildings).  This one is on floor 3 of building T$.  It is of Moses at the Red Sea, and it's my favorite mural.  If you go to the MTC Open House, go check it out!

Elder Champlin (aka "old man Frank") in a wheelchair that we found in the dorm.