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
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