Transfer 1: Complete

Hello to all of my fam, friends, and anyone who may be reading this letter.  I hope that it finds you well.  I hope that y'all have had a good week.  I know that I have had one this week.  Here are a few of the highlights:

Well, transfers were last Wednesday, and we finally found last Monday night that we will be staying in Scottsboro for another transfer, which I am really excited about.  I really love this area and all of the people that I have had the opportunity to meet, teach, and build a relationship with in the last 6 weeks.  I'm happy to be here for another transfer, and I hope and intend to make the most of it.  (After we heard our transfer news, we found out that Elder Maness from our zone, WHO HAS ONLY BEEN OUT FOR 12 WEEKS, will be training a brand new missionary.  That's pretty crazy.  I hope I don't have to train after only another 6 weeks.  But I guess if I am called to do it, I had better be ready.)

This week we have continued to meet with Roger.  I'm still really excited about teaching him, and he is one of the reasons that I'm glad that we are staying here in Scottsboro.  We got to teach him the Plan of Salvation this week, and during the lesson we planned to invite him to baptism on a specific date.  Before the lesson, we were talking about how his reading/praying had been going, and if he felt like he had received an answer as to whether the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  He told us that "I know it is, and I know he is."  I was super excited because he has received the answer that we invite so many people to try and receive for themselves.  But Roger actually did what he needed to, and he has received his answer.  Anyway, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and during the part about our life on earth we talk about our purpose in life.  Well, our purpose in this life is to prepare to meet God (Alma 34:32), and in order to do that we have to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  That consists of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  Anyway, as I was talking, I just kind of started to go through them.  I helped him realize that he had indeed shown faith by meeting with us missionaries, by reading the Book of Mormon, and by praying.  He had also begun to repent by making small changes in his life to put himself more in line with God's will.  I explained that "the first fruits of repentance is baptism" (Moroni 8:25).  I then reminded him that he had literally just told us that he knew the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration.  I then invited Roger: "Because you know these things are true, will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?"  He told us that he would, and then we set him a date for October 14.  We explained that that was just a date to shoot for, and it could be moved if we needed to move it.  The only reason that it might have to be moved is if he can't get over his Word of Wisdom issues.  Roger is solid, and he has a testimony already that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  But we haven't taught him the Word of Wisdom yet, and no matter how strong his testimony is, I know it will be tough for him.  I hope and pray that he will 1) understand that the Word of Wisdom is a commandment from God, and 2) pray for and find the strength to live it.  If he is able to do those things, there is no doubt that he will be baptized on the 14th.  After the lesson, we asked him if we could expect him at church on Sunday, and he said, "What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I'll be there."  Haha, he's such a solid investigator.  One awesome thing about him coming to church was that last week he came to church in all black (I think black was the only button up shirt he has), but this Sunday (yesterday) he showed up in a white shirt and tie.  He said that he had gone to Walmart that morning and bought them.  I'm so thankful that we were led to him a few weeks ago, and that he has progressed so far so fast.  I know Heavenly Father is watching out for us, and that He answers our prayers and the prayers of many others in our behalf.

Another highlight of the week was that one of the ladies in the branch volunteered to teach a Book of Mormon study class on Wednesday nights, and the first class was last week.  Roger was able to come to that, and he told us that he really enjoyed it.  I did, too.  Here is one thing that I learned from it that I thought was pretty cool:  In the very beginning of the Book, Nephi says, "I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith..." (1 Nephi 1:20).  In the very end of the Book, Moroni says, "I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things...that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things..." (Moroni 10:3).  So basically, from these two verses, we learn that the entire Book of Mormon is just showing us how merciful the Lord is.  I thought that was a cool connection that I had never noticed before.

Another highlight:  Last Friday we drove down to Birmingham to have our follow-up trainers meeting.  Basically just all of the missionaries who flew out from the MTC with me came back with their trainers and we just talked about how everyone had been doing for the last 6 weeks.  It was fun to see some familiar faces, and catch up with Elder Deschamps and some others that I knew from the MTC.  Everyone seems to be doing awesome, and so many of them have had so many awesome experiences like I have.  It's fun to talk with them and see how their own mission experiences have been.  We were able to have some trainings/discussions from President and Sister Sainsbury, and they were all so good.  President talked about 2 Nephi 31, and the Doctrine of Christ, and he also talked about the story in the New Testament about the road to Emmaus.  On the road to Emmaus, Jesus met with some people after His resurrection, but they did not recognize that it was Him.  He talked with them for a while, and they asked Him to "tarry with them."  In Luke 24:30-31 it says, "And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him;..."  Remember, before this happened, "their eyes were holden that they should not know him." (v. 16).  But as soon as He broke the bread, blessed it, and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they knew Him.  As soon as they took the sacrament with Him, they knew Him.  President Sainsbury explained further that this is how we come to know Christ: by participating in ordinances.  That is why getting investigators to church is so important.  That is why helping investigators to come to the waters of baptism is so important.  Because participating in ordinances like baptism and the sacrament is how we can come to know Christ.  I love trainings like that, because I am really good at reading the scriptures and understanding what I read, but I'm not as good as I should be at seeing what isn't written, or learning everything that I can from each passage that I read.  I'm trying to do better at that.  Anyway, that was a great meeting and I learned lots from it.

Last night we went to see the Kirks.  They are a family who got baptized a few months ago, and haven't really been too active since then.  I'm sure I've told y'all about them before.  Anyway, we met with them and we were able to have a good lesson with them.  We read Alma 36, where Alma is sharing his conversion story with his son Helaman.  We asked Brittney and Nathan to think of how their conversion was similar to that of Alma.  It was a pretty good lesson, and they both enjoyed it.  Nathan seemed to be doing much better than the last time we were over there.  Last time he seemed kind of down, but last night he was joking around with us the whole time.  They are a great family, but they just have a lot of problems going on in their lives right now.  Brittney kind of unloaded and told us all about them.  One of the only things I could think of when she was talking was that situations like that are the reason that I don't look forward to the possibility of being a bishop someday.  I'm certain that bishops hear things like that, and worse, all the time.  And bishops actually have to know what to say to help them.  As missionaries, we aren't really supposed to counsel others, so we didn't say a whole lot.  I was thinking, however, while she talked that she could really use the book The Continuous Atonement.  It might be exactly what she needs.  I was going to say something about it, but guess what?  I didn't have to, because Elder Hastings did.  I don't think he has ever read the book, but he invited her to read a talk by Brad Wilcox, the author of the book, and I'm pretty sure that whole talk is part of the book.  That was cool that we both were thinking the same thing.  I hope she reads it, because I feel like that it is exactly what she needs.  Next time we are over there, I'll tell her about The Continuous Atonement.  

Well, this has been a good week.  With one transfer down, I only have like 15ish more to go.  It's crazy how fast time flies!  (that was meant to be both serious, and a joke).  I still have a long ways to go, but it is crazy how fast these last 2 months have gone.  I'm excited to make the most out of the next 22.  

I love all of you, miss you, and wish y'all the best in school, work, missions, or whatever is going on in your life.  I appreciate your love and support, and know that I love you and you are always in my prayers.

Much love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide

P.S.  Another happy birthday shout out to my Dad (today), my sister (yesterday), and my other sister (last week).  I hope you all had good birthdays.  Love you again.  

Hammocking by the lake near our apartment.

Pondering.

Transfers! (Hopefully)

Hello to all of my family, friends, neighbors, and all others who may find themselves reading this letter.  I hope that it finds you well.  First off, a big happy birthday shout out to my sister, Jayden, who turned 15 yesterday, and my other sister, Addi, who turns 16 this Sunday!!!  I love both of you, and I hope you enjoy the package I sent (Roll Tide).  Happy Birthday to Dad as well next Monday!  I love all of y'all, and you too, Mom.  I hope you all are able to have good birthdays.

The reason for the title of this email is not because I hope to be transferred.  In fact, I would love to stay here in Scottsboro longer, and I have actually been told that that is probably what will happen.  The reason for the title is that we were supposed to receive our transfer calls last Saturday.  Instead they told us on Saturday night that we would get the news on Sunday or Monday.  Yesterday (Sunday) they told us that we would get the news on Monday "as early as possible."  Well, it's afternoon, and we have yet to receive the call.  I don't expect to be leaving Scottsboro, but it still builds anticipation and anxiety waiting this long.  Not sure exactly why President Sainsbury is taking so long.  Either way, we don't have transfer news yet.

This week has been a little bit slow.  Last week we had a couple of times where all of our plans fell through, so we had some time that we had to fill and we had nothing planned. So this week we focused a lot on planning and making several backup plans so that we always had something to do or someone to see at every hour of the day.  Well, even that didn't work.  We still had a couple of occasions this week when all of our plans and our backup plans and our backup backup plans fell through, and so we did something that was supposed to take us a couple hours in half an hour.  And then we had nothing to do.  It's tough sometimes.  I guess we just have to find more investigators so that we have a lot of people to go see and we always have someone to see at all times, whether we plan to see them or not.

Anyway, we did have a few good lessons and nothing fall through during our exchange with the Monte Sano Elders this week.  I went with Elder Peterson, who is actually the person I replaced when I came to Scottsboro.  He was happy to be back, and we had a great exchange.  First, we went to go see Skylar.  Ever since we got her the children's illustrated Book of Mormon, she has been reading pretty well and really understands what she reads.  She was able to tell us about everything that she had read, which was really good.  Usually she just says that she couldn't remember anything.  So Elder Peterson and I had a lesson with her (and both of her parents) about keeping commitments.  We basically just straight up told them that if they don't start coming to church, doing better at personal/family prayer, and reading (which Skylar is doing better at), and stay committed to doing those things, there's no way for her to get baptized.  It just can't happen if they don't ever come to church.  They all but told us that they would be there on Sunday, but lo and behold, they weren't there.  It's hard, because I really feel like Skylar wants to do the right thing, but without her parents' help/support, it probably isn't going to happen.  We were able to set up an appointment with their family for the youth in the branch to go out and meet with Skylar and teach her a little bit.  They have been wanting to for a little while, and so we finally got it set up for this upcoming Sunday.  Hopefully Skylar's family will be at church and they can just have the lesson there.  But if they aren't, the youth from the branch are going to go out to Skylar's house and have it.  Hopefully she will make a friend or two or a few with them, to give her an added incentive to come to church.  It should be good.

So the lesson with Skylar went pretty well.  Most of our lessons I feel like go pretty well, it's just the stuff that happens in between that I'm not sure about.  After we saw Skylar, Elder Peterson and I met up with Elders Hastings and Foster at Mama Reyes' house for dinner.  I don't know if I told you about her, but she is just a lady in our branch who loves the missionaries and she is basically our mom out here (hence her name).  Well, her daughter got married last week (that was really big news in the branch), and so we had all kinds of wedding leftovers.  It was pretty awesome.  After dinner, Elder Peterson and I went to go see Dustin.  Like always, he's nuts.  Elder Peterson never met Dustin when he was in Scottsboro, so he was pretty pumped to meet him.  Elder Peterson loved Dustin, and like always, we had several good laughs with him.  We also got to read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon with Dustin, since we have been asking him to read for like a month and he hasn't started yet.  I thought it went pretty well, and hopefully he will keep reading.  Side story: at church yesterday, President Bennett told a story about how on his mission he met a guy who was a crazy drug dealer/user.  But this guy came to church for a while, actually watched General Conference with the missionaries, and followed the example of the ward members and the Apostles.  He shaved his beard, cut his hair, and started wearing a white shirt and tie to church, all because that's how the Apostles dressed.  Eventually this guy was baptized, and when President Bennett went home, he was the ward mission leader.  During this story, Elder Hastings and I just looked at each other and went, "Dustin."  It's definitely possible, and I would be so excited if we were able to help him change his life like that.  Just that would be worth serving for two years.

After we saw Dustin we went to see Alex, and we were able to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with him and help him understand why it is so important and how he can know if it is true.  I love talking to Alex, and he is such a funny guy.  Anyway, our lesson with him went pretty well.  We actually set up an appointment to come back and talk to him about the chapter that we left him with to read, and so Elder Hastings and I went back to see Alex on Friday night.  We talked to him about what he read, and kind of went through it again with him.  Usually when we go over to his house, we talk about that kind of stuff for a while, and then we just talk to him about whatever else for a while.  He is doing a lot of work on some cars at his house, so we talk about those a lot.  But one thing that he said to me on Friday really hit me.  He said something to this effect:  "I notice that you change when you talk about God and that stuff vs. when we are just laid back and talking."  I thought that was awesome that he was able to notice a change in me when I spoke with the Spirit.  I don't know if there is a big change, but I do feel like my tone of voice and demeanor do change a little bit when I am talking/teaching/testifying about things that are of eternal significance, rather than just talking about cars.  Actually, the thing that we were discussing was that Alex felt like God was just really selfish, because He just created us for the sole purpose of worshiping Him and doing exactly what He says.  I was able to help Alex see that God finds His joy in our own.  And that He knows that the only way for us to truly be happy and find joy is by living by His words.  The only way for us to experience true joy is by doing everything that we can to be obedient to Heavenly Father and His Son.  It was after that quick lesson/testimony that Alex made his comment about me changing when I spoke about those things.  It was a pretty good lesson, and I'm excited to see Alex again in the future.

One big blessing from this week that hopefully will turn into more:  Elder Hastings and I were walking on the side of the road on our way to see someone that we had planned for.  All of a sudden, a guy just pulls up to us and is like, "Hey, are you guys the Mormons/Latter Day Saints?"  and we were just like, "Yeah."  He told us that he really wanted to talk to us, and so we set up an appointment with him, actually for tonight.  Hopefully that goes well and he becomes a solid investigator.

Speaking of solid investigators, we met with Roger again this week on Friday.  We had planned to teach him the Plan of Salvation, but at the beginning of the lesson he just says to us, "Tell me about church."  So we basically just talked about church and what goes on.  On Saturday, we were able to give him a church tour and show him around and make him comfortable.  On Sunday, he became the first investigator that we had at church since Diane got baptized.  He seemed to enjoy himself, and he even participated in our Gospel Principles class that we teach during Sunday school.  He is doing really well, and is reading the Book of Mormon on his own.  Please keep him in your prayers.  He has some problems with the Word of Wisdom, and he is going to really need a testimony of the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith, and of the power of the Atonement if he is going to overcome them.  I know that he can, it's just a matter of him gaining that testimony.

Well, it's been a pretty good, although a kind of slow, week.  This morning (p-day) was pretty fun.  We went and hammocked by the lake for a bit, and then Brother Olsen, a member from the branch, took us to the golf course and we hit balls on the driving range for like an hour.  I realized pretty quick that I haven't golfed in a long time, and I was never that great even when I did play.  It was still pretty fun, though.  I hope all of you have a great week.  I love y'all and I thank you for your love, support, and prayers.  Happy Birthday again to Addi, Jayden, and Dad.  Love you.

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Beautiful Alabama!

What missionaries do for fun...

We found some light sabers in the store, so, of course we had to play...

 

Me, Elder Hastings and Dustin.

Hammocking on p-day!

Another Solid Week!

Hello to all of my family, friends, and all others who may be reading this email.  I hope that it finds you well.  This week was pretty good, and we have had lots of good times and lots of memories have been made.

This morning, Monday, our zone went on a hike.  We had been planning it for about a month, and it finally happened this morning.  Our zone motto or mantra for the current moment is "RISE" (courtesy of Elder Fotu) and so one of the purposes of the hike was to go and see the sun rise.  So we had to get up at 3:45 this morning so we could go pick up Elders Graham and Rumel in Sparkman, and then drive to the trail head so that we could start the hike in time to be there before the sun came up.  Well, we began at about 5:00, still in the dark, and it turns out that the hike was only like a 15-20 minute walk, so we actually got to the sunrise lookout point way before the sun even came up.  Almost everyone in our zone has a hammock, so we all just put them up and laid in them for a while until the sun came up.  Then we had breakfast, a devotional, and headed back down.  For breakfast we had planned to make pancakes, so Elder Hastings and I went down to the ZLs apartment in Byrd Springs last night to help them cook pancakes and so we could be closer to the trail head so that we didn't have to wake up even earlier.  3:45 was early enough for me.  Well, the hike was fun, hammocking was fun, and I love our zone.  Everybody in it is awesome.    

Earlier this week we had interviews with President Sainsbury.  Every missionary that I have talked to loves our Mission President, and I do, too.  He's such a great guy, and he loves us missionaries and always wants to help us.  He just told me that he enjoyed reading my letters to him, and that I have adjusted to missionary life a lot better than a lot of missionaries he has worked with.  I'm glad that I have not had any problems with homesickness or depression or whatever goes on with new missionaries sometimes.  Missionary life is tough enough without having to deal with those things.

After interviews, Elder Hastings and I had an exchange with the Fort Payne Elders (Gibbons and Gwira).  I went with Elder Gibbons, and he is a crazy guy.  One of the first things he said to me was, "I'm one of the most apostate missionaries in the mission.  I'll try not to taint you too bad."  He was sort of joking, and he definitely didn't need to say that because he is a good missionary.  He just listens to music that he probably shouldn't and occasionally will let out a few words that should probably be censored.  But he and I had a really good time together for that day.  We did service at the library (unfortunately we did not get to paint rocks this time), we were able to teach 2 really good lessons with people we had found last week, and we met 2 more potential investigators as well.  One of our lessons was with a guy named Gary.  I may or may not have told you about him last week because that's when Elder Hastings and I knocked into him.  Gary told us that he was pretty much fine with his beliefs, but he said that he wondered why there were so many different churches.  Elder Hastings was like, "Hey, we have the answer to that question!"  So then we got to teach him the Restoration.  Then Gary was like, "Well, I also kind of wonder what happens after we die."  And Elder Hastings goes, "Hey, we have the answer to that too!"  And thus was born a return appointment.  So Elder Gibbons and I got to go teach Gary about the afterlife portion of the Plan of Salvation.  Near the end of the lesson Gary told us, "You guys have told me in ten minutes things that I have never been able to learn from the Bible."  Well, that's kind of our job as missionaries.  The funny thing was that we actually taught him from the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.

After we had that lesson with Gary, we stopped by his neighbor across the street who we had also knocked into on the same night that we found Gary.  Elder Gibbons and I were able to teach the Restoration to her, and introduce to her that there was a prophet called of God after Jesus, and that there is a prophet on the earth today.  She was open to the idea, but was really skeptical about the Book of Mormon.  We invited her to read it probably 3-4 times, and at each time we just bore our testimony of it.  Each time we asked her if she would read the Book of Mormon she just thought about it for a few seconds and then said, "I don't know."  She eventually ended up not taking a Book of Mormon, but we did leave her with a Restoration pamphlet and we told her to check out mormon.org.  Whether or not she will is up for grabs, but I know that the Spirit was there during that lesson, and that we gave her a lot of things to think about, and a lot of our own testimony.  She didn't take a Book of Mormon, but that was still a really good lesson.

That night Elder Gibbons and I went knocking doors for a while, and we knocked into an older guy who said his name was [something] Collins, I have no idea what he said for his first name.  Anyway, we talked to him for a few minutes and got to share the Restoration briefly, and invited him to church.  He told us that he would love to come to church, but the only way he could come is if there was a seat for him in the bathroom.  For whatever reason, he figured it was okay to share with us that he needed to poop like 4 times every hour or something, and so he didn't have the ability to sit through a church meeting.  I was trying so hard not to laugh, but now that I think about it, I feel bad for him.  That would be awful to be in that situation.  Anyway, I told Elder Hastings about him later and he said, "Mr. Collins, huh?  It should be Mr. Colon if he has to use the toilet so much."  That time I didn't try not to laugh, I just laughed.  Anyway, after Elder Gibbons and I finished our exchange, he just told me that I was a really good missionary, and that he never would have guessed that I have only been out for a month.  I told him that he was a good missionary as well, even though he jokingly claimed to be an apostate.

I probably told you about Roger last week, but we have been continuing to meet with him.  I'm really excited about teaching him.  He seems really solid, has been reading the Book of Mormon, and I'm pretty sure he knows it's true already.  We had planned to give him a church tour on Saturday to show him around first because he told us that he would come on Sunday.  We called him about an hour before to make sure that he was still up for the tour, but he told us that something was wrong with his car, and that he wouldn't be able to make it.  We asked him if we could just come over to his house and have a lesson with him and he said we could.  We talked all about the Book of Mormon, and how his reading was going.  He told us that he had started reading just at a random chapter in the middle of the Book, and when he was able to find it again, it was Alma 32.  That is like one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon, and it talks all about exercising faith.  Coincidence?  Probably not.  Anyway, he told us that he didn't really understand it that well.  Mostly what he didn't understand were some of the names that he had never heard before, and a couple of new vocabulary terms that he didn't know.  It wasn't hard to help him get the gist of it.  We told him that it would make more sense if he began reading from the beginning, and he said that he would.  We read the introduction at the front of the Book of Mormon with him, and we talked about the last two paragraphs.  They talk about reading and praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and therefore knowing that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that this Church is the Lord's Kingdom reestablished in these last days.  He committed to praying about the Book of Mormon.  After he did, Elder Hastings asked him, "If you come to know it's true, what will you do about it?  What action are you going to take?"  He thought about it for a minute and then told us that he didn't really understand the question.  Then Elder Hastings did something that we hadn't planned for, but that was totally right in the moment.  He asked Roger, when he came to know that the Book of Mormon is true, if he would be baptized.  Roger told us that he would.  Man, I was so pumped.  Our prayers have been answered in that we were led to Roger a couple of weeks ago.  We didn't set a date with him, but now he really has a solid understanding of our purpose in teaching him is.  Roger really wants to know the truth, and wants to know what path to take in life.  I hope and pray that his prayers are answered, and that he will find that truth that he seeks in the Book of Mormon.  I'm really excited for him, and we are hopefully meeting with him tomorrow if the weather isn't too bad.

Speaking of that, we have been told by President Sainsbury and the APs to stay inside tonight and not proselyte.  P-Day ends at 6 PM, so normally we proselyte from 6-9, but they told us not to because of the weather.  Hopefully they don't say the same thing tomorrow, because I don't want to be stuck in the apartment all day, and I really want to see Roger.  We also have another appointment or two tomorrow.  When we received word to stay inside, the weather was not bad at all.  In fact, it wasn't even raining or windy yet.  Right now it's raining, but it is bearable.  I guess President knows best, and we'll do what he says.

I got to speak in church yesterday for the first time as a missionary.  I really need to get better at being able to write talks quickly.  I wrote a pretty good talk, in my own humble opinion, but it took a lot of time for me to put together what I did.  It's a lot easier to throw together a lesson really quickly (though you aren't supposed to do that) than it is to throw together a talk.  They take a bit more time and prep.  Anyway, I spent quite a bit of time on it, and it went pretty well.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any investigators at church yesterday.  We have really been struggling with getting people to church.  I don't know why, because we invite like crazy, and we text and call and remind everyone we have invited on Saturday evenings.  Like I said, Roger had some car trouble, and didn't feel comfortable getting a ride from a member.  A couple of our investigators had work, or had to watch the kids and/or grandkids.  But I still feel like we should have more people at church given the amount of people we invite.  There's not a whole lot more we can do about it, because eventually it is up to the the person to decide whether or not they want to come.  I know that investigators are a lot more likely to be baptized on their date, and keep their other commitments if they come to church regularly.  We have been praying for more baptisms, so I guess that we need to do better at praying for better church attendance as well.

Mom, thanks for ordering me the ukulele.  It actually came when you told me it would!  I was so pumped that you said two-day shipping and it was actually two-day shipping.  It just makes me sad that I don't have that much time to play it.  I have to read Preach My Gospel, the Book of Mormon, the other scriptures, and I started reading Jesus the Christ about 2 weeks ago.  Also, Elder Hastings always goes to bed at like 9:45 or earlier, and I don't want to play it when he is trying to sleep.  Anyway, it's really fun to play, and I try to get in as much time playing it as I can each day.  I'm pretty much a pro by now.  (By the way, you only need to know like 6 chords and you can be a pro, too.)

Well, this has been a good week.  I thank each and every one of you for your prayers in behalf of me, Elder Hastings, the other missionaries that I serve with, and the people that we are teaching.  You are all in my prayers always.  I love you and miss you all.  As they say here in the South, "Have a blessed day!"

Much love,

Elder Beach

Eating at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Morning hike to view the sunrise.

My zone on the sunrise hike.

New Investigators!

Hello to all of my family and friends back home, at school, or wherever you may be.  This week in Scottsboro has been awesome.  We had lots of good fortune and blessings this week as far as getting new investigators goes.  We added a bunch of new investigators to our pool.  A couple of them were just potential investigators that we had met before and they had told us to come back, so we did.  At our second visit we were able to teach them and set return appointments, which officially makes them investigators instead of just potentials.  Most of our new investigators were just people that we knocked into and they let us into their homes to teach them.  Before this week, we hadn't had a lot of success with getting into people's homes, but we sure did this week.  It was really a blessing.  We have also had lots of funny moments this week, and I've started writing down some of the best quotes we get from people, because lots of them are hilarious.  I'll share a few throughout this email.

We met this guy named Roger a couple of weeks ago, and we sat down and taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon.  We met him again the other day, and we didn't have very much time to talk because we had an appointment to get to.  Anyway, most of our time with him was listening to him talk about his theories about 9/11, and how the planes were really empty and they were remote controlled.  He's a pretty crazy guy, but we just continued to encourage him to read the Book of Mormon.  Also this week we met Elden again.  Every meeting we have with him is just a hoot.  I'm not exactly sure what religion he is, if any, but I may have told you that apparently he is or used to be a member of our church.  I don't know how, because almost every time we bring up the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith he just tells us about how much weed Joseph Smith was smoking when he wrote the Book of Mormon.  Anyway, he's a pretty swell guy even though his beliefs are really weird.  During our visit he tried to convince us that true Christians should not celebrate any holidays (including Easter and Christmas) except the Passover feast/celebration and something about the feast of the trumpets.  I don't know what that is but he says those are Jewish holidays and that those are the only ones that anyone should celebrate.  We tried to explain that we celebrate Christmas and Easter in remembrance of Jesus, his birth and resurrection.  I even asked him, "Elden, what's the first syllable of 'Christmas?'"  I was trying to get him to see that we do it to remember Christ, but he is just convinced that any holiday is only celebrated for people to make money.  So, his answer to my question was these exact words:  "Money.  Also greed, stupidity, and Walmart."  

On Thursday we went to this trailer park that we had knocked a while ago to see some people that we had met.  None of them answered, but we finished knocking all of the trailers that we hadn't yet, and we met a young married couple named Olivia and Jordan.  Olivia immediately invited us in, and we were able to sit down and share the Restoration lesson with them.  She said that her dad was actually a member of the church, but she really didn't know much about it.  We gave them a Book of Mormon, and invited them to Church.  Unfortunately they didn't come on Sunday, but we do have a return visit scheduled with them this week.  Their friend was with them at their house, and he lives in Fort Payne (which is one of the areas in our district).  He said that the missionaries were actually teaching his roommate, and he had seen them a couple of times but had never sat in on one of their discussions.  He said, "There's a black guy and a tall white guy," and we just said, "Yep, that's them."  So apparently the Fort Payne Elders are teaching his roommate.  We gave him a Book of Mormon as well, and the number to the Fort Payne Elders, and we told them about him.  Hopefully they will be able to meet up with him sometime soon.

A while back we were knocking doors and met a guy named Roger.  He claimed to be Catholic, but I don't think that he has been to church in a while.  He told us that we could come back and talk with him, so on Friday that's what we did.  He invited us in and we got to teach part of the Restoration with him.  We only got to the Apostasy, so we didn't get to introduce the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith to him.  We asked him if we could come back the next day (Saturday) and he said sure, so we went back on Saturday night and finished the Restoration with him.  We had just had a district meeting on Friday morning which included a training about testifying more during lessons.  That's exactly what we did during that lesson.  Elder Hastings and I both just bombarded Roger with testimony after testimony.  We kept them short, simple, and sincere, but we taught a little bit, asked a lot of questions, and then testified probably more than I have during a single lesson so far on my mission.  During the lesson, Roger did tell us that he believed it was possible that the true Church, Gospel, and Authority could have been restored through Joseph Smith.  He really believes the Bible, and when we finally introduced it, he was a little unsure about the Book of Mormon being scripture just like the Bible, but he did tell us he would start reading it.  I don't know what will come of Roger, or if any more progress will be made, but I know that he felt the Spirit during that lesson.  I hope and pray that he will read the Book of Mormon, because I know that he will feel that same Spirit as he reads.  That is the case for any and all who read the Book of Mormon.  There is power in that Book, and as Joseph Smith said, "A man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book."  I know that is true.

A few days ago we went to go see Dustin again.  He is a little crazy, but he is really nice to us missionaries, and every time we go over there we have some good laughs.  This time when we met him we actually went in his house instead of just talking on the porch.  His uncle was over at his house on the couch, and was totally hammered.  I'm not sure if he even knew what was going on because he was so drunk.  He kind of just sat there and made these weird facial expressions while he stared at the wall.  It was super weird.  Anyway, Dustin was kind of just making fun of his uncle for a while, and it was a little inappropriate but we had a few good laughs.  The uncle left after a few minutes to take a walk or something, and we got to talk to Dustin about the Book of Mormon, and recommit him to reading it.  I really hope he does, just as I hope everyone who we invite to read does.

We were able to get our hands on a children's illustrated Book of Mormon for Skylar, because she and her dad have kind of been reading, but Skylar really doesn't understand it and her dad can't explain it that well.  We are going to see them again tomorrow, and we will give them it then.  Hopefully she will be able to read easier when she has that.  I looked through it a couple of days ago and it is really simple and easy to understand.  I'm sure it will help her.  Unfortunately, neither she nor her family have been to church since we started meeting with them.  We set a baptismal date with her a few weeks ago for September 16, but I'm sure we will have to push that back a little bit because of how slowly/simply we have to teach her, and because she has yet to come to church.  She actually told us herself that one of the reasons she wants to get baptized is so her family will start coming back to church.  That's awesome, but we want to make sure that she is committed to doing those things BEFORE baptism, because being baptized in and of itself probably isn't going to change your motives that much.  The young men and young women in the branch want to go out to their house one day with us missionaries just to give her and her family some friends at church and an increased desire to attend.  I think that's awesome, and I really hope that she and her family will start coming to church soon.

On Saturday night after we taught Roger, we were walking back to the car and we passed the fire station.  One of the firemen was in the garage cleaning his car, so we went up and talked to him.  His name is Damon and he looks exactly like Russell Crowe.  We asked him if he knew of any service opportunities for us, since we are always looking for them.  He said he didn't know of any, but he was super nice to us and offered us a tour of the fire station.  We said sure, since we were done for the day and headed home anyways, and so we got a quick tour.  Some of the other firemen on duty were upstairs watching the Alabama vs. Florida State game, so we got to see like 5 minutes of that.  We heard the next day that Alabama won 24-7 (and we also heard that BYU got shut out) so basically it was a great day.  We plan on going back to the fire station some time to meet Damon again, maybe find some service, and hopefully try to teach him.

We met a guy last night while we were knocking doors who waved at us to come inside before we even knocked.  We came in, introduced ourselves, and started asking him a few questions.  Elder Hastings introduced the Book of Mormon, and in the middle of explaining, the guy just stands up, walks over to his cabinet, and starts going through a bunch of stuff.  I didn't know what he was looking for, and was a little nervous, but after like 30 seconds he pulls out a Book of Mormon.  That was cool, but I was pretty sure he had never touched it since it was given to him.  Anyway, we keep telling him a couple of things, and asking him questions.  Whenever we asked him questions he just kind of shrugged or gave one-word answers, and his voice was really hoarse.  He eventually told us that he couldn't talk, and when Elder Hastings asked him one more question he just yells, "Don't question me, just preach!"  So Elder Hastings just shared a couple of verses from the Book of Mormon, explained them, and I just left him with my testimony.  After that, he starts scrolling through his phone, and then starts playing a song.  The song was really long, like 8 minutes, and I don't even know what it was about, it sounded just like some white guy freestyle rapping.  Anyway, after like 2 minutes Elder Hastings says, "Well, we had better get going," and goes to shake his hand.  He refuses to shake his hand and just points at his phone for us to keep listening.  So we stayed there for like the whole 8 minute song, and then he shook our hands and we were on our way.  It was really weird.

Anyway, it was a great week.  I've had lots of fun, and we have had quite a bit of success as far as finding new investigators goes.  We obviously meet a lot of people that don't care about what we have to say, but this week we met a lot of people who really did.  I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us, answering our prayers, and sending us to people that He has prepared.  I thank all of you reading this for your prayers and for your support.  I love y'all, and I appreciate all you have done and all you do for me.  Know that you're in my prayers as well.  Hope you have as good of a week as I did.

Much love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

My work station in my room.

Our bunk beds.  I must be a little too fat because I hooked my hammock to the bunkbed and tipped it over trying to lay in my hammock!

My new socks!  Roll Tide!