Hot Fish

Hello to all of my fam and friends and everyone else around the world.  I love you guys, and I hope everything is going alright for y'all.

As I look back over the week, I feel like there's not a whole lot that's noteworthy to report, so I'll probably just keep this letter short and sweet.  Here goes...

On Wednesday we went to the zoo like usual and volunteered for a couple of hours.  Whenever they don't have anything for us to do, they just have us rake leaves, because there's always that to do.  One of the workers there took us over to an empty pen where kangaroos usually stay.  She asked us to rake all the leaves in there, and she says, "Yeah, this is probably about a 3-day project."  We only had like 25 minutes until we had to go, but we finished the whole thing.  When we have talked to the zoo staff before, it has seemed to us that we do more work in the two hours that we are there every Wednesday than they do in the rest of the week haha.  I don't think a whole lot of people go there, and I don't think there's a whole ton of work to do, but we are always happy to help.

On Wednesday we also had interviews with President Sainsbury.  Ours were supposed to be at 3, and the Carter Hill Elders had theirs at 3:30, so we took them with us.  We got there at about 2:50, and President was a little behind (which was to be expected), however he ended up getting WAY behind when we got there.  The STLs were right ahead of us, and they took forever.  I honestly have no idea what they even talk about in interviews.  I think the longest interview I've had with President was like 12 minutes, just because everything is going well and I don't have any problems and there's just not much to talk about.  Anyway, the Sisters (there was one in there when we arrived, and 2 more that still had to go before us) ended up taking like 2 hours, and we didn't get into interviews until about 4:50. Then me, Elder Furgeson, Elder Rumel and Elder Robins all finished before 5:30, and we all left to go to our dinner appointments.  It was quite the waste of time.  If I had known that it was going to take 2 hours instead of 30 minutes like we thought, we would have left and come back later.  However, it was good to sit and chat for a while with some other missionaries in the zone who also showed up.  It was also good to visit with President Sainsbury for a few minutes.  I love him.  I'm glad he's going to be here for basically my whole mission.  I think he goes home like 2 weeks before me, so it will be weird breaking in the new Mission President for 2 weeks and then leaving haha.

Here's a funny story:  On Wednesday night we went downtown to the State Capitol building real quick to see if there was anyone to talk to.  When we pulled up, Elder Furgeson was like, "Oh, there's prayer guy."  There was a guy there on the steps of the Capitol, whom I guess comes there pretty often and prays over the building or something.  Elder Furgeson had met him before.  We talked to him for a while and he gave us these little pamphlet things from his church that are called "The Road to Heaven".  It's basically one of those things that almost all other churches have that shows you how to "get saved."  They're pretty weird.  Anyway, after talking to this guy for a while, he asked us to say a prayer with him.  Then he grabs our hands and asks Elder Furgeson to say a prayer.  Now, I don't know how many of y'all have heard someone pray while you were praying, but it's a pretty common thing down here.  Elder Furgeson starts praying, and this guy just starts praying right over top of him and he was just saying the wackiest stuff, saying "Lord" like every other word, and it was just an interesting prayer.  I was dying laughing and felt really bad and I really hoped that this guy didn't open his eyes and see me laughing during his prayer.  Well, Elder Furgeson finishes his prayer and this guy just keeps going for like another 5 minutes and then finishes his.  It was an interesting experience.  Right before we left, I think we invited him to read the Book of Mormon (I guess they gave him one when they met him the first time).  Then we called it a night.

On Thursday we met with Franchezaka, one of the Baja Angels.  Our lesson didn't go very well, unfortunately.  We learned from her that she grew up with a Christian background, and so we thought she had a pretty solid understanding of who Jesus is and what He did and all that jazz.  We sort of taught the Restoration and that just kind of confused her, and then she just started talking about what she believed.  When she did that, it showed us that we really had no idea what she believed like we thought we did.  She kept talking and talking, and just kept getting into weirder and weirder things, and then I think she eventually just confused herself and all three of us started to realize that she doesn't really know what she believes.  I don't think there is anything really solid that she holds onto.  It didn't really go very well until the end, where it got better.  The whole time she was talking I just kind of felt bad for her and I was just thinking, "I just wish you knew what I knew."  Then, based on that, I asked her, "Tell me what you think about Jesus Christ."  She just told us that she knew He was really important and really influential and He taught good things, but she didn't believe in Him as the Messiah.  I then just took the chance to bear my testimony and just say something to the effect of this: "Franchezaka, I want you to know that I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer.  It is only through Him that we can truly be happy in this life and in the life to come.  I know that if you want to know that this is true for yourself, you can.  I promise you that Jesus is the Savior, and you can come to know that, too."  Like I said, our lesson was kind of all over the place, but I know that any lesson will go better when you just bear a simple testimony.  Doing that will always invite the Spirit.  We didn't start off well, but I think we ended on a good note.

On Friday we went out to Tuskegee.  We usually go on Saturday, but we had a dinner appointment out there so we went on Friday.  There were a couple of referrals that we saw and gave copies of the Bible and Book of Mormon to.  We also went through some of our ward roster to meet some of the members in Tuskegee.  There are only like 3 members who come to church from Tuskegee, which means we have an entire branch worth of less-actives out there.  We met a few of them and told them that they are missed at church, and we just shared an uplifting message and encouraged them.  I think most members in Tuskegee don't come to church because they don't have a car, can't afford gas for their car, are lazy, or are too old to leave their house.  That's what it seems like anyway.  I know that's probably not the case, because just a few short years ago when their was a branch in Tuskegee, I know that only like 6 people came.  Most people that we talked to were pretty old, so maybe that's the reason - they just don't leave their houses ever.  Anyway, most of them shared their testimonies with us and we just encouraged them, let them know they were loved, and invited them to do everything they can to keep the Spirit in their lives by reading the scriptures and praying daily.  After our visits with people, our meal appointment fell through, so we just headed home.  On the way home the Villalobos texted us and they were like, "dinner in thirty minutes" and we were just like, "Wow that was inspired!" because our dinner had just fallen through.  So then we went and had dinner with them and it was really good.  Highlight of the day, however, was when we were still back in Tuskegee.  This is going to sound really stupid because it is, but it was funny when it happened.  We saw this random sign in the middle of an empty dirt lot that said "HOT FISH."  Haha I don't know why but that was really funny, so we stopped to take pictures of it.  Highlight of the week probably.

Saturday kind of sucked haha.  Just so y'all know, the White Handbook says, "Saturdays are an excellent time for proselyting because most families are at home."  Well, we planned out our entire day that morning and who we would stop by and where we would go and all that fun stuff.  Then we went and did it.  There was a street that we had knocked on Thursday where a few people said we could try again on Saturday, so that's where we went, and we also had planned to finish knocking that street.  We did, and guess how many people answered, both from stop bys and tracting?  Zero!  Well, we had a few more people to see, so we tried them and no one answered there either.  We finished our entire day's plans hours before we had planned to, so we just decided to redo our entire day and try them all again.  Well guess what?  The exact same thing happened!  (except for this one guy that answered and told us he wasn't interested).  So that was our day.  Even our dinner appointment fell through again haha, that's how lovely it was.  

On Sunday, Sister Bentley came late to church, so she missed Sacrament Meeting.  She did attend most of Gospel Principles and all of Relief Society, so that was good.  There was also another cool thing that happened on Sunday.  Back story:  A few weeks ago, a couple in the ward, the Rachids, came up to us and Sister Rachid was like, "Hi.  I'm not a member, but I'm looking into changing that soon."  Well, the Rachids hadn't been to church since then until yesterday, and they never answered their phone over the last few weeks.  Anyway, they walk in on Sunday and were like, "Sorry, we aren't ignoring you!"  And so we set up a lesson/dinner appointment with them for this Thursday so we can start teaching her.  I look forward to it.  Sister Duncan was not at church, so we couldn't ask her about her African friend.  Hopefully all is going well.  

Well, after telling y'all that we did nothing I sure wrote a lot haha.  This week should be better.  We have appointments scheduled with Franchezaka, Amir, Sister Bentley, Dawn and David, and the Rachids.  I look forward to meeting with and teaching all of them.

I love all of you guys.  Thanks for everything you do, and thanks especially for your prayers.  We couldn't do this without them!  Love you!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Highlight of the week!

Alabamans love their hubcaps...

Traffic.

Baptist Valentine's Day

Hello to everyone back home, at school, work, on missions, or wherever you may find yourself.  I love y'all and hope this email finds you well.  Sorry I didn't write yesterday - President Sainsbury switched our pday because of President's Day, so here I am today!

Last Tuesday and Wednesday we had an exchange with Elder Jacob and Elder Quayle.  Elder Jacob and I went together, and basically all of our plans fell through.  There was a pretty good list of people we were planning on visiting that day, and there was only one of them that answered the door or the phone.  The lady we met was named Ida, and she is probably in her 60s.  She was baptized several months ago, and we were talking to her about family history, which she has started working on in preparation to going to do baptisms at the temple soon.  I could tell that she was just really frustrated with family history because she had been struggling to find people.  She actually told us that she wanted to go to the temple, she just didn't want to do her family names.  And then she just said, "I don't really want to get baptized for my ancestors.  They're all wicked!"  Haha, it was pretty funny, but in all reality she was completely serious.  I explained to her that when we are baptized in behalf of the dead, we are not forcing baptism upon them, nor are we forcing wicked people to be righteous, nor letting "wicked" people into heaven.  We are simply giving them the opportunity to accept it.  It's still up to them, but they need that chance should they decide to take it.  She was understanding, and I hope she has the chance to go to the temple sometime soon.

After most of our plans fell through, Elder Jacob and I were just knocking doors, and Elder Furgeson and Elder Quayle were doing the same just a few blocks over.  At the very first door we knocked, someone came to the door but didn't open it.  We just heard a really loud gun cock and then a "who is it!?"  We just said that it was the missionaries and then we kinda just dipped on out of there so we didn't get killed.  Several similar experiences followed (minus the gun) where people just yell through the door, "Who is it?!" and then tell us to go away and come back when it's not dark.  It wasn't very productive, but we did have fun and we did come home with some fun stories.

I'm sure y'all remember a couple weeks ago when I told you about the Freys, who have an 18-year-old chihuahua.  Sister Frey is a member of the Church, and Brother Frey is not.  However, they both currently attend a Baptist Church in town.  When we met them on Super Bowl Sunday, they invited us to a steak dinner that their church was having on Valentine's Day.  We aren't really supposed to proselyte (or even just be anywhere) near or in other churches, but if we are invited then it's okay, so we went.  I learned quite a bit about some of the reasons that some people go to church.  Now, of course these things are not true for all those of other faiths.  Don't think that I'm just being rude to all Baptists or all non-Mormons, but here are a few things I learned and observed during the worship service after the dinner:  1) Some people just go to church to be entertained.  To me, that's what the whole night was, just a big show.  They had a band (a Methodist band, no less, from another church) come and perform.  2)  Here's a weird experience:  Near the beginning of the service, Pastor Rick gets up and relays a quick story about one of the youth in his church who has been having seizures recently.  He then flips open his Bible and reads a verse, James 5:14-15.  It says, "Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up..."  Well, Pastor Rick reads this, and then yells out for this kid who has been having seizures to come up to the front.  He plops a chair down, has the kid sit down, and then says, "All who are ordained, please come forward!"  In my mind I was just thinking, "Ordained to what?"  Anyway, like 25 old guys come up and they all get around this kid on the chair.  Then the Pastor kneels down in front of the kid and gives a prayer for him to be healed.  It was definitely different.  I know that in the Lord's Church, there is an order to all things, including the correct way to provide annointings and blessing for the sick and afflicted.  How grateful I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Church to which the Lord had given his Priesthood and His direction for administering to those in need.  I know that Pastor Rick was doing what he did in the best way he knew how.  It was an act of faith for all involved.  However, I know that the correct way to bless, and the proper authority needed to bless is found only in the Church that the Lord Himself has designated as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  3)  In the place where hymnbooks would normally be, there were Bibles instead.  I'm not sure what version or edition of the Bible it was, but I was reading through it and it was so weird.  I also looked at the introduction of it and here are some quotes (yes, these are all real) found in this Bible:  "The Bible is the only book that can give us a correct understanding of God," "Bible translation is both a science and an art," and "Every new generation needs a new translation of the Bible so that it can be better understood."  As I read those things, I was just dumbfounded.  How crazy is that?  Weird stuff.  Anyway, enough about the Baptists.  They are great people, I just wish they knew what I do.  That's why I'm a missionary.  I have a very strong testimony of this Church, and of our Savior who stands at its head, and I love doing my very best to share those things with others.

On Thursday we got to meet with Amir, one of the Baja Angels haha.  When we met him for the first time, he told us that he didn't know who Jesus was.  When we actually met with him, we learned that he actually knows more than we previously thought.  He asked some awesome questions, and we did our very best to answer them super simply and clearly so that he could understand.  He asked us a few things like, "Who was Moses?" and so we were able to talk about prophets.  He asked, "Why did God create the Earth?" and so we talked a little bit about the premortal life and the creation, and our purpose on earth.  We also talked about the importance of the Savior, among other things.  A seems really interested in continuing to meet with us.  I'm excited to keep meeting with him, too.  It's going to be a challenge, as he doesn't have a Christian background like most we teach do.  However, it's kind of nice because his beliefs aren't really tainted by tradition and things.  He just genuinely wants to hear what we have to say (unfortunately, that is not usually the case in the South.)

Thursday we also called Dawn and David to confirm our appointment for that night.  Dawn answered and just said to us, "I feel kind of rushed.  I don't know about this whole baptism thing.  Plus this book you gave us is way too big to have gone through since last time."  I was pretty bummed, but I just told her that the last thing we wanted was for her to feel uncomfortable.  We just know that the things we teach are true, and that they will bless your life.  And yes, the Book of Mormon is long. You aren't expected to read the whole thing in a week.  That's part of why we want to meet with you again, is so we can talk more about it.  Most of all, however, we just want to help you build your faith in and come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.  That's our whole job as missionaries.  Well, she seemed satisfied with that.  Unfortunately, our appointment for that night was cancelled, but she did tell us to keep in touch, and hopefully we can meet this week.  

On Friday morning we woke up, did our thing in the morning, studied, and walked out of the house to the car so we could go to the Villalobos and mow their lawn.  They had recently received a "long grass warning" email from their landlord haha.  As soon as we went to get in the car, we realized that one of our tires was flat for some reason.  So we real quick grabbed the spare donut and used some redneck Alabama ingenuity to put it on.  After going and mowing the grass (more like mowing the weeds) we called Elder Barker, the vehicle coordinator, and then went to Firestone to get it fixed.  That was cool, because Taco Bell is right next door (the not burned down one) and so we hit it up.  Fixing the tire actually took way longer than expected, and by the time they were done, it had been about 5 hours.  We spent that time walking around at stores nearby talking to people, and we also went to Faulkner University campus across the street to do our weekly planning.  We met a less-active lady at one of the stores who Elder Furgeson says hasn't been to church "in 50 years."  She was really nice and told us we could come to her house and visit her sometime, so that was cool.  

On Sunday, Sister Bentley came to church - for all three hours!  That was her first time ever coming to all of Sacrament meeting, and she also attended all of gospel principles and all of relief society, so that was awesome.  I look forward to continuing to teach her as well.  Brother Bentley (her "almost" husband) didn't come to church, but we talked to him on the phone and he said that he has been working on getting the whole marriage situation figured out, and that he would be at church next week.  I'm excited for them!

Also on Sunday, we got a call from a lady in the ward who told us an awesome story.  Here's the back story:  Last Sunday (the 11th) this lady, Sister Duncan, comes up to us at church and says, "I want to get a Book of Mormon to someone, can you help me?" and we were like, "Of course!"  Then she says, "One thing....he lives in Africa....and he doesn't have a phone.....or an address..."  We were just like, "Oh crap, how are we supposed to help with that?"  Anyway, we went onto the referral center on lds.org last week and got Sister Duncan the phone number of the Branch President who lives probably 3 hours away from where her friend in Africa lives.  The Branch President responded to her super quickly, and they were able to somehow coordinate the missionaries in Africa getting a Book of Mormon to her friend - and this all happened in a matter of 3 days!  She told us about this friend on Sunday, and by Wednesday he had a Book of Mormon in his hands.  Pretty cool.  So a few days later (Sunday the 18th) she calls us to tell us the news.  And there's even more to it.  She told us that her friend skipped going to his church this week because he was too busy reading the Book of Mormon.  I guess he's been reading it like nonstop since he got it.  He keeps asking her questions about it, and then she just asks us and we answer it for her so that she can answer it for him haha.  It's not the most effective way of teaching, but it gets the job done.  I'm excited for him too.  That whole story is just full of miracles.

Before we went in on Sunday night, we stopped at the Wheelers.  They are a less-active couple with 2 little kids who we have met a couple of times.  They had some of their friends over who were from Texas, and so we got to meet them as well.  We visited for a bit, and then we got to share a little bit about the Book of Mormon.  The Wheeler's friends were not members, but we introduced the Book of Mormon to them and gave them a copy.  Maybe they will look up the missionaries over in Texas, you never know.  Either way, that was a good way to cap off the night.

On Monday (which was not pday for us, unfortunately) we were asked to be two of the pall bearers at a funeral for a lady in the ward.  Her name is Sister Martin, I had never met her, and Elder Furgeson had met her once.  By her request, there wasn't really a funeral, just a really quick viewing and some time where the family could meet and talk, and then a like 15 minute graveside service.  Bishop Wardell spoke briefly about her, about the Savior, the Atonement, and the Resurrection.  Many of Sister Martin's family in attendance are not members, but I saw several of them go up to Bishop Wardell and thank him for his words after the service concluded.  I'm so thankful for the knowledge that we have of the Plan of Salvation, the Savior, His Atonement, and the Resurrection.  I can't imagine how sad life would be without it.

I love being a missionary.  It's such a wonderful thing to do what we do.  There is truly nothing that can compare to it.  To close, I just want to share a quote from "The District 2" (which is basically missionary game film that we watch regularly).  This one is from Elder Murray.  He says, "If someone is worthy to serve a mission and doesn't, he's making the biggest mistake of his life."  I know that is true.  There are so many wonderful things I would have completely missed out on had I not served.  I'm so thankful for the people I have met, for the things I've learned, for the experiences I've had, and for the testimony I've developed.  I love y'all.  Thanks for the prayers, and always remember that you are in mine.  Have a good week, and keep smiling!

Love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Just another day in the life of an Alabama Birmingham Missionary!

A beautiful night in Montgomery!

Awesome Eagle Scout award cake!

Never a dull moment!

Amazing history in Montgomery!

Baja Angels

Hello to all of y'all around the globe.  If you find yourself reading this letter, thank you.  I wish you all the best, and I hope you know that I love you.  I hope y'all can benefit from what I have to say this week.  (Whether that is because something I say will help strengthen your testimony, or merely because you are entertained by my crazy southern experiences, it doesn't matter to me.  So long as you find a bit of joy in your next 10 minutes reading this, so will I.)

This week was a good one.  We met lots of fun people.  Some were quite interested in what we had to say, however most were far from that.  That being said, here are the weekly highlights:

Last Wednesday we went knocking doors for a couple of hours.  Knocking doors is not something that is super effective, however it is something that needs to be done.  There are many people who are ready to hear our message, and that's the only way they will ever be found.  Tracting is also something that can be quite entertaining, and you often get a lot of funny stories from it.  Case in point:  we met an 80-year-old woman with a goatee.  Now, I've seen old ladies with mustaches before, but this lady had a full goatee, and it was like an inch long.  We talked to her on her driveway for like 5 minutes, and the whole time she kept saying, "I better go back inside.  If my caretaker knew I was outside, she would be mad at me."  Finally we finished talking and she headed back in.  

Later we knocked the door of another old lady, and she went to grab her husband real quick.  He came to the door, and immediately just started telling us how misled and how brainwashed we were because we believed in God.  He's a very devoted atheist.  You don't meet a whole lot of those in the South, so it was a little different.  Another thing that was really weird was that his wife was a very devoted southern Baptist.  How they ever got married or even get along is beyond me.  The guy was not really rude about it, he was just absolutely adamant that what he believes is right and everyone else is wrong.  I honestly just felt bad for him.  I would hate to have those beliefs.  They are so depressing.  I asked him what he thought happened after we die, and he just said something like, "We get put under a tree, and cease to exist."  I just said right to his face, "I'm sorry you believe that.  That is one of the saddest things I've ever heard."  After talking for a while, it was very obvious that he was really stubborn in his views, however incorrect they may be.  I really felt bad for his wife.  She seemed really happy that we stopped by, because I'm sure she feels really alone living with her husband who doesn't share her same beliefs.

A few doors later we met another older guy who was from the Church of Christ.  He immediately started telling us how wrong we were, and how his church was the one and only true church.  He said, "We teach straight from the Bible, not from any man-made material like y'all do."  I said to him something along the lines of, "Since you're so familiar with the Bible, you obviously know that Jesus Christ established his Church when he was on the earth.  We teach people about where that church is today."  He just told us that his church was that church.  He was obviously adamant about what he believed, so we just invited him to hear what we had to say, he rejected, we began to tell him a little bit about it anyway, he rejected it again, and we went on our way.  That's about all we can do in a situation like that.

After our two hours of knocking doors, we had one house left to hit.  A lady answered, and her name is Dawn.  She told us that she had met with missionaries before, but didn't really remember what they talked about.  She said that she and her husband didn't go to church right now because they hadn't found one where they liked the pastor.  isn't that unfortunate?  People don't go to church because they don't connect with the pastor?  I remember Elder Bednar saying once that he was asked this question:  "What would you do if the Prophet, Apostles, and/or other Church leaders completely apostatized?"  He responded that while that would be unfortunate, it would never dim his testimony.  While it is important to have a testimony of those leaders whom the Lord has chosen as prophets, seers, and revelators, our testimonies should be centered on Jesus Christ.  While sometimes men will go astray, our Savior will always be the same.  We should never stop going to church just because we may not like the bishop, the stake president, or even the Apostles.  We should go because we love the Savior, and that is what he has asked us to do.  Alright, back to the story.  We taught Dawn the Restoration really quick on her porch, gave her a Book of Mormon, and set a return appointment for Friday.  That was a great way to end our night of tracting.

On Thursday we finally got to use the gift card for B dubs (Buffalo Wildwings) that my brother sent for Christmas.  We didn't have one anywhere near Scottsboro, so I just barely got to use it.  Thanks for that.  It was very good.  After we went there for lunch we came home to weekly plan, and we decided to do it on the porch since it was kind of warm-ish.  While we were planning, the mail lady came up and dropped off Grandma's package full of oreos, muddy buddies, chocolate oranges, and other snacks.  I have already put many of them to good use haha.  Thanks Grandma!  As part of weekly planning, I made a goal to not eat any seconds at our dinner appointments.  So far so good, but I guess it doesn't matter how much I eat at dinner as long as I'm still snacking.  Losing weight is a tough situation haha.  I'm not doing too bad, though.  I weigh less than last week by about 5 pounds.  

Earlier on Thursday we had gotten a call from the Carter Hill Elders, who had a referral for us for a guy that needed a blessing.  We had tried to call him earlier that day, but nobody answered, so we stopped by after weekly planning.  His name was Troy, and he was sitting on his porch with his wife when we showed up.  We asked if he was Troy, and he said yes.  So then we kind of got the gist of his situation, and asked if we could go inside to give him a blessing.  He told us that their house was a mess and that they had a couple of dogs who weren't that friendly, so he asked us to do it right there on the porch.  It was far from an ideal situation.  There were dogs barking next door and inside their house, cars driving by, and other people out and about up the street.  However, we gave Troy, and also ended up giving his wife, a blessing.  It was nice to meet them and help them out in any way that we could, despite the somewhat awkwardness of it all.  Thursday night we tried to go see some of the referrals that we had received.  (These were the ones that said "they probably won't be interested, but try them anyway").  Well, yeah, they weren't interested.  It wasn't all that effective.

On Friday we had zone conference.  Since they had it at our building, we had to show up at 7, (ZC starts at 9) so that we could disarm the alarm system, let them in, and help set up chairs.  Well, we got done setting up chairs at like 7:20, so we basically hung out and read our scriptures for like an hour and a half.  Zone Conference was really good, though.  We spent like 4 hours watching these videos about how to use our phones when we get them.  We also had a great training from the Zone Leaders and the STLs about Chapter 10 from PMG, specifically on "how to begin teaching."  That section is super important, however I feel like it doesn't get used as much as it should.  Basically what it is is before we start a first lesson with people, we tell them what we are about to teach, we tell them our purpose as missionaries, we tell them what is expected of them as we teach, and we tell them where we eventually see it all going - towards baptism.  Anyway, it's pretty important because it really just sets the stage for our relationship with investigators.  Too many people think we are just there to give a cool message about Jesus and then be on our way.  That's not a bad thing to do, but it isn't our most important job.  We are out to preach repentance and baptize converts.  So that's what we have to tell people.  They aren't going to ever know what our intentions are if we don't tell them.  Anyway, it was a good training, and something that needs to be worked on.

Well, Friday night we had a perfect opportunity to work on it.  We had an appointment with Dawn, and her husband David.  They were actually home when we went over there, and they invited us in for a lesson.  We perfectly executed our how to begin teaching, set the stage for the lesson, and then we started.  We taught them the Restoration, and invited them to be baptized.  They accepted.  It was such a good lesson, the best we've had since I arrived in Montgomery.  I love teaching and testifying.  It's one of my favorite things, to just tell people what I know to be true, and invite them to discover it for themselves.  It's a wonderful thing.  We invited them to church, but they told us that the didn't want to come until they had read a little bit from the Book of Mormon and learned a little bit more.  They didn't come on Sunday, but we have an appointment with them on Thursday, and I'm hopeful for them.  They are two of the best investigators we have right now.

On Saturday we went out to Tuskegee, like usual.  There is a lady who lives out there named Sister Bentley  She is not a member, but her husband is.  Sister Bentley comes all the way to Montgomery to the church each week, yet she doesn't actually "come to church."  She usually shows up right after Sacrament Meeting is over, and then just hangs out in the halls until church is over, and then talks to the bishop for a little while and then goes home.  Well, recently, she has really been looking into becoming a member of the Church and being baptized.  On Saturday we had a lesson with Brother and Sister Bentley, and taught the Restoration to them as well.  It went pretty well, and Sister Bentley is getting more and more excited to become a member.  There is a little issue however.  She and her "husband" are not actually married.  Brother Bentley is trying to get his divorce to his previous wife finalized, so that he and Sister Bentley can officially get married, so that she can get baptized.  It sounds like a complicated process, and one that could take some time, but at least they are taking steps to get it done.  

On Sunday, Sister Bentley almost came to church.  She showed up like right as Sacrament Meeting was ending, supposedly due to the fact that she got "stuck behind a train for like 3 hours" on the way there.  Anyway, she came to Gospel Principles class and actually participated.  She also went to Relief Society, which she usually doesn't.  It was a good day for her, despite the fact that she missed Sacrament Meeting.  The best part, though, was right after church.  There is a family in the ward named the Troudeaus.  They were baptized last spring, and they have a daughter, Tori, who recently turned eight.  Right after church on Sunday, Tori was baptized, and Sister Bentley stayed for it to watch.  Before it started, the font was still filling, and we were just watching with Sister Bentley.  Elder Furgeson says to her, "You're going to be in there soon," and she just said, "Yeah I am!"  Haha, I'm excited for her.  I'm not sure how long the whole marriage situation is going to take, or what exactly has to happen, but I hope that I still get to be here for her baptism.  That would be awesome.

On Sunday afternoon I had one of the more strange experiences I've had so far on my mission.  We were downtown near the river walk, just talking to people, and we saw some group of like 10 people all in denim who looked like they were making a music video.  We walked up and asked them who they were.  We were informed that they were the Baja Angels, and that they were on their way to being famous. (Apparently they "performed" at the "funeral" of the burned down Taco Bell a few weeks ago, so that's where their fame comes from).  Well, we started talking to a couple of them who were somewhat interested in what we do as missionaries, while the others just kept doing all these weird, creepy, sort of raunchy photo shoots.  We did our best to ignore the ones taking pictures, while we talked to these two.  Their names were Franchezaka and Amir.  Franchezaka told us that she used to be pretty religious and used to go to church, and we talked to her about the Bible and about other things that we teach a little bit, and we got her number so that we could teach her again sometime.  Amir was sort of listening while we were talking to Franchezaka, and then all of a sudden he just blurts out, "What does 'missionary' mean?"  I told him that we were missionaries, and as missionaries it's our job to teach people about Jesus Christ.  His response was: "Who?"  I was pretty surprised.  Most people, whether religious or not, had at least heard of Jesus.  Amir hadn't.  He informed us that he knew absolutely nothing about any religions at all, but was really interested in learning.  We got his number as well, and will try to meet with him again.  It's going to be tough starting from rock bottom with him, but it should be fun, too.  I look forward to meeting with a couple of the Baja Angels again.  Before we left, we took a couple of pictures with them, because it was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen, and we had to have documentation of it.  

That night we went to have dinner with the Nozakis, a Japanese family in the ward.  They have 4 kids who are 9, 7, and 5-year-old twins.  They are too funny.  It was so fun to spend time in their home, because their kids just laugh all the time.  It's hilarious.  One kind of weird thing that I learned at their house was this: everyone in Japan drinks tea.  Everyone.  So being a Mormon is really different because we don't.  Well, on the dinner table was a pitcher of what looked like tea.  In front of my plate and Elder Furgeson's was a bottle of water, but everyone else just had a cup for this pitcher of tea.  Well, turns out, it's not actually tea.  It's water that has had barley soaked in it.  That's what the Mormon Japanese people drink instead of tea.  Brother Nozaki said to us, "The missionaries over in Japan told us, 'this tastes like dirt.'"  I tried some of the barley water, and that's exactly what it tastes like.  It tastes like dirty water.  Nasty stuff.  It wasn't too hard to stick to my goal of not having seconds of dirt water haha.

Overall this week has been pretty good.  We are working hard and doing our best to find new people to teach.  I'm excited to keep moving forward with Dawn and David, as well as Sister Bentley, and hopefully a couple others who have some potential.  I love being a missionary and doing what we do.  I love to testify of the things I know to be true, especially about the Book of Mormon, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Savior Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful for all of you, my family and friends.  I'm thankful for your thoughts and prayers.  You are in mine every day.  Love y'all.

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#BajaAngels

We came upon the Baja Angels.

Just had to get a photo shoot with them - hey, they may be famous!!

Not sure what to think about them...

The Primary kids loved pushing each other around on the rolling chalkboard...until someone got their leg stuck underneath. :)

Everyone should be able to have a free pregnancy test and ultrasound in a bus!

Super Bowl and Old Dogs

Hello to all of my fam and friends around the globe.  I hope this finds y'all well.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot to report this week.  I'll give you the highlights, and hopefully they are enjoyable.  This is about how our week went down:

Last Wednesday we went to the Montgomery Zoo to do service.  Apparently that is a regular Wednesday thing here, so I will be going back in the future.  It sure wasn't busy that day, and we probably only saw 3 or 4 families during our 2 hours there.  Elder Furgeson said that they have us do all kinds of weird things to help out there, but on Wednesday we just raked leaves for a couple hours.  We also got to ride on the train that goes around the zoo.  It wasn't too exciting, due to the fact that it only went like 4 miles per hour.

Wednesday was also Elder Furgeson's birthday, so we went over to the Villalobos' house for dinner to celebrate.  They have two kids, Lydianna, who is like 6 and Angelina, who is like 18 months.  Haha they are crazy, but also so funny.  Lydianna was writing all of these stories the whole time, and then she wanted to share them with us.  Pretty much every story went something like this: "Once upon a time there was a girl and she lost her parents.  But then she prayed and found them and she was so happy that she cried.  The end."  Haha, they were great, and it was also just cool to see how awesome Primary is because little children can understand the basic doctrines of the Gospel like the power of prayer.  Well, we ate way too much food and cake, and then we were on our way.  That night when we got home (still being full from dinner), we were surprised by 4 of the other Elders in our district who live like a mile away from us.  They had brought cake and Martinelli's for Elder Furgeson's birthday, so we partied for a little bit and then we all went to bed.

On Thursday we had second birthday dinner at the Wright's house.  They are a great family in the ward who have like 6 crazy kids who were just tearing around the whole time we were there.  We had some bomb tacos though, and they made like 2 gallons worth of banana pudding.  I also at way too much while we were there.  I'm literally the fattest I've ever been right now.  It's not too good haha, I need to lose like 30 lbs.  I guess it's time to break out the bikes a little more.  Anyway, since it was Elder Furgeson's 21st birthday, the Wright's made some margaritas, (non alcoholic of course).  They were pretty good, but I'm not a fan of salting the rim of the glass.  That was kind of gross.  Thursday morning we had had weekly planning, and one of our companionship goals was to make a daily video when we got home each night.  So Thursday night was our first installment of our daily videos.  I'll try to upload them, but they are like 5-6 minutes each, so they take forever to upload.  If I have enough time on P-day I will upload them.  Some of them are kind of funny.  We sure run into some weird people here.

Speaking of weird people, we went over to Tuskegee on Saturday to meet with a few less-actives and a few of our Bible referrals.  We get SO many Bible referrals.  I probably got like six total in my 6 months in Scottsboro, and we already have received like 12 here in 2 weeks.  Most of the time they are a super long ways away, like in Tuskegee or Union Springs or somewhere way at the edge of our huge area.  Anyway, we talked to several of them on Saturday.  The first one was named Vernell or Vernal or something.  One of the first things that she said to us when we came into her house was, "You hear so many gunshots out here, this place is worse than Vietnam."  Haha I laughed at that one.  There is a lot of violence here, but I haven't really been an eye- or an ear-witness to any of it yet, which is good.  Anyway, we gave her her Bible, and we also gave her a Book of Mormon.  She was one of several people this week who really just had no idea what we were talking about.  When we explained the Book of Mormon to her, we basically just paraphrased the introduction.  At the end of the introduction is something that pretty much says, "Here's what to do to find out this book is true.  When you know this book is true, you know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church on the earth."  And that's exactly what we told her.  She (as well as a couple of others this week) just said, "Oh yeah, I totally believe that."  My thought was just, "You really don't understand what we just said, do you?"  We did our best to explain it again, but most people just really don't get it.  It's a weird thing.  I don't know what to do about that, but we will probably see them all again to see how their reading is going and see if we can help them really understand.  Whether people really get it completely or not (or if they ever will or not) I still love to just bear my testimony of what I know to be true, and try my best to help people know it for themselves.

Sunday was fast Sunday, which was really good.  I'm really impressed with the Ward here.  You know how sometimes you have testimony meetings where it turns into story time, or when people just get up and rant or just bawl for like 15 minutes?  Those are really weird, I don't like them, but at least they don't happen very often.  Anyway, this week was the exact opposite of that.  Almost everyone that got up to bear their testimony just kept it really brief, simple, powerful, and to the point.  Nearly everyone just shared their feelings and their testimony about the Savior, about the Book of Mormon, and about missionary work.  It seems like there are many in the ward who spend a lot of time talking to their friends about the Gospel and inviting them to church and handing out copies of the Book of Mormon.  That is awesome!  Unfortunately, an invite to a friend doesn't mean a conversion, but it's a great start.  Now it's our job as missionaries to make sure the members trust us enough to invite us into their lives and let us help teach their friends.  I hope to see that happening in the future.  It seems to be likely.  On Sunday afternoon we had lunch with Brother Chiu and his family.  Since he's the Ward Mission Leader, he has recently decided to have the missionaries, and any investigators or recent converts over for lunch every fast Sunday.  Pretty cool.  Unfortunately, we didn't have any investigators there, but there were 2 ladies who were baptized somewhat recently, and we had a good time.  Again, I ate too much food.  To add to that, we had dinner at the Slater's house (ate too much yet again) on Sunday night after our Mighty Hour of Prayer.  They are a senior couple (they may be part-time missionaries, I'm not really sure) but they are in charge of military relations in the ward, because the members in Maxwell Air force Base come to our ward.  Anyway, they are a great couple, and their daughter and son-in-law were there also.  The Slater's daughter pretty much loves to do missionary work, and she gave us like 6 referrals.  What she said when she gave us their names and addresses was this: "I've talked to these people about the Church and the Gospel, and I've given a couple of them copies of the Book of Mormon, and pretty much none of them want to have anything to do with any of it, but you should try them anyway!"  I guess we'll see how it goes....

Sunday night after dinner we went out to try and visit a list of less-actives that we had put together last week.  At the first door, the guy just looks out the window and says, "Who is it?"  After we respond, "The missionaries," he just says, "I already had that," and then he just walks away back into his house.  The next door, nobody answered.  At the third door, a guy answers and immediately he's like, "Hey, come on in guys."  We sit down and talk for a bit, and he's like, "Did Elder [so-and-so] leave y'all a note to come watch the Super Bowl with me?  He was here like 3 years ago."  Uhhh...no.  Well, he said his wife (who is actually a member) was at church, and she would be home shortly.  When his wife got home, she told us that she "was a Mormon for a while," but then she stopped for a while, and now she has found a Baptist church that she likes.  That was a bummer.  Anyway, we talked to them for a while, and apparently the missionaries used to come by all the time.  I think we will have to go by at least one more time and see if they have any interest in getting back on the strait and narrow, as opposed to their Baptist church.  We'll see how that goes too.  While we were there, we also saw a good bit of the Super Bowl.  It was quite the finish, and is definitely one for the classics.  I didn't really care who won, but it was a great game.  One really weird thing about this couple (they are the Freys, by the way), was that they had this chihuahua at their house that looked like it was dead.  But then every once in a while it would get up and hobble around and wheeze a bit and just about fall over.  We asked them about it, and it is 18 years old, and definitely on its last legs.  I can't believe it's not dead.  Sister Frey spent like the entire time we were there just getting it to eat, and it just laid down on its food plate and slept.  It was a pretty sad looking dog, but Sister Frey loved it a lot.  I was afraid she was going to ask us to give it a blessing or something, but she didn't.  She did ask us to keep it in our prayers though.  I kind of felt bad for it and for her, because it would be much happier if it just passed on.  It could hardly walk or move or breathe, or even see from what it looked like.  I thought Hallie looked like an old dog, until I saw this one.  It was ancient haha.

Anyway, this was a good week, though it sure wasn't the most full schedule I've had.  I look forward to visiting our referrals, seeking more referrals, and finding new investigators.  I'm just glad that I have the chance to be here doing the Lord's work, and doing what I can to find the elect.  I know they're out there.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  Keep 'em coming!  I love y'all!

Love, 

Elder Beach

#Roll Tide

Elder Furgeson's 21st birthday!

More birthday celebrations.

Riding the train at the zoo!

Trying to look like the flamingos at the zoo.

Driving around in our automobile...

Home of the Hornets.

Downtown Montgomery.

Sometimes it pays to be a member of the clergy.

The "beautiful" Tuskegee Park!

"Old Dog"