Elder Jackson Beach: Technology and Such

Howdy everyone. I hope all is going well with y'all, and I'm thankful to all of you who anticipate these letters every Monday and take the time to read them. I hope that they continue to have a positive effect on your lives in one way or another.

First things first, Happy late Birthday, Mom! I know you don't really enjoy being celebrated, but you are awesome and I love you. Thanks for your letters each week, your thoughts, your prayers, your help with everything. I listened to a talk yesterday from the October 2015 Conference titled, "Behold Thy Mother" by Elder Holland. It just made me think of how awesome you are, Mom. One line from the talk says this: "No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child." I know that to be absolutely true. I've seen it in you, Mom. Love you!

This week we have a few funny things to report, a couple of bummers, a bit of potentially really good things in the works, and some testimony. That being said, here goes...

This week, the Alabama Birmingham Mission received technology. I feel like we are one of the last missions in the US to receive it, but that's alright. We had a District meeting on Wednesday where the tech assistants brought everyone their phones and helped us all to get them set up, and then on Thursday we had a Zone Conference/Tech training on how to use them. We will be a Facebook mission, though there wasn't a whole lot of training on that. They basically just said, "If you feel like what you look at, post, share, like, etc., is helping you fulfill your purpose, go ahead." So go ahead and send me a friend request if you feel so inclined. (My name is just "Jackson Beach", no "Elder" included).

Turns out that getting phones is kind of a bummer for this first little bit. We have to enter our entire Area Book (which is basically the records of every person who has been taught in the last like 4 years) into the Area Book app on our phones, and it takes forever. It's even worse because our area has 2 full area books for some reason, and most of them are not filled out very well. It takes forever to enter it all in. President Sainsbury told us to spend about 2 hours per day entering in our paper area book into the app until it was finished. He said that it should take anywhere from 14-20 hours. Well, I can tell you right now that ours is going to take a lot longer than that haha. It's pretty crazy. Once it is all in, however, it should make things a lot easier for us.

Here is one of the potentially good things in the works (partially due to this brand new technology): We received a referral this week for a guy named Steven. He had requested a Bible and a Book of Mormon, and so we called him on Saturday and set up a time to deliver the books on Sunday. We went to his house, gave him the books, taught him like a 40 second restoration lesson, told him our purpose as missionaries, and introduced the Book of Mormon to him. We set up another appointment for Tuesday. We asked if we could add him on Facebook and he said sure, so after we left that's what we did. Right after we did, we messaged him, and one of the first things he says was, "I would really like to be baptized." Awesome! Obviously there is a lot that has to happen before that event can, but if that's something he wants, awesome! We just have to do a good job helping him understand what being baptized entails, why baptism by proper authority is necessary, and all that jazz. Should be good.

Funny story time: We got our phones on Wednesday evening. Like an hour before that we went to go visit a lady named Brenda who is one of our potentials. As we were walking home from her house, we saw 2 kids playing basketball in the skreet (this is what the Alabamans call it...), so we started to just shoot with them for like 10 minutes. The older one was like 9 and the younger one was like 6. The younger kid was clearly better than the older one, and the older one was clearly bugged by this. At one point, the older one goes up for a layup, and the younger one kind of gets in his way, and so he missed the layup. Well, the older kid is like, "Boy, you gotta move!" and then he grabs the ball and just smacks the younger one right in the head. Haha it was so dang funny, and Elder Furgeson even got it on video. We've watched it like 20 times since then haha.

Last Tuesday we had an appointment with a lady that we had tracted into the Saturday previous. We biked over there, and surprise surprise, she wasn't home. So we tried to visit the Stockmans really quick (they are a really old couple in the ward) because they lived right up the "skreet". Well, they didn't answer either, but as we were walking back to grab our bikes from where we locked them up, we saw an old guy mowing a lawn, and so we decided to go say hi and ask if we could help. As we got closer, we were like, "Hey, that's Brother Stockman. Mowing his neighbor's lawn? He's like 85 years old." Well, he had just started mowing, and so we just took the mower from him and did it. After we finished, he says to us, "Come down to my house and I'll make you a sandwich." So we did and visited with him and his wife for a bit, and then went on our way. I think that was the first time I mowed a lawn in a tie before, but I hope I get to do it more this spring and summer.

Vernell had to go back to Union Springs this week and so we haven't seen her since probably Thursday or so. Well, the Sister Missionaries have talked to her over the phone and it hasn't been all that great. Here's the backstory: The last time that Elder Furgeson and I saw her, she asked us if it was okay for her to go to other churches while she was in Union Springs, because it's like a 45 minute drive to get to Montgomery to come to our church. We didn't tell her that she couldn't (because we can't infringe upon agency) but we did just let her know again that this is the only true church, and if she was going to come to church, this is where she needed to be. It is worth any sacrifice. I guess when the Sisters called her on the phone, she was just kind of mad that we (and they) told her that she shouldn't go to church. She kind of dropped us due to that. We haven't spoken with her since that last in-person visit, so I'm not sure what is to come of all of this. It's a bit of a tough situation, and I hope we can still hold on to her.

I'm not sure exactly what the situation is with the Bentleys or the Rachids. Neither of them were at church on Sunday. We called the Bentleys on Saturday and they (sort of) told us they would be there...nothing. The Rachids we had got in touch with a couple days before that, but again...nothing. It was too bad, because there was also a baptismal service right after church for one of the recently-turned 8-year-olds in the ward, so that would have been great for all of them to attend. Also, there wasn't a single Chiu-theory (Brother Chiu teaches the class) in Gospel Principles haha. It was a actually a good lesson!

Yesterday we went to go see a couple, the Gordons, that we met almost 2 months ago. I probably told y'all about them - they are an elderly couple, and the wife is a devout Baptist, while the husband is an even more devout atheist. Well, they were really nice people (even though they have absolutely no intention of listening to what we have to say), so we visited them for a bit just to say hi. We talked with Mr. Gordon mostly, and he told us how misled we all were for believing in God and all that stuff. I really just feel bad for him, because though he is a great guy, there are so many things that he just doesn't know, and refuses to know, because he already "knows" that there is no God. We just bore our testimonies over and over about different things that we know (really know) to be true. In his own little way, he just rejected all of it. That's okay, because we did our part. At some point, he'll stand before God, and then he'll "know" what the truth is. Mr. Gordon was also talking about one of his role-models, Stephen Hawking, who is basically a genius who also "knows" that God doesn't exist. Anyway, afterwards, we were just talking about him, and Elder Furgeson said that the whole time he was talking, a scripture just kept running through his head. 2 Nephi 9:28-29 - "28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. 29 But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." Those two verses basically sum up our experience with Mr. Gordon. Great guy, just really misled and really stubborn about it.

I just wan't y'all to know that I know (not "I think I know," but I actually know) that there is a God. I know that he is our literal Father in Heaven, and I know that he loves us. Because he loves us, he sent his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for us, and provide us the opportunity to be truly happy in this life, as well as receive eternal life in the world to come. Their way is the only way for that to happen. I know that it is our job to use righteously the agency that They have given us if we are to experience those, the highest of all blessings. I love the Savior, and for the chance I have to represent Him and help others experience those blessings and that joy that I have felt. It's a wonderful thing.

I love y'all. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts, prayers, letters, notes, support, and encouragement. Haha it's been fun to get all of the emails from my uncle Steve about the family March Madness tournament. I didn't even take the time to make a bracket, but it's still funny to just see everyone talk smack to each other. That makes my day whenever one of those emails comes in. Anyway, love you again. Hope y'all have a good week.

Love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide