Elder Jackson Beach: Transfers!

Hey there everyone who may find themselves reading this. I want you to know that everything is going well and that I love you. I'm thankful to be a missionary, and I love doing what we do. Thanks to all of you for your love and your prayers. They are very much appreciated.

This week we had our transfer calls, and I will be staying in the Capitol Ward with Elder Furgeson for another six weeks. I've enjoyed my time and my service here so far, and I look forward to the weeks ahead with optimism and enthusiasm.

Last Wednesday we went to the zoo as usual to do some service. They were draining this pond and so they had us take all of the rocks out of the pond and put them on a trailer to haul to somewhere else. Most of the rocks were pretty huge and they weighed a ton. When we loaded up the trailer, the tires on it were basically flat, so they had us unload like half of it and we ended up taking 3 trips to get all of the rocks moved haha. But then they invited all 6 of us into one of the buildings with all of the zoo employees and fed us lunch. I guess all of the hours spent at the zoo are paying off!

We had an appointment with Amir this week, and he is so fun to teach. He literally has like no Christian background, and everything we teach him he just loves. As I have often said or thought of this week, Amir is not "tainted by the foolish traditions of his fathers" (like the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon), and because of that he really enjoys everything we have to say. This week we just talked to him about who God is and our relationship to him. We also taught him how to pray, and he prayed at the end of the lesson. We also quickly introduced the Book of Mormon to him and just invited him to read the introduction before our next appointment. Later in the week (Saturday) our next appointment with him fell through, but he told us that we would be able to meet again soon, so we'll see. I like teaching Amir, because he just soaks it all in, instead of trying to argue with us or give us their opposing point of view like most people do.

On Thursday we went to the Rachid's for dinner and a lesson. While we were there waiting for dinner to get finished, Brother Rachid was like, "Do either of you play any instruments?" and I just told him that I play the uke. He goes, "Really?" and proceeds to pull out this super nice ukulele. He tells us that he just got it recently, he has sort of been learning, and that it is the only instrument in the house. He happened to glance at it behind the couch which prompted his question. Anyway, I ended up just jamming for like 5 minutes right before dinner, and Brother Rachid just says, "Well you're a lot better than I am." Well, after dinner we started asking Sister Rachid about her experiences with the Church and the missionaries and the Book of Mormon. She told us that she grew up Catholic, but now considered herself non-denominational. She told us that she had read the whole Book of Mormon, but that she kind of just thought of it as stories and not really as something that actually happened. At some point, she said these words: "I know that the church is true," but then she proceeded to tell us all of these non-denominational beliefs that she has. When I questioned further, I discovered that she basically believes that any church that teaches good things and has good people and is just "good" overall, is (in her mind) "true." We just very simply bore testimony that our unique message to the world as missionaries is that Jesus Christ established His Church. Over time, that Church was lost, but has now been restored to the earth. His Church is this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is, as so designated by the Lord Himself, the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." The Book of Mormon is the evidence of this wonderful truth. I'm not sure how much she is willing to accept, but it was good for both Elder Furgeson and myself to bear short, powerful testimonies of what we know to be true, and then invite her to discover that truth for herself. We invited Brother and Sister Rachid to read the Book of Mormon together every day. I'm interested to see how it goes.

Last week I told y'all that we had an appointment with Dawn and David. That was scheduled for last Monday night. When we got a hold of them to confirm our appointment, Dawn just said something like, "I don't think you need to come over anymore. We'll read your book, but I think it would be best for us to just do it on our own." While I wasn't overly surprised at that, it still hurts when you have a great first lesson with someone, they feel the Spirit, and then later decide to run from it. When that happens, all we can do is leave them our testimony and an invitation. We just said to her, "We hope that you keep reading the Book of Mormon. We know it is true, and will bless your life more than anything else. Let us know when you're ready for us to come by again." We didn't hear anything more from them, and haven't since. We'll probably stop by in a few weeks.

That same night that they cancelled and dropped us, we ate dinner with the Lloyds. Brother Lloyd is a former Bishop in the ward, and they are great people. As we talked after dinner about the Book of Mormon, the impact it has had on each of our lives, and other things, Brother Lloyd brought up a thought that he had. I'm still not sure what to think of it. We were discussing just some of the beliefs of other churches, and here's the gist of what he said: "One day, every pastor/preacher of all of these churches out there is going to stand before God and be held accountable for keeping His children from a knowledge of the true Gospel." All I can think about it is, "I'm glad I'm not the judge." I have no idea what is going to be the post-mortal state of those individuals. I know that they are doing what they know to be right, and they are in fact helping people to draw closer to their Savior. However, oftentimes the way that they go about doing that is just the wrong way. They don't have a knowledge of the true, complete, restored Gospel. And because of that, they are keeping both themselves and those in their congregations from a knowledge of the complete truth. I know that the Lord is merciful, but he is also perfectly just. Any thoughts on that topic? Please send them my way!

We got a Bible referral this week named Andre. We went over to his house on Friday and gave him his Bible, and also talked to him about the Book of Mormon. We ended up teaching the whole Restoration to him, and we also talked about a bunch of other stuff. He had tons of questions, and so I just kept giving him tons of answers. It was really awesome during the time we were there, but then afterwards we were talking about it and I was just like, "Crap, I really overloaded him with info, and probably should have just shut up a long time ago and just kept it really simple and to the point, and told him that I would answer his questions later." Anyway, we finally brought it back at the end of the lesson so I hope that he remembers that stuff which was most important. We have another appointment with him tomorrow.

One fun thing this week: There are two little kids, ages probably 7 and 4, named Joshua and Kobe who live next door to us. We went to take the trash out one day and started talking to them and then also played basketball with them for like 15 minutes haha. It was fun and they are funny kids. Maybe we'll meet their parents sometime and introduce them to the gospel.

This was a good week. I'm excited for the things ahead. I look forward to another 6 weeks here in the Captiol Ward with Elder Furgeson. I love you all, and thank you again for your prayers. You're always in mine.

Love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide

PS - just realized that I forgot to mention this... Sister Bentley came to all three hours of church! It was awesome! We are still working on her husband (or I guess her "almost husband"). He didn't come, but we have been in touch with them and they are working on the whole marriage situation, so that's good. Keep them in your prayers! Love you again!