Elder Jackson Beach: Week 1 in Attalla

Hey everybody, hope y'all have had a good week. Everything is going well here and I have been having fun and sweating lots. Obviously as I told y'all, last week was transfers. I was moved to Attalla, Alabama, which is about an hour northeast of Birmingham, and about an hour south of Scottsboro. New comp is Elder Vanderhoff. He's from Oregon originally but lives in American Fork now. Has been out for about 9 months. We are in a biking area which is neat because it's usually about 90+ degrees and super humid. I've done my share of sweating in the last week haha.

Transfers were cool because I got to see lots of awesome dudes that I love to see. Even Mama Reyes was there! It was awesome. I think we had about 30 people go home this transfer, and President did some crazy stuff like switching lots of Elders areas to Sisters and vice versa, several areas were closed, and several cars were taken away from the mission. Things are definitely different here than they were last summer.

Things are pretty good in Attalla so far. On Thursday last week we went out to go visit this guy named Robert. He has a friend named Michael and they previously had taught them together, but Michael couldn't meet that night. Anyway, Robert is awesome. He has been reading as much as he can in the Book of Mormon (it's kind of slow going because he's blind in one eye). He told us that Michael has gone to his pastor and obviously was told to stop meeting with us, so I guess that's why we didn't see him. But Robert was just like, "I'm gonna have a talk with Michael and tell him to shape it up. I like reading this book, and I'm not going to listen to anyone who tells me otherwise. It's up to me to decide if it's true, not some pastor." So yeah, Robert hasn't come to church yet (prayers for him this week) but he is at least reading and seeking answers from God instead of someone else.

There is another guy named Damion that we visited the other day. He has been taught for the past little bit, and was actually on date for baptism a couple weeks from now. Based on our lesson yesterday, he is far from ready to be baptized haha. We basically started over with him, and just shared a very basic Restoration outline and then read the intro to the Book of Mormon. I was very clear with Damion (as I am with everyone) that "If the Book of Mormon is true, then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's true church on the earth." That's basically what the introduction says, but for whatever reason, a lot of people don't seem to pick up on that unless we reiterate it to them very clearly. Anyway, he claims to have read all the way to Alma 50 something, but he doesn't remember anything, so we know he hasn't read. I think after the lesson yesterday he should start actually reading and do it for a purpose - to find out if it's true, and therefore, if the Church is true.

Yesterday we were also out biking and we could tell it was going to rain and so we started to head home. We were a few miles away, and it was about 7 PM. About halfway home we were completely drenched, and while we were riding some guy pulled over and offered us a ride. His name is Keith and he works at the rec center that we play basketball at on pdays. We ended stuffing both of our bikes in the back in his tiny Nissan Altima and then he drove us 2-3 miles home. The whole time he was saying stuff like, "I'm just a crazy Baptist, but I like you Mormons," and "Tell a Baptist that there will be fried chicken and you know they'll be there." Haha he's pretty funny. Best quote of the night though was this - So there are these storage sheds right next to our complex and I guess Keith used to live in our apartments a few years ago. Well he says, "Man, the worst thing they ever did was put all this storage right here..." and then this huge bolt of lightning strikes pretty close by and Keith says, "Forgive me Lord, it was just my opinion!" Haha he's definitely a crazy Baptist, and a funny dude.

Well everything is going pretty well here. Bikes are okay, Elder Vanderhoff is fun, we have several people to teach, and the branch is small but helpful and supportive. Thanks for all of your prayers, I love y'all! Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#CrazyBaptists

PS - Scripture of the week - Alma 36:3 "I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

We were able to share that with someone who was struggling with stuff and it really helped out. It's a great verse.