Elder Jackson Beach: Birthdays and Baptisms

Hey y'all, this was a good week in Attalla. We had a couple of scorcher days, upwards of 98 or so. It was pretty brutal. Want to know what else was brutal? Alabama's spanking of Ole Miss. The Tide set a new SEC record by scoring 50+ points in their first 3 games, so things are shaping up pretty well for them.

First off, I would like to give a huge happy birthday shout out this week and next to the loveliest sisters out there, Addi and Jayden. I hear that y'all are quite the daters haha. That was never really my thing, so maybe it will be yours. Don't party too hard on your birthdays! I'm planning on sending something in the mail tomorrow or Wednesday so watch out for it. Also happy birthday Dad next week, and everybody else who has September birthdays (which is lots haha). Hope y'all have good birthdays.

We were able to meet with Daniel this week on Friday and just talk for a while about a few things. Our goal for that visit was to go over all of the baptismal interview questions that we had taught him so far, and set a baptismal date with him. The date we set was October 13, and that is a solid date. I'm confident that he will be baptized then. It probably could have been earlier, but we wanted to make sure that we have plenty of time to finish teaching him everything due to his busy work schedule. We also thought that waiting until after General Conference would be great, because what better week is there than Conference week to really strengthen and solidify a testimony right before your baptism? Everything should work out really well. On Friday when we were at his house, we were also able to meet his wife and daughter for the first time. They each were nice to us, and we talked for a few minutes, but they just left the room when we started talking with Daniel. When I asked him at church what their thoughts were about him coming to church with us, he didn't really have a lot to say. They both just seem kind of indifferent to the whole thing. I asked him if he thought either of them would come to church with him and he said, "Probably not. They just don't get it." That is tough, but I'm glad to know that Daniel does "get it." He knows what his priorities are, and he's sticking with them. In fact, he told us on Sunday that his wife had asked him if he wanted to go to breakfast that morning, and he just told her that he needed to go to church instead. I hope that his church attendance and future membership don't cause a problem. It doesn't seem like it's a big point of conflict at this point, just a little bit of an annoyance. I hope that his wife can see that this is a good thing for Daniel, and he truly believes in it. Time will tell, but for now just keep them in your prayers.

I texted Ruby and asked her if she had set a date for her baptism, and she responded, "Not yet but working on it." At church she told us that she had set a date, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was. Sometime around a month from now. She said October 23, but she also said that the date she set was a Sunday, and that is not. Whenever her date is, it's coming up in the near future, and we are definitely excited for her. It's a long time coming, and she is so ready for it.

We met a guy tracting this week named David. We talked to him on his porch for a while, and we shared with him how we believe that God has called a prophet in our day. He was really interested in hearing from the prophet, so we told him that he could in a couple weeks at General Conference, and we also directed him to mormon.org and lds.org where he could listen to the Prophet and Apostles speak. He seemed pretty intent on looking them up, and so we left him with that info and a return appointment. When we came back, he told us that he had in fact looked up and listened to a few talks. I'm not exactly sure what or who he listened to, but I'm sure it was something from General Conference. When we asked him what he thought about it, he responded, "It's not really my cup of tea." What? I asked if there was anything specific that he heard that made him feel uncomfortable or anything. He said no, and repeated that it just wasn't his cup of tea. Obviously people have their agency and their past beliefs, and so on and so forth. However, it still just blows my mind that anybody who believes in the Savior and His divine mission could listen to anything from General Conference and say, "I don't believe this." General Conference is literally the time when the Lord's mouthpiece(s) on the earth speak the words that He Himself would speak were He physically here. Anyway, David told us that he wasn't really interested in hearing anymore, so we probably won't go back again. We taught and we invited, and that's about all we can do. I just want y'all to know that I'm so excited for General Conference. I know that President Nelson is truly a prophet of God, and that whatever he says is what God would have us know. What a blessing it is to be able to hear the words of God's chosen servants, for He has promised, "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

We got a call last Monday night from a lady named Andrea. She is a less- active, and I have never met her, though I have heard quite a bit about her and her weird life story from several members. Well, she calls us and says that her husband, Scott (I assume it's her 2nd husband - again, weird life story) is a non-member and is going to start taking the lessons. She tells us that her son (I assume that it's her son from her previous marriage) is on a mission, and had received permission from his Mission President to Skype in and start teaching his (step?) dad. The condition from his Mission President was that he could only Skype in if the local missionaries, being us, were also present for the lesson. So that's pretty cool. We scheduled a time to go and meet with Andrea and Scott and start teaching. Well, that scheduled time was supposed to be today, and has since been rescheduled for next Monday, so that's when we are going to go see them. I definitely look forward to it. It was pretty miraculous how the whole thing came about, and it should be awesome.

I told y'all about Hazel last week. We went by her place twice this week and we were told both times by someone else at the house that she was sleeping and to try another time. We'll see if we can catch her awake one of these days. We weren't able to catch Cathy this week either, but we are going to try and see her tomorrow, I believe. Hopefully we can see her because she seemed pretty open and interested.

All in all, this was a good week. We've been playing a little ping pong still, and my backhand spikes are getting pretty good. I never used to be good at that, but I'm figuring it out haha.

I am thankful for this chance I have to serve. Hard to believe I'm hitting 14 months this week. I know that this is the Lord's work and that He definitely has His hand in it. Thanks for all of your support, love, and prayers. Know that you're in mine.

Love y'all!

Elder Beach

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