And All Are Alike

Hey everyone, I hope y'all have had a good week out and about wherever you are in the world.  Our week, as usual, has had some ups and downs, but that's life I guess.  We're still having fun and working hard.  It's tough to believe how fast time flies when you're a missionary.  Like they say, days are long and weeks are short.  I can attest to the truthfulness of that statement.

We don't have quite as much time to write today, as we have been doing stuff all morning and still have more to do, but I'll try and jam it all in here.

This week we had an exchange with the Columbiana Elders, and I went with Elder Barfuss.  He's actually from Logan and went to Logan High (though he openly admitted that he would have rather gone to Sky View. Same).  We worked in Birmingham, and were able to have some good experiences together.  We spent a little bit of time walking around UAB campus talking to people.  Elder Barfuss is like me in that he doesn't really like to put himself out there.  So I set him up with a few opportunities to do so, and he did well.  We met one guy named Sai, who told us he had met with missionaries a few months ago on campus, they talked for a couple of hours, and he received a copy of the Book of Mormon.  He admitted that he hadn't read much, but was willing to meet with us again and learn more about it and begin reading again.  However, just like dozens of others whom we have met, taught, and received contact info for, he has ignored our attempts to get back in touch with him.  That seems to have been the story of our lives this transfer.  We were going through our calendar and a lot of it is just failed contact attempts.  We meet someone, they are interested, we teach them, get their info for a future visit, we try to contact them, we get ignored.  Time and time again.  I guess the more people we talk to, the better chance we have of finding someone who doesn't ignore us, but for now that has been our struggle.  We're working on it.

During our exchange we went to dinner with a guy from the branch named Colton.  He's just a cool dude.  He was baptized about 3 years ago, and recently went to the temple to be endowed for the first time.  He basically just told us his conversion story (which I had heard parts of from other people, but not the whole thing).  It was pretty awesome.  He told us how after he was baptized, he basically rid himself of everything that wasn't a good influence in his life.  He really had to make some big changes, but he knew that the blessings of the gospel were worth any sacrifice.  Hearing conversion stories is one of my favorite things about being a missionary.  Being a part of that story for someone is pretty cool too.  :)  Anyway, after we left dinner, Colton called us a few minutes later and basically said, "There's more people just like me out there."  And that's absolutely true.  I have heard the stories of many, I have met many, and I have had the privilege of helping several to change their lives in remarkable ways.  It's one of the great joys of missionary work.

We had an appointment with Cosby this week, but for some reason he had to cancel.  We were able to answer a few of his questions, and he has definitely been reading from the Book of Mormon.  We have invited him to church for the last few weeks, and we even asked a member that Cosby knew to invite him one week, but he hasn't been in quite some time.  We are going to turn to the members to invite him to stuff, as there have been several who have asked about him this week.  In case you didn't know, it's really easy for people to say no to the missionaries.  It's slightly more difficult to say no when the invitation comes from someone else.  That's the goal with Cosby going forward.

One random note on the weather.  We escaped any 'nader damage here in Birmingham.  However, most people are in a panic because there is supposed to be a huge ice storm coming in tomorrow.  All the bread and milk and eggs are gone off the shelves haha.  Such is the custom when the dreaded "s-word" is mentioned in this great state.  (the s-word is "snow" by the way, for those who may be unaware).

Here's a cool thing: this morning for Pday, President gave permission for all of the missionaries around the Birmingham area to go to the Civil Rights Museum.  They are normally closed on Monday, but there is a member in one of the wards around here that works there so he got us in today, and we were the only ones there.  It was awesome.  Most of the info in the museum I was already somewhat familiar with, but it's still crazy to think about what actually happened in the South.  And it wasn't even that long ago!  People were crazy back then.  Some people are still crazy today haha.  But I'm just glad that for the most part, as Dr. King put it, we are not judged "by the color of our skin but by the content of our character."  2 Nephi 26:33 - "...and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."  We are all alike in the eyes of God, why should we be any different in the eyes of one another?

Well, I'm grateful for that knowledge.  I'm grateful that we live in a time and in a place where we are free to live and worship as we please.  The world might seem like a crazy place, and it is, but coming unto Christ and living His gospel will always be a source of hope, peace, and freedom to us.  He will always be there.  He invites all to come unto Him.  Even you.  I know that the effort required to do so is worth any sacrifice.

Love y'all!  Have a great week!

Elder Beach
#RollTide

This dude took a selfie with Elder Maness and me when we were at the Civil Rights Museum today.

He would make a good missionary - no?

Armored police car in the Civil Rights Museum.  Elder Graham, me, and Elder Standing.

The 16th Street Church that was bombed in the 60s.

Me and Elder Corbett on exchanges with Elders Rumel and Widfeldt.

Elder Rumel and me at the temple.

At the Civil Rights Museum for p-day this week.

TNT (Temple, 'Naders, & Tuscaloosa)

Hey everyone, I hope y'all have had a great week.  We went to the temple this morning and so our pday is a little shorter than normal.  So I'm just going to write and write fast.  Hopefully I get in all of the details that I intended to.

This week we had an exchange with the Northport Elders, and I was able to work with Elder Rumel for a day.  Northport is right next to Tuscaloosa, and Elder Corbett served there a while back when there were still Elders assigned to that city.  So on our way to pick up Northport for the exchange we drove through Tuscaloosa and saw a few things.  We didn't have time to get out and look at anything, but we did get to drive by Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama's home field) and it is HUGE.  The only stadium I've been in that even comes close is the Rose Bowl, home of UCLA.  Everywhere else I've been doesn't even come close.

Anyway, I picked up Elder Rumel, dropped off Elder Corbett, and drove back to Birmingham for the exchange.  We had a couple of good lessons, met a few cool people, and overall just had a good. time.  Elder Rumel is one of the best missionaries I know.  He also knows "The Office" (almost) as well as I do, and so we had a good time throwing in quotes from that at just about every situation we found ourselves in.  

We had a lesson with a guy named Cosby.  We have been trying to make a time to meet with Cosby for a long  time.  He met the missionaries while on a research trip in the Czech Republic a while back, and then met them again here at UAB a few months ago.  He's really smart, and really likes to learn, and it was fun talking to him.  He has done a lot of research about the Church, some from dependable sources, some from not-so-dependable sources, and there are a few things that he has some issues with (mostly just stuff from Church history, or stuff that has no eternal significance that I don't even have answers to).  He does pretty much recognize though, that receiving a spiritual witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is kind of his biggest hurdle right now.  He knows that what we share with him has the potential to be true, and he treats is as such. Yes, he wants some answers to things, but he recognizes that having a testimony of the Book of Mormon trumps a few historical quandaries he might have, so that's what we focused on.  It was a successful visit.

I told y'all last week about Greg and our potential bash.  Well, he did try to make it a bash, but it was pretty pathetic.  Greg really pretended to know his stuff, and he doesn't.  I won't get into too many details, because most of the points he tried to argue were just the basics (the Trinity, grace vs. works).  I didn't say a whole lot while we were there, mostly because I was too focused on trying not to just blast him with the truth which he so obviously didn't understand.  Greg mostly just tried to tell us what we believe, and how what he believes and what the scriptures say goes against that.  Whether he was talking about what we believe, or what the Bible teaches, most of what he said was false haha.  Elder Rumel said something really interesting to him that I wish I would have heard before to tell bashers in the past.  He said, "Anything that we believe and teach, which you think is contrary to the scriptures, comes from your imperfect understanding of one, the other, or both.  You either don't understand what we believe, or you don't understand the scriptures.  Because if you did, you would know that they are in harmony."  Anyway, Greg was quite the dude.  He basically told us that he was disappointed that we were out there teaching "false doctrine" to "his city" and that if we didn't stop then we would "die in our sins."  It was neat.  He didn't have a whole lot of time to talk that day, but he wanted to meet again and talk some more.  I'm not sure if we will go back (Elder Corbett doesn't want to), but if we do I am basically going to sit him down, set things straight, (meaning drop a few truth bombs on him), and probably never see him again.  We'll see.  In all honesty, experiences like that really strengthen my testimony of the truthfulness of the teachings of the Church.  We really are the true Church.  I'm not going to say I'm a professional scriptorian, but I definitely know them well enough to know that we are the only Church that teaches what the scriptures teach.  For that I am grateful

While on the exchange, we met a few cool people on campus that we were able to teach a little bit.  However, we haven't really been able to get in contact with them since.  We have called and texted each several times with no success.  Same thing with Bo.  He has basically been ignoring us.  We stopped by the other night and watched him through the window turn off his lights, ignore us knocking the door, and pretend he wasn't home.  Last year, Elder Andersen asked us to work with the youth, ages 16-25.  It seems the only problem with that is those people are quite the flakes haha.  Sure makes things tough, but we're sticking to it.

It was great to be able to go to the temple this morning.  It was the first time in a long time because our last temple trip got postponed almost 2 months.  It's great to be able to notice some changes that have been made, and note it as evidence of continuing revelation.  I know that whatever changes come or have come are for the benefit of God's children and that they are divinely inspired.  How cool it is to live in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.

To conclude, I want to call your attention to the title of my email in which I included the word "'naders."  Here's the explanation: 'Nader (n.) "A big twisty thing that wrecks stuff."  Used in a sentence: *redneck voice* I ain't scurred of no 'nader!

Yep, there was a nasty tornado that ripped through Wetumpka (just north of Montgomery) this week.  There were several areas that received tornado warnings (including, so I hear, a really loud alert that sounded right in the middle of a baptismal service in Tuscaloosa on Saturday).  'Naders are no fun.  Good thing there weren't any near Birmingham.

Alrighty, well I just want y'all to know (again) that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the "only true church upon the face of the whole earth."  I know that.  I know that found within this Church is all of the knowledge and all of the ordinances necessary for our salvation and exaltation.  I pray to be able to find someone here in Alabama that I can help discover those truths for themselves.  I know that they are out there.  

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers.  Have a great week!  Love y'all

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Elders Ashton, Barker, Griffith, Yokoo, Downs, Nielson, Tausinga (squatting), Corbett, Beach, Wilkinson, Barfuss, Widtfeldt, Rumel, Jewkes, Rout

Temple trip!

Pondering.

The Kingdom is Growing

Hey everyone, this has been a good week here in the great state of Alabama.  I was kind of bummed to hear last Monday that the Tide got spanked in the national championship by Clemson, but I guess one team came to play and the other didn't.  It happens.  I guess it might be a good thing, because Crimson Tide fans everywhere are "compelled to be humble," as Dad says.  Whatever opens their ears to our message, I'll take it (even if it does mean taking an L).

Things have picked up here in B-ham now that school is back in session and students are out and about.  It's a lot easier to meet people when there are people to meet.

We met a guy this week on the street named Greg.  He seemed super excited to talk to us, and he told us that he had had dinner with a couple of other Elders several months ago.  As we asked him about that, it turned out that it was Elder Davis and Elder Hastings that he had eaten with, sometime last June or July.  Greg told us he loved the Bible, and would love for us to come over, have dinner, and just talk about it, so we made a time this week for that to happen.  After we parted ways, Elder Corbett said, "He's probably going to bash us.  He seemed way too happy to be having us over."  Haha that made perfect sense to me, and so we messaged former Elders Hastings and Davis on FB with the hopes of either confirming or denying our fear.  They told us that he was a nice guy and that he just "low-key" wanted to bash with us.  Elder Davis said that Greg just tried to tell them that the Hebrew version of the Bible basically supported none of our doctrine, but he couldn't prove it because we don't speak Hebrew.  Haha, I'm excited, it should be an interesting visit.  Our appointment is actually scheduled during our exchange this week, so I will be going with Elder Rumel.  I told him we had a bash scheduled and he was so pumped.  He really knows his scriptures.  (I consider myself somewhat of a bashing expert myself, though those skills are rarely, if ever, used against actual people.  I often just use them to defend our beliefs to myself or my companion after the contentious interchange has already ended).  Anyway, I'm so pumped to have a dinner and a Bible-based discussion with Greg.  We will not bash him, nor initiate contention, and I hope that he doesn't either.  I hope that it becomes more of an exchange of ideas and beliefs, building upon common ground, rather than a "who's right and who's wrong" type of deal.  Should be good.

We had a couple of exchanges this week.  For one, I went with Elder Nielson in Hoover.  For the other, I went with Elder Rout in Ensley.  While with Elder Nielson, we had an appointment to go visit a member and talk about how we can help her share the gospel with extended family, many of whom are non-members.  She almost immediately began telling us about all of the crazy-awesome-miracle missionary stories that she has had in sharing the gospel.  There had to have been at least a dozen people that she told us about who were baptized as a result of her introducing them to the Church, and a dozen or so more that she is going to start working on.  As President has said before, "The members are the means."  We invited her to pray for a specific non-member family member who would be the most receptive to the gospel, and then we would help her begin working with him if she needed help.  She's just a missionary-minded individual.  It's awesome.  After we left, Elder Nielson said to me, "That's my kind of finding right there."  Absolutely, that was so much better than knocking doors.

When I went with Elder Rout to Ensley, we had a blast.  Ensley is a suburb just west of Birmingham, and it is pretty much the most hood area in the mission.  It reminded me a lot of Montgomery and Tuskegee.  They had several lessons and follow up stop bys planned, and almost all of them actually went through.  As a result, we were able to teach a lot of lessons in a short amount of time, which is my favorite.  Teaching is one of my favorite parts of missionary work.  I love being a missionary, but if I could just be a missionary and not have to plan or find - just teach and baptize - that would be the dream.  Still trying to figure out how to make that happen haha.  There is one guy in Ensley named Cleophus whom we went to go see.  He is all set to be baptized except for one thing: he's on parole for something that he did a long time ago.  If you are on parole, you can't be baptized.  The Ensley Elders and Branch have been working really hard to get him pardoned, and hopefully it all works out.  They seem to think he can get pardoned.  If not, he has to get special permission from the First Presidency to be baptized and that takes a LONG time.  So please say a few prayers for Cleophus so he can be baptized soon.  Thanks!

One really cool thing that Elder Lyons told me yesterday.  I guess Attalla had their unit conference this week, and a few things got reorganized, and Attalla got made into a WARD!  That's so cool!  And Daniel is the Bishop!  Haha just kidding, but yes it actually became a ward.  I was so pumped to hear that.  From what I heard a few months ago while I was there, I guess the next goal is to split the Birmingham Stake into two and create the Gadsden Stake.  That would be cool too.  Not sure how close they are to doing that, but it would not surprise me if it happened in the next couple years.  God's Kingdom is increasing!  I love it!

Okay, well I need to get running.  I hope y'all have enjoyed the new Come Follow Me stuff for the last 2 weeks.  I know that the changes are inspired of God.  I know that as we do our part to make our homes and our lives into sanctuaries of faith, we will have the Lord's blessings poured out upon us.  When we do our part, nothing will stop the blessings from coming.  "What power shall stay the heavens?  As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints." (D&C 121:33)

Love y'all, have a great week.

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Exchanges!  Elder Rout, me, Elder Tausinga, Elder Corbett.

Elder Tausinga's one-string instrument haha.

Pike Road that we saw in Ensley. Funny because Pike Road is also the rich suburb of Montgomery, as well as a trash street in the hood of Ensley...

These are some characters that Elder Corbett and I drew on one of our whiteboards.  We have created a new show in which all of these play a part.  Still working on some details, casting, and screenwriting, but it's going to be awesome and hilarious.

Mind Power

Hey y'all, I hope everyone has had a great week!  Things were pretty good for us, though it has still been a little bit on the slower side.  Winter break officially ended today, so we are hopeful that things will be picking up in the near future.

This week we had zone conference, and it was great to see a bunch of missionaries that I know and love.  We also had some great trainings, and there was one in particular that I really enjoyed.  President talked a lot about our thoughts, and how we need to and can control them.  He taught us an exercise to work on that I have implemented recently.  It goes like this:  Whenever you have a bad/negative thought come into your mind, just think of a scenario that you enjoy, and put yourself there.  When we do, our mind will clear of the negativity, and our stress levels will subside.  President Sainsbury said that his scenario was him on the pitcher's mound.  He talked about how he could hear the crowd, smell the leather of his glove, check the bases, see the catcher give the signal, and then wind up and chuck a 90 MPH fastball right down the pipe.  Our minds are pretty amazing, and we can (re)create incredibly vivid situations to put ourselves in.  There are several places that I could put myself in that are similar to this, but one of my favorites is to just put myself back in a spot where I was able to feel the spirit very strongly.  There were lots of lessons that I have had as a missionary that I recreated in my mind this week.  Those were really helpful to me to clear my mind when I needed to, as well as remember the many times that the spirit has spoken to me.  When I have remembered these scenarios and experiences, it has helped me to renew my testimony in a sense.  When I recreate the scene that I was a part of, I can say, "Yeah, I know this is true, I know this is good, because I remember when the spirit told me it is."  It's a cool exercise, and I invite y'all to take some time and remember those experiences, or create a unique one for yourself.  I have really enjoyed it, and I'm sure y'all will too.

We have been in a little bit of contact with guy named Garrett that was being taught before the break.  Little back story on him.  Recently, Garrett was meeting with the missionaries for a little bit, was reading the Book of Mormon, and was enjoying what was being taught.  Then, he told them that he felt God had told him to go to another church.  He also said that God had told him to keep reading the Book of Mormon.  Elder Corbett and his previous companion said to Garrett, "If God is telling you to go to another church, then you should go.  However, we know that if you keep following what God tells you to do, you will eventually come back to our church."  Garrett seemed satisfied with that answer.  Well, he's been gone for break and so the other day we messaged him and asked if he was back in town, to which he responded that he was.  We asked if he would like to attend our church service on Sunday, and he responded, "That's a no can do, I only go to one church now."  I still don't even know what church that is, but that message seemed to be like a "don't bother me anymore, I'm not going to church with you" type of response.  It was rather unfortunate.

We also invited Bo to church this week after having not been able to make contact with him recently.  He told us he had been super busy recently, as well as sick, and apologized for not being in contact.  He told us he would come to church if he felt up to it, but I guess he was still a little under the weather on Sunday.  He also cancelled our Sunday evening appointment, but he did so in a way that showed us that he really did want to meet, he just was not feeling well.  So I still have high hopes for Bo.  He's not really trying to be a flake, his life is just hectic and he's been sick.  That's too bad, but I look forward to seeing him in the near future.

This morning for P-day we went to a place called Top Golf.  It's basically like a huge driving range, but there are targets that you can aim for and score points based on what targets you hit.  It was a really cool place, and I also figured out how to fix my slice a little haha.  It's good to be in a bigger area and bigger city with cool stuff like that to do on P-day.  It's a lot of fun.

Alright, well I love y'all.  I hope that you have a great week, and are surviving the wintry western weather.  Please send a few prayers up as Alabama takes on Clemson in the national championship tonight.  They just might need them haha.  Talk to y'all next week.

Love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide

P-day at Top Golf.

Top Golf.

Some pictures of the area where we live.

Birmingham YSA

Hey everyone, hope y'all have had a great past few weeks, and a wonderful holiday season.  Hard to believe it's 2019 tomorrow, but time continues to march on whether we like it or not.

The last couple weeks since I wrote last have been pretty good.  I have been transferred to the Birmingham YSA branch.  We live right next to UAB campus, and so that's pretty cool.  Our area, both population wise and land area wise, is about 100x that of Attalla, so it's a little different but I like it.  It's nice to be able to just walk around outside and talk to people, because most of the time there wouldn't be a whole lot of people out and about in Attalla.  

Despite that there are usually lots of people around, things have been a little slow since I got here because of Christmas break.  Most students are gone for break, and so not many of them have been around, but this week break ends so things will start picking up again.  I have heard about a couple of solid people that I look forward to teaching, but they have been out of town for break, so Facebook is the only  contact we have with them.  I'm glad they're getting home this week.

We did meet a guy in the area book on my first day here named Bo.  He had been given a Book of Mormon a couple weeks ago, and we stopped by to see if we could teach him more about it.  We went back a couple days later and we had a great lesson with him.  He is really just looking for peace in his life, and has been studying all kinds of religions to find it.  We helped him understand that he can find peace in his life and peace with God by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know that it's true.  He really enjoyed all that we had to share, and it was a great lesson.  Unfortunately, Bo has been super busy with work and so we have had multiple lessons fall through since that time, but I look forward to seeing him again and teaching him more.

One day last week we were called by a member of another ward to give one of their friends a blessing at the hospital at UAB.  The plan was to meet the member at the hospital and talk to all of them for a minute before giving the blessing.  We were told that the person in need of the blessing was in a serious car accident and we were not allowed to touch her head.  So we called President before and he said we could just use our best judgement on giving the blessing (put our hands on their arm, or hover above their head, or whatever works.)  When we got to the hospital, we called the member and asked if they were still coming, but they said they wouldn't be able to, so it was just us and the injured lady.  We found her room and she looked in really bad shape.  Really bad.  We grabbed the nurse and asked if there was any chance that this lady was conscious.  The nurse said, "Oh, we're pretty much just waiting for her to die so her organs can be donated."  Wow, that was pretty sad.  We were not expecting that.  So we pretty much just stepped into the hospital room and said a prayer and left.  It was a pretty sad experience.

Alrighty, well I just want y'all to know that, even thought there are unfortunate experiences like that involved in being a missionary, I love being here.  There is no place I'd rather be.  Being a full-time representative of Christ, helping others to come unto Him, is something that nothing else can compare to.  I love teaching people the gospel, and seeing the light come into their eyes and their lives as they learn about, accept, and live it.  

It was so great to see and talk with so many of you back home on Christmas.  That was my favorite gift.  I love you guys.  I pray for you all the time.  Keep being awesome.  See you again in May, and again in July!

Gotta run so others can email on this computer.  Love y'all.

Elder Beach

#RollTide

PS - Bama beat Heisman champ Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners this week.  They will play Clemson (again) for the national title.  Can't wait to get another national champs shirt!  Roll Tide!

Welcome to Birmingham!

This is a random robot mural on the side of a building.

Me and my new companion, Elder Corbett.

MLC a few weeks ago.

My Christmas card.

My new district.

I thought this was pretty funny - "The Book of 'Marmon' is the Keystone of our religion."

This is my zone.

Talking to my family on Christmas!