Elder Jackson Beach: 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!