Welcome to T-town

Hey everyone, I hope y'all had a good week. This one was pretty stellar, though it was sad to leave Hamilton after only six weeks. As some of you may have heard, I have been transferred to Tuscaloosa! I am going to be serving with Elder Erickson. He was in Birmingham when Elder Corbett and I were in the YSA, so we were able to see them a little bit while we were there. He's a cool dude, and he loves Star Wars and the Office, so the two of us spend a fair amount of time just quoting them and other shows haha. It's a hoot! He came out one transfer before me, so I will likely be killing him in about 11 more weeks. Elder Erickson and I cover both the home ward in Tuscaloosa and the YSA. We are on bikes and don't have a car, and due to the fact that the home ward meets in Northport and the YSA meets in Tuscaloosa (which is much closer to where we live) we will probably mostly spend time at the YSA, which is fine by me. There haven't been Elders in our area for about a year, so we are basically starting from scratch here haha. The Sisters gave us a few names to work with, but most of them are just old referrals from like a year ago or more. One guy named William we have had some success with so far, and I will tell y'all about him in a bit. Other than that, we are mostly just finding. 

The actual church building for the YSA here is not a regular church building. I'm not really sure what it was used for previously (if anything) because it has only been used as a church for about a year. It's in the basement of some type of law enforcement office. I'm not really sure how that happened, but it's a pretty awesome church building/facility. Since it is being leased and is not Church-owned, it is not fully dedicated in the same way that it would be if it was completely Church-owned. As such, there are some awesome features to this building that usually aren't in fully dedicated churches. Things like ping pong and billiards tables, air hockey, darts, foosball, and even a Wii haha. We aren't going to use the Wii but we have been using everything else during our p-day today. It's pretty sweet. We have designated the church address in our area book as "The Club." It's pretty sweet haha. 

The branch here is about thirty or so active members. They seem to be a lot younger on average than the Birmingham YSA, which is cool. The Bham YSA seemed like all of them were like 28 haha. But here they seem younger, and there are a couple of them with mission papers in and others who are preparing to go. I'm sure things will get pretty sparse here come summer time due to school letting out, but for now we have a good little branch and some awesome members. 

As I mentioned before, we were able to meet and visit with a guy named William this week. He is someone that some of the Sisters had taught here several months ago, but stopped for some reason. We got in touch with him and went over to teach him on Saturday. It was one of the best lessons I've had in a while. Elder Erickson and I have both been out here for quite some time and have a fair amount of experience teaching, and it was just a good lesson. I enjoyed having a co-teacher who had taught the Restoration as many times as I have. You definitely become a better teacher with experience. William is not a YSA, so I'm not really sure what we're going to do about that when he decides to come to church, but we'll cross that barrier when we get there. We taught him the Restoration, and it went really well and the spirit was very obviously present. He was super excited to read from the Book of Mormon, and we made another appointment for the next day. Unfortunately he had to call and reschedule, but we are going to see him again on Wednesday. At least he called us first! Most people just cancel on the doorstep, so I have high hopes for William at this point. 

Another cool thing here: the Sisters are teaching a kid named Nicholas. He's in the band here at Alabama and he is such a stud. I'm not sure how they met him, but he might be the most solid dude I've met. He wants to get baptized so badly, but his parents and grandparents and other family are very against it. They have threatened that if he gets baptized, they will pull him out of school and bring him back home to Texas. They even have friends and family in the area here in Tuscaloosa who keep tabs on Nicholas and make sure that he is still going to a Baptist church. He has to be kind of sneaky in going back and forth between our Church and the Baptist church haha. His family seems pretty crazy, but Nicholas is just awesome. He is so ready to get baptized. If I didn't know that he wasn't a member at church on Sunday, I would have just thought that he was. Please keep him and his family in your prayers that their hearts may be softened. 

Dang, seems like not a whole lot else happened this week. Things are going well, but it's just going to take a little bit to get picked up here. Like I said, we are basically starting from square one given the fact that Elders haven't been here for about a year. I do want to share a little scriptural thought before I close out....

I've been reading in Helaman for the last couple days, and it's crazy how sad some of those chapters are. The book of Helaman shows the pride cycle just wreck the Nephites and the Lamanites over and over and over again. Seems like they never learn. Anyway, along with those chapters which detail the pride and destruction of much of a civilization, there is a line from one of the gospel topics essays that is really cool. It reads, "Pride is incompatible with progress; disunity is impossible between exalted beings." God's work and His glory is for us to become like Him. In order to do that, we have to be unified with Him. We need to align our will with His. With General Conference coming up, I know that the words of the Apostles and Prophets are the words of God. As we listen and apply their teachings, we will be able to bring our thoughts, actions, and lives in harmony with God's will for us. Then we will be enabled to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God - eternal life. What an awesome day that will be. Let's lay down our pride and prepare for it now. 

I love y'all! Hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Beach
#RollTide

Alexander Shunnarah is Alabama's most favorite billboard face. He's everywhere!

Mural in the student center on campus.

 

Our church house.  We designated it "The Club".

Cool hat I bought at Hibbert Sports for $10.

Freemason lodge near our apartment.

Me, Elder Maness, Elder Erickson, Elder Sobrio. Elder Maness and Elder Sobrio replaced me and Elder Porter in Hamilton haha.

We ate dinner with the Rowe's - a former family from my home ward in Utah!

Bye Bye Hamilton

Howdy everyone, this was a great week in the great city of Hamilton (if you can call it a city haha).  Unfortunately it was also my last week here.  We got the calls last night that both Elder Porter and I will be leaving Hamilton.  The last two times I have been doubled out like this, President has replaced us with Sisters.  As far as I know, this will not be the case here.  At least I hope not.  There are a couple of logistical reasons that would make that nearly impossible, so we'll see what happens.

This week we had some awesome experiences.  First off, last Tuesday we got a call from some Sister missionaries in California.  They told us that they had a recent convert in their ward named Mae who had a non-member sister in our branch named Judy.  They told us that Judy was having surgery and Mae was flying out here to take care of her for a bit, and they asked us to go visit them and give Judy a blessing.  We gladly accepted and gave Mae a call so they knew we were coming.  We took a member from our branch with us and went out to visit them.  Both Mae and Judy were super sweet old ladies, and it was great to be able to talk with them for a bit.  We explained to Judy how blessings worked, and then we were able to give her a blessing.  Almost immediately after the blessing closed she looked at us and said, "What's in that oil?  I can feel it all the way through my head, down my shoulders, and in my whole body.  It feels great!"  Haha, there's nothing special about olive oil, but there is something special about participating in priesthood ordinances and being blessed.  It was a cool experience for all involved.

On Thursday we had an exchange with Tupelo, Elder Townsend and Elder Dietze (pronounced "deets").  We had a good time and were able to meet lots of cool people.  A couple of people that Elder Townsend and Elder Porter met were really awesome.  One of them was a less-active who has a non-member husband.  They both seemed really interested in hearing about the gospel and coming to church.  Unfortunately since that time, they have cancelled coming to church, and also cancelled two appointments.  Such has been our life for the last little while, but we are going to make sure that they don't get dropped through the cracks.  Another person they met was another less-active named Daniel.  He grew up in Haleyville and used to attend church there.  He also has a lot of family in the Gadsden/Attalla area, and I knew many of them, so that was cool.  He described himself as "a creature of habit, whose habits change regularly."  Kind of odd haha, but we just invited him to adopt a couple of new habits: coming to church and reading the scriptures.  We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said he would definitely be at church soon.  Cool dude.

One funny thing about the exchange.  We have a pond like 100 yards from our house, and a bunch of random fishing poles and tackle boxes in our shed.  During dinner, Elder Townsend decided to try his luck at catching a fish.  So we head over to the pond, and he casts a line out.  I kid you not, the line was in the water for all of two seconds, and he had a bite.  About 20 seconds later, he's reeled in a pretty decent sized fish.  Everyone was pretty amazed by that haha.  He threw it back and tried a couple more casts but didn't come up with anything else.  Also during the exchange he asked us to get rid of our bb guns.  I don't even know where they came from, but there have just been a couple bb guns chilling in our closet ever since I got here.  You can't really do much with them except shoot trees, but Elder Townsend asked us to get rid of them.  I was a bit bummed, but then we thought of an awesome way to do it.  A couple days later, Elder Porter and I both summoned our inner Anti-Nephi-Lehi and buried them in our backyard haha.  It was pretty epic, laying down our "weapons of rebellion."  We joked about coming back here years from now and digging them up, but I have my doubts that will ever happen.  We'll see.

There is a member in our branch named Brother Cooper.  He's been a member for about 4 or 5 years.  He comes to church each and every Sunday, and he reads his scriptures.  But he has yet to attend the temple, and he still has a few beliefs/mannerisms of his former Baptist self.  The branch president and missionaries have been trying to get him to the temple for quite some time, but we were told that he just wasn't ready yet.  We went over to his place last week to talk to him about going to the temple.  He told us he didn't want to go because he hates computers and didn't want to do his family history.  We told him that it wasn't a requirement, and he didn't have to worry about using any computers.  After a little bit of discussion and his little bit of reluctance to attend, I asked him, "Brother Cooper, do you know what we do in the temple?"  He thought for a bit and then responded that he didn't have any idea.  Oh boy.  So we proceeded to teach him the gospel.  We taught him about God's love for His children, and how he wants all of them to receive all of the ordinances of salvation.  We shared with him the doctrine of the spirit world, and how in the temple we can perform vicarious ordinances for those there.  He seemed to get really excited about going, and he said, "Well, I had better get my recommend!"  Yep, that's a good place to start.  After that visit, we asked him if there was anyone we could visit in his apartment complex, and he referred us to his friend and neighbor, Emily.  We went over to Emily's, and though she didn't seem too anxious to listen to us, we briefly introduced the Book of Mormon to her and gave her a copy.

A couple days later we went back to Brother Cooper's house and showed him the video of Elder Rasband and Elder Bednar giving a tour of the Rome Temple.  If you haven't seen it, go check it out.  We thought that would help him learn more about what we do in the temple and why it is so important.  After the video I asked him, "Brother Cooper, would you like to have the blessings and power of the temple in your life?"  He thought for a bit and said, "Well, I don't see how it would help me."  Oh boy.  I don't know why, but it's really just not clicking in his head.  We decided to just put the temple discussion on hold for a bit, and we asked him if he would come with us to visit his friend Emily.  He came with us, and we walked down there and had a great lesson with her.  We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and its importance, and how it fits in with the Bible and how they go together to teach us of Christ, as well as teach us true and correct principles of His gospel.  It was a good visit, and the new missionaries here are going to meet with the both of them again on Thursday.  Should be good.

I think last week I told y'all about Barbara.  We had an appointment with her on Monday night last week.  She had recently finished reading the entire Book of Mormon, and we were able to talk about that.  She actually retained a lot of what she read, which is awesome.  We asked her if she prayed to know that the Book was true.  She said she hadn't prayed specifically for that, but she told us that she believes it's true because she has learned a lot from it and it has helped her understand things that she didn't before.  She believes it's the word of God.  I asked her, "If the Book of Mormon is true, then what else is true?"  She said, "Well if it's true, then I guess all these Bibles and churches would have to be true, right?"  Ummmmm, not quite.  We turned to the introduction and read the last two paragraphs with her.  Those paragraphs basically say that we should read the Book of Mormon, and pray to know that it's true.  It then states that if the Book of Mormon is true, then these three things are true as well: 1) Jesus is the Christ, for the Book of Mormon testifies repeatedly of Him, 2) Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, because he translated it by the power of God, and 3) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's Kingdom on the earth, for it is the only church in which is found the fullness of the gospel.  So we explained to her that because the Book of Mormon is true, this is the true Church.  We taught her that in order to know that, one must do three things: 1) Read the Book of Mormon, which she has done and will continue to do, 2) Pray to know of it's truth.  She accepts it as true, but hasn't specifically prayed about that yet, and 3) Attend church with us, in order to further discover it's truthfulness.  For whatever reason, Barbara does not want to come to church with us.  She says that she goes to her mom's church in Tupelo sometimes, but kind of irregularly, and she doesn't really call herself a member of that church.  She said that eventually she will come one day, but she was just really hesitant to commit to attending.  She believes the Book of Mormon is the word of God, but has not yet connected the dots that that means this is the true Church.  I hope and pray that the new Elders here will help her to do so.

Alrighty, better wrap things up.  I'm gonna miss this place.  There's been some cool things and cool people and cool blessings come up recently that I'm not looking forward to leaving, but I'm sure that the new missionaries here will pick things up quick.  Last thing I want to end with is this.  There have been a lot of awesome videos and stories surrounding the recent Rome temple dedication.  One of the things that I have picked up from that, as well as the recent Come, Follow Me lessons, is that the Apostles are literal witnesses of Christ.  That is their calling and responsibility, to be His special witnesses, and to testify of Him and His gospel throughout all the world.  Elder Andersen said, "We have this shared knowledge of a sure witness of Jesus Christ..and that brings us very very close."  Those men who are prophets, seers, revelators, and special witnesses of Christ know Him.  They speak with Him.  They are true messengers from God, and they are here to help us and point us in the right direction.  As a primary song goes, "Follow the prophet, he knows the way!"  I know that that is true.

Love y'all, have a great week.  I'll let you know my new area, address, and companion as soon as I find out.  

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Sometimes you just have to do a manly mud mask with your companion.

Our chicken nugget party on exchanges.

Elder Townsend, our ZL, caught a fish in the pond in our back yard!

A member in our branch has a framed picture of the Abraham facsimiles.

Burying our "weapons of rebellion".

Our ceremonial burial.

High Places

Hey everyone, I hope y'all have had a good week.  As usual this week flew by, so I'm going to try and write up some highlights real quick and see how it goes.  

This week we went to go visit a less-active couple named the Wigintons.  They told us they joined the Church in 2008, and haven't been to church in quite some time.  It was kind of an odd visit.  Brother Wiginton is a really big video gamer, and he gets really distracted about all kind of random stuff (mostly Star Wars and conspiracy theories).  We pretty much just got to know them a little bit, and then we asked if we could come back the next evening and practice teaching one of our lessons with them.  They said that would be good, so the next day we went over again.  Again, they were both somewhat distracted, and also just seemed uninterested and indifferent towards it all.  We shared with them the message of the Restoration, and did our best to keep it brief and keep them engaged.  They didn't seem to care much about it.  I asked them if they read the scriptures regularly, to which they responded "no."  In fact, Sister Wiginton told us that she has never read any of the Book of Mormon.  How she ever got baptized is beyond me.  We invited them to read from the scriptures each and every day, and promised them blessings for doing so.  Again, they seemed very indifferent towards it all.  They had previously expressed to us some difficulties they had, and we promised them that those specific challenges would be minimized when they took time each day to study God's word.  They didn't seem to care.  We have tried since then to follow up with them and their reading, but haven't been able to make contact.  It was just an odd, unfortunate experience.  But I keep praying for them and keep trying to reach out to them and help them.

We had interviews with President Sainsbury this week, and that was pretty good.  There were some other missionaries there at the Russellville building where interviews were, and it was good to chat with them.  One of them was Elder Langford.  I don't really know him that well, and have never served around him, but he just spent the last several months in Scottsboro and so we talked and laughed a lot about that.  It was fun.  Another funny thing was that there was a member named Brother Mundt at the Russellville building too.  He's from the Scottsboro branch and he is in charge of the Church's physical facilities for northern Alabama, so that's why he was there.  It was fun to talk to him briefly.  In interviews, one of the things that President talked with me about was having a solid testimony of Joseph Smith.  He said he had seen too many people leave the Church on account of something to do with Joseph Smith.  He told me that there is a tremendous amount of antagonistic material out there about the Church, and much of it directed toward that Prophet.  (Haha yeah, I know.  I'm familiar with just about all of it). So he asked me to just do what is necessary to strengthen my testimony of Joseph Smith (i.e. read Joseph Smith History and Doctrine & Covenants more often).  I have a solid testimony of Joseph Smith.  Every single time that I share his First Vision experience with someone, I feel the spirit testify to me that that event really did happen.  I know that Joseph saw God, and he saw His Son Jesus Christ.  They spoke with him.  He is a true prophet.  But I've have started doing, and will continue to do, what President asked me to do to strengthen my testimony of the Prophet Joseph.  I invite y'all to do the same.

One super cool thing this week that I'm sure y'all are familiar with, and I'll just mention briefly, is that the Rome Temple was dedicated.  It was the first time ever that all fifteen of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve met outside of the United States.  Plus, they got an awesome picture in front of Thorvaldsen's Christus and apostle statues.  Twas very neat.  Go check it out if you haven't.

There is a lady named Barbara in our area book that was taught quite a lot and quite frequently a couple of months ago, though I have never met her.  We have called and made multiple appointments with her, and we have stopped by her house with no success.  We called her a few days ago and made another appointment for tonight (Monday).  During the call, she informed us that she had finished reading the Book of Mormon this week.  Awesome!  I really hope that our appointment goes through tonight, because I am eager to meet her and talk with her about the Book of Mormon and her reading of it.

We were expecting Desi to be at church this week.  She told us she would be last time we saw her, and we gave her a call on Friday I believe, and she said she would be there.  We texted her on Sunday morning to remind her one more time, but she didn't show.  It was a bummer.  Then, she texts us back during church and says something like, "Sorry I didn't make it to church, but one of my cows was having a baby this morning."  And then she sent us a picture!  I did not want to see a cow giving birth, but that's what we got.  It was lovely.  Anyway, it was unfortunate that she wasn't able to make it to church, but I guess when your cow is having a baby, you need to be there for it.  We're going up to see Desi this Tuesday to teach and talk some more.  Should be good.

We were looking for an old potential in the area book last night and instead met a dude named Levi.  He recently transferred to the Ramp from some divinity/theology school in Washington, D.C.  He was definitely not interested in what we had to say, as evidenced by the fact that after I told him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and offered him a copy, he just stared at me and my outstretched arm for like 30 seconds before I finally put my arm down and just held onto the Book.  That actually happened a couple of times haha.  He was a nice guy, like many are, but they would just rather stick with what they are comfortable with, and stick with what they believe rather than embracing the possible blessings that are available to them.  Here's my logic, which I shared with Levi and which I have shared with countless others:  You have two options.  Either the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, or it isn't.  And then you have two more options after that, you can either read it or you can ignore it.  Here are the results.  1)  You ignore it, and it is not the Word of God - you lose nothing, you gain nothing.  Nothing happens.  2)  You read it, and it is not the Word of God - you lose nothing, but you have read a good book that is entertaining and that teaches you how to live a good life.  You have learned some good moral principles that will help you be happy.  3)  You ignore it, and it is the Word of God - you are in effect damning yourself, for the Lord has commanded that we "live by every word" which comes from His mouth.  If we don't, we cannot receive all of His blessings, including the greatest blessing of all, eternal life.  Alma 13:20 teaches, "Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction."  4)  You read it, and it is the Word of God - when you do this, you have now unlocked the door to eternal life.  It still takes effort to obtain that great gift from God, but if we don't read and live by His words (many of which are found in the Book of Mormon) then that door remains locked.

To me, and I hope to all, the choice is clear.  We have absolutely everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose by reading the Book of Mormon.  The apostle Paul counseled, "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good."  In the Book of Mormon, Alma taught to "experiment upon my words." Why people choose not to do so is beyond me.  Just read the Book!  However, in the case of Levi and many before him, we did our part.  We taught and we testified.  We gave him a chance to accept or reject what we offered.  Going beyond that would be to infringe upon agency, and we all know whose plan that is.  (I'll give you a hint - it's not God's.)

Alrighty, I figured I'd close with a scripture of the week.  It comes from Ezekiel 20:29.  It says, "What is the high place whereunto ye go?  And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day."  Often in the scriptures, a "high place" or a mountain is synonymous with a temple.  It is holy, and it is a place where people went to be close to God.  Alabama, or "Bamah" as Ezekiel says, to me has been a "high place."  It has been a place where I have come to love the Lord and love His children.  It has been a place where I have come to love the scriptures, and strengthen my testimony.  It has been a place where I have been able to help those around me to feel of the spirit, and improve their lives.  It has been a place where I have seen many miracles, and has been a place that I will forever love.  Wherever we are can be a "high place."  We are counseled by the Lord to "stand ye in holy places."  Anywhere can be a holy place when we make it holy.  Let's do that.  Let's make wherever we are our own personal Bamah.

Love y'all, have a good week!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Exchanges, Cows, and Such

Hey everyone!  This week seemed to fly by, and here we are at another Monday during which I've got to summon all of my brain power yet again in order to put together an email that not only includes elements of inspiration and spirituality, but also of entertainment and humor.  It's a delicate balance to find, but I hope that I will be able to do so this day.

We started off our week, shortly after I emailed last Monday, with a trip to the disc golf course.  I didn't do too well, but it was fun to get out and do something fun last p-day.

Monday night we had a lesson with a lady named Katelyn.  She was actually a referral from President Sainsbury a while back.  She works in Tupelo at a restaurant, and that's where President met her.  He asked if the missionaries in Hamilton could come by and she said that would be fine.  Katelyn attends this church/school/ministry thing here in Hamilton called the Ramp.  I didn't really know a whole lot about it, and after asking her I still don't know a whole lot about it haha.  Her description of what it is went about like this: "We are just all about Jesus, we don't really have any doctrine, it's just Jesus."  That's pretty typical.  Anyway, we had a good Q&A, and we did our best to teach her about how Christ established His Church, and that the Book of Mormon is evidence that it has been restored to the earth.  She didn't seem too interested in reading or learning more, but it was a good visit nonetheless.

On Tuesday we drove to Haleyville for our district council and then I drove back to Hamilton with Elder Blackwell for our exchange.  Nothing really too exciting happened (though we did find an old bottle of moonshine in our shed).  I'm not really sure exactly what it is.  There were lots of people in our area book that we tried to visit with minimal success.  One lady in the book we did actually see, though I can't remember her name.  She was old, and told us that her late father was actually a member of our Church (not sure if that's actually accurate).  We asked her if she ever went to church with him when he was alive.  She said, "No, he would just leave me and my sisters home while he went to church, and told us not to talk while he was gone.  If he found out we talked, he would beat us.  That's just how the Mormons were back then."  Ummmm, I don't think so.  It was odd.  We asked her if she had a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, and she told us she couldn't read.  I'm not sure if she meant that due to her eyesight or her illiteracy.  We asked if it would be okay if visited again and read some scriptures with her, but unfortunately she rejected the offer.

One day a couple weeks ago we had offered to go up to Desi's farm and help out with whatever they needed for a while, and on Friday she took us up on the offer.  We got a text from her the morning of saying that they had lost one of their cows and they needed help finding it.  When we got there, we and some of their neighbors went out searching for this cow that had escaped.  Desi owns about 200 acres, and there is a lot more land than that surrounding them, so it was quite the area we needed to cover.  Elder Porter and I were tasked with going out into the woods where they hadn't searched yet.  It was a place where I doubt any cow would go.  Very hilly, rough terrain, and super thick trees and thorny weeds.  We each took a machete and just pounded it anyway.  I felt pretty awesome just hacking my way through a forest with a machete haha.  The two of us didn't find the cow, but eventually we got the call that it was found.  Then we helped them out with some other stuff around the farm for a bit, and they cooked us some incredible wagyu steaks as "payment" for helping them out.  The steaks were well worth it.

We spent one day this week down in Winfield, about 25 miles south of Hamilton, visiting less-actives and people in our area book from the past that were never followed up with.  We met one less-active who let us in and we visited with him for quite some time.  He is a guy with a mindset that I have seen in several other folks, but I still don't understand.  He spent a good amount of time sharing with us his spiritual experiences that he has had, sharing with us his testimony of the gospel, and sharing with us times that he has shared the gospel with others, both blessing their lives and his.  He knows the gospel is true.  He knows the Church is true.  He knows that living the gospel blesses his life, and makes him happy.  Yet he hasn't been to church in long time, he doesn't read his scriptures regularly, and he doesn't obey the word of wisdom.  I recently listened to a talk by Hyrum Smith (no, not Joseph's brother) given at a BYUI devotional titled, "What we do depends on how we feel about what we know."  I thought that was an interesting concept.  Sometimes we can know that the Church is true, we can know the gospel is true, and yet we still willingly and knowingly do things that are contrary to their teachings.  Sometimes we, like this brother I told y'all about, don't feel strongly enough about the things that we know.  I guess that's the difference between "testimony" and "conversion," and the difference between passive belief and active faith.  We not only have to know what it right, we need to do it.

Alrighty, well I hope y'all have a great week.  I love you and pray for you often.  Keep being solid and doing awesome.  Talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Doing a little disc golf last p-day.

My awesome ninja move.

I didn't really kill this cat with my bb gun.  It was already dead, so I just posed beside it.

Cool house we passed.

The moonshine we found in the shed.

Driving on Desi's farm, trying to find the lost cow.

Heading into the woods with our machetes.