Elder Jackson Beach: 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