Nature of God

Hello family and friends, this has been a good week, and here are a few of the highlights/stories.

We decided this week to go and stop by and see Patience.  She was home, not drunk, and actually talked to us.  It was awesome!  She basically has no filter and so she just says whatever comes to her mind, no matter what it is, profanity and all.  She's a hoot to talk to.  Anyway, we talked to her a little bit about how her church was with her aunt, and we talked a little about why there are so many churches out there.  That is something that a lot of people wonder, and something that we have the answer to.  It's because of the apostasy, the reformers, and all that jazz!  Well, that opened the door for us to share with her a brief explanation of the Restoration lesson, and we also showed her a video from mormon.org about the Savior's church and where it is today.  It was a pretty good visit, and though it was filled with lots of sarcastic outbursts from Patience, she said something at the end of our visit that was something I was so excited to hear.  She said, "Alright, well I'm gonna grab my cousin next week and we're gonna go to y'all's church.  I can't promise I'll like it, I can't promise I'm gonna come again, but we'll be there once."  We just told her that that is all we can ask of anybody.  However, we did let her know that she will enjoy it, because we know that she will.  We are going to be in touch with her again soon, but we look forward to seeing her at church.  Prayers up for Patience!

This week we also were able to go to lunch with Daniel and one of the members of our branch.  It went really well, and the members here are doing an awesome job of being his friend when he comes to church, as well as during the week.  There are like 5 members who live on the same street as he does, and a couple of them have invited him and us over for dinner together.  Daniel did come to church on Sunday again, and it went pretty well.  We didn't even sit by him in Elders Quorum, he sat by a couple members instead.  Gospel principles was a little wacky again, but we did our best to salvage it.  Haha at the very beginning of the lesson, the teacher says, "Alright today we will be on the very last chapter."  I said, "No, you mean the first chapter, right?"  (Not sure if I mentioned this last week, but last Sunday we had discussed the last chapter, which is exaltation, and the lesson was all over the place, and filled with much deeper doctrine than needed to be brought up.)  "No," he says, "I mean the last chapter, exaltation."  For whatever reason, he wanted to do it again!  Haha, I just said to him, "Yeah, let's just go and do the first chapter, that will be better."  So that's what we did.  The first chapter is called, "Our Heavenly Father."  We basically spent the whole lesson trying to prove to each other that God exists.  It was a little weird, but I guess it's better than talking about exaltation again.  Near the end of the lesson, I just said something like, "I'm pretty sure everyone here knows that God exists.  There is no arguing that.  I think our job at this point is less of proving to ourselves that He is there, and more of trying to understand who He is.  Trying to understand His nature and His character, and then emulating it as best we can."  Based on the many people I have talked to, the many things I have learned, and the many things I have read and experienced, it is pretty clear to me that most of the world has no idea who or what God really is.  If we read any of the creeds that many people follow, (namely the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed) we can basically conclude one thing that the people who believe them believe: that God is incomprehensible, and that it is impossible to really know who or what He is.  We were visiting with a guy just this week whom we asked, "Is God to you a being, or more of just a thing?"  He didn't know how to respond.  He talked about a couple of things, and then just said, "Well, I guess he's more of a thing than a being."  John 17:3 states, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent."  Eternal life is in the balance here!  If we are to have eternal life, we must know God.  We must know that He lives, and we must understand His nature and His character.  Obviously we aren't going to understand it perfectly, but I know that the best place to find that information is in the Restored Gospel.  Because of the Restoration, we know that God has a perfected body of flesh and bone.  We know that He loves us as much now as he did in Old/New Testament times.  We know that He has not ceased to be a God of miracles.  We know that the Heavens are not closed, and that God speaks to us today.  We know that He wants us to become like Him, and we know that that is actually possible!  We know that God is not just an immaterial nothing, but that He is literally our Father in Heaven.  These are all revealed truths that so much of the world either does not believe, or has never heard of before.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I'm so glad to be a part of the true church.  In it is found the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everything we need to know to receive the eternal life that has been promised to all who will obey.  You cannot go anywhere else in the world and find that.

Alright, sorry if that sounded like a rant.  I just want y'all to know that I'm grateful for the truth in a world that is so confused about what the truth is.  We don't have to debate about doctrine.  It has been revealed to us.  I love that.

We also were able to see Sonya this week.  Haha I'm not sure what goes through her mind.  Last time we saw her it was blood atonement and false doctrine about how the earth was created.  This week she was talking about how Cain and Abel took to wife some of the spirits that were cast out with Lucifer who had then possessed bodies of their own (not sure where those bodies came from) and that's how their family had started.  She kept telling us that the only other way for Cain and Abel to have children was to take their own mother, Eve, to wife and that's just not true.  It was an interesting visit, and we did our best to just kind of tell her that that stuff (like who Cain and Abel married) was not really that important, but that what was important was reading the Book of Mormon and praying to ask God if it is His word.  She's a funny lady, and her mind is all over the place.  However, she enjoys meeting with us, and she said that she would read the Book of Mormon, so that's good.

A little while ago we met a lady named Cathy while tracting.  She is an older lady, and we were able to see her this week and teach her the Restoration.  It was a great lesson, and I feel confident that she will read the Book of Mormon.  I'm so glad when people do.  For an infinite amount of reasons, most people choose not to read the Book of Mormon.  However, it is truly the word of God.  It truly contains the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.  It is truly the Book that will prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.  I love that Book, and I love helping people to come to love it as well.

Well, this was a good week.  I'm excited for the people we are teaching, and though it is difficult, we are doing our best to find more of them.  One side note for today that I thought was cool - this morning we went golfing.  We played 9 holes and I shot a 44.  Yeah, I took a couple mulligans, but I thought that was pretty good considering I haven't played in years.  I still slice my drives pretty bad though haha.  Alrighty, well, I love y'all.  Have a good week and don't forget to read the Book of Mormon!

Love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#19Days (til Alabama's season starts yeehaw)

My companion celebrated his 20th birthday this week!  We made a cake to celebrate and wished for baptisms!

Official schedule hanging on our wall.

Crazy rainstorm we got caught in.  We thought we could out bike it, but we didn't make it, so we had to wait it out under the eaves of a middle school.  When it didn't stop, we eventually biked home in it.  It took my shoes 2 days to dry out!  In the words of Bear Grylls, "We were sopping moist!"

Dan(iel) and William

Hello to all of my fam and friends and neighbors and everybody else.  This week has been kind of fruitless as far as finding new people to teach, so I don't really have anyone new to talk about.  However, there are some good updates on people that y'all already know about which is awesome.

So Dan (he actually prefers Daniel, so I'm going to use that from now on) came to church again on Sunday.  It was great!  He's so awesome.  The only thing that is a bummer is we can hardly ever catch him at home.  He tells us work has been slow (meaning he should be home more often), but when we stop by he is never there.  Also, we called him earlier in the week and the phone said that his number had either been changed or disconnected.  We called the referral sisters who have been working with Daniel and they were like, "Well we have been texting him recently and he texts back," so we were just confused what was going on.  However, on Saturday we called him again and the call went through and we talked to him for like 15 minutes.  He told us he would be at church (which he was) and also that he had downloaded the Gospel Library app.  Now, I always get nervous when people find that because there is a LOT of info on there that they might not be ready for.  He said that he had been reading the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church books haha.  We told him that was awesome, but for now probably just stick with the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, and maybe like the Bible Videos if he wants to watch those.  It was pretty funny.

Church this week was way better than last time he came.  We made him sit in the front with us instead of in the back in order to minimize distractions, and testimony meeting was awesome.  I get nervous for those too sometimes, for various reasons, but it was great.  Gospel Principles class was not very good (remember my story from the Capitol Ward?) haha it was kind of like that except people weren't yelling at each other.  There was just lots of deep doctrine that was brought up and not really explained very well so it gets really confusing really quick.  But afterwards Daniel said to us, "Well, I've only been here a couple times, so I kinda figure that there are things I just won't understand yet."  That was a relief to hear.  There were also like 5 members that were able to chat with Daniel during and after church, so he felt much more at home and comfortable than last time, which was super awesome.  I'm excited for Daniel, he's an awesome guy, I just wish we could catch him at home.  We're supposed to go to lunch with him and a member on Wednesday, so hopefully that all goes to plan.

Soon after church yesterday we had a teamup with a guy named Dan Browning, and we went to go see William.  We actually hadn't seen him since he came to church, but we were able to talk with him and it was really good.  Dan and William really connected, and we just talked about a few things as well as got some feedback from him about how church was a couple weeks ago when he came.  He basically told us, "Well, I sat in the back, hardly anyone talked to me, and nobody asked me to introduce myself or anything..."  At this point, I just thought, "Oh crap, he hated it," but then he finished with "...It was great!"  Haha that was so good to hear.  He doesn't really like being around people, so I guess it was a good thing that no one really took the chance to come up and say hello.  Go figure.  William has some problems with his balance, and so he thinks that people will look at him and think he's a drunk and belittle him because of it.  (He just has that little shuffle that people get when they get older.  It's nothing major).  He's embarrassed about it, but I guess he actually enjoyed church a lot which was great.  I was very surprised to hear that, and was very happy.

We also got to have exchanges this week with Elder Featherstone and Elder Quayle in Gadsden.  We had lots of fun biking in the rain and eating lots of food.  

On Thursday we had interviews with President Sainsbury.  They went well as always.  It's always good to talk with him and Sister Sainsbury for a while.  

Today, Pday, we went on a hike with the district at Noccalula falls in Gadsden.  It's a big waterfall with a giant cave behind it that you can go back into.  There are also lots of running trails and hiking trails that we went on for a couple hours. It was pretty cool, though it was unfortunate that we are not able to swim as missionaries.  There were some spots in the river that would have been so nice to jump in and cool off.  That's alright I guess.

Well, this was a great week.  We did have one unfortunate incident in which we got locked out of our apartment, basically had to break in, and later had to have our deadbolt replaced, but that's okay.  Our blender also stopped working, so that was wonderful.  We also sweat lots as always, and I think today is the hottest day of the year so far.  In the words of Ham from The Sandlot, "I'm baking like a toasted cheeser!"  It is what it is, I guess.

Well, I'm thankful for the chance to be here in Bama and preach the Good Word.  I was very nervous that Daniel and William had negative experiences at church, but I can now testify that the Lord definitely had His hand in that.  In my mind, they hated it.  But in reality, they both had wonderful experiences.  God is good, and He definitely has a big role in the work we do as missionaries.  His influence is always there.  Love y'all, have a great week!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Fun p-day hike to Noccolula Falls in Gadsden, Alabama.

In the cave behind the falls.

Our dead bolt broke on our door, so we patched the hole with the plastic off of our Ensign magazine, cardboard from a pizza we cooked, and a picture of the First Vision. :)  Elder V drew a picture of a handicapped sticker because our door was definitely handicapped until we got it fixed!  It is now fixed, and we are able to get in and out of our apartment once again!  (Whew!)

Fullness of Doctrine

Hello all, this has been a great week and there is lots to talk about, so I'm going to just start writing.  I did most of this email on my phone instead of a computer, so if there are typos, I apologize.  The work here in Attalla is tough, but we are working hard and doing our best to find the elect and bring them unto Christ.  Here are some things we did this week - 

This week we met a lady named Patience. She was just chilling on her porch and we went up to talk to her. One of the first things she says was, "Don't even waste your time on me." She was clearly down in her life, and kind of told us a bit about some of the bad things that she had been through. We just sat and listened and testified and talked to her about the Savior and His love for us. She obviously needed help, but she told us that she "wasn't in it to win it." She didn't feel like she could get over some if her problems, even if she wanted to. Long story short, we talked to her for about 20 minutes and we basically convinced her that there is always hope for her because of the Savior. We told her that there was nothing that she could ever do that would put her beyond His reach. We told her that the Church has an addiction recovery program and that we would look into it for her. She cried a good bit and I could tell that she just doesn't really have a lot of people in her life who tell her that they love her. That's what people need a lot of times - they just need to be told and shown that they are loved. We did our best to help her realize that. We also introduced the Plan of Salvation to her briefly and gave her a pamphlet. Throughout our time talking to her, we asked her a couple of times if we could come back and share more, to which she always responded, "No, I just don't want y'all to waste your time." By the end of that first visit, she did finally consent to letting us come back again the next day. We really just wanted to help her, and I think she was finally able to feel that. Anyway, we made an appointment for the next morning at 10.

Well, the next day comes, and we show up. She had a guy over to fix one of her broken windows, and so she just told us to come back later, around 2. Well at like noon she calls us and tells us that she got called into work and so we would have to make it another day. We tried calling her twice or so and she never picked up. Finally she calls us back a day or two later, and just says, "Guys, I talked to my aunt, and I'm gonna start going to church with her. I'm a Baptist, and y'all are Mormons, and that's just not gonna work." Dang, I was so sad. Just 2 or 3 days before, we helped her see that there was hope for her. Hope that she probably had not seen or felt for years. I know that she felt that. And then she just turned around and abandoned it that quick. I can almost guarantee that her aunt told her something about us that she didn't want to hear, and that turned her off towards us coming back. We will still try and reach out to her in the future, but it always just makes me sad when people reject what we have to offer them.

This week we also went to another Bible study at First Baptist Church in downtown Attalla. Last week when we went to Siberton Baptist, we just sat and listened, but we actually participated a little bit this week. There are lots of things I could talk about in regards to this visit, but I just want to talk about one: the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church with the FULLNESS of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone else has their parts, but there are definitely gaps in their doctrine. Here's the story:

One of the teenagers there asked the guy doing the teaching a question similar to this - "Last week at our Bible study, you said something about how after Jesus died, he descended somewhere or something like that before he was resurrected. Where did he go? My mom and I have looked all week for an answer and haven't found a definitive one." Well the teacher thinks about it for a second, and says, "Well, I guess y'all will just have to do some research and I will as well. There are lots of opinions about this..." and at that point I kind of just whispered to Elder Vanderhoff, "Yeah there are lots of opinions but there's only one doctrine." Earl was the guy's name who was teaching, and he's like, "What was that?" I restated aloud that there are lots or opinions, but there is only one doctrine.  I then took the opportunity to teach them very simply the part of the Plan of Salvation that is a very Biblical doctrine, but one that most non-LDS people have never even heard of before: the spirit world.  I basically said this: "There is obviously a time in between death and resurrection. At death, our spirit and body separate, and at resurrection they are joined again. At death our body gets buried, but where does our spirit go? It goes to a place called the spirit world. And what happens there? Well, let's go to the scriptures. John 5:25 says 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.' What I know to be true is that during the period of time in between the Savior's death and resurrection, he was in the spirit world, preaching the gospel to those who hadn't ever heard it in this life. God is perfectly just, and so it is completely logical and scriptural that everybody who did not have the chance to hear and accept and live the Gospel in this life will have it in the next. As such, the scriptures teach that that is where Jesus went immediately after his death. He went to those in spirit prison to teach them the Gospel and give them a chance to accept or reject it." Earl kind of tried to argue a little bit, and asked if that was the only reference to the spirit world or spirit prison, to which Elder Vanderhoff responded by quoting 1 Peter 3:19, 1 Peter 4:6, and Isaiah 42:7 (all of which mention very clearly the doctrine I was trying to teach). Everyone in the class was just speechless, they really had nothing to say. They just kind if brushed it off and moved on after that. Interesting that people will reject or ignore doctrine that they have never heard before, even when it completes the gap that they couldn't fill before. Anyway, I was happy to be able to teach those people a doctrine that is very obviously biblical, yet one that they had never heard before. I hope it was enlightening to them.

We talked a lot about that Bible study over the next couple of days, and there is a concept that we talked about which I have always found interesting. It is that there are so many people who either 1) want to believe what we teach, or 2) actually do internally believe what we teach. However, they often refuse to accept that they believe it because it is not what their church teaches. As we were riding home that night, Elder Vanderhoff just said, "I'm so glad that I'm part of the true Church." Me too. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is "the only true and loving church upon the face of the whole earth" because it has in it the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot go anywhere else in the world and find that.

This week I also was able to finish "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage for the first time (finally). I started reading in in Scottsboro and I read like two thirds of it and then kind of just stopped for a while. I picked it back up like 3 weeks ago and finished it on Friday. It's a long book but it was so good. There are so many things in there that I just didn't really pick up when reading the New Testament that Elder Talmage explains. In fact, after bible study at First Baptist, I went up to the teacher and I said, "Hey, I've got a book that I think you might like. It's called "Jesus the Christ" by James Talmage. It basically is just his scriptural commentary on the entire New Testament, as well as some other things about the Savior that aren't in the New Testament. Look it up, it's awesome." And it is.

Haha I hope y'all remember my devil dog story from last week. Sonya is the lady's name, and we went to go see her this week. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but we were able to talk for a bit, and believe it or not, her story gets even better. She said that when they pulled the car out of the ravine, IT WAS STILL IN PARK. So yeah supposedly her car was in park when it DROVE UP A HILL and then into a huge ravine. I dunno what to say to that. Pretty crazy. Anyway, Sonya used to live in Salt Lake for a couple years, and so she thinks she knows a little but about the Church haha. She asked us a few things about what we believe that she supposedly was told by members of the Church while in SLC. She asked us if we really believed that Malakite (?) was being chased by giants when he was jumping from planet to planet, exploding the planets he was jumping on, and then those fragments somehow came together to form this earth. Haha, what? No, we told her that that was false doctrine, and we definitely believe in the Biblical account of the creation. She also asked, "What's your opinion on Brigham Young?" I just said, "Well, he was a prophet." Then she told us about how it was all in the history books that he had killed lots of people and families for doing bad things. I didn't know what she was talking about, but after I thought about it, I actually know exactly what she was talking about. It's just some anti that people throw around that Brigham Young taught and lived the so-called "blood atonement doctrine" in which the blood of murderers must be shed in order to atone for themselves because the Atonement of Christ doesn't cover them. The doctrine itself isn't necessarily false (I'll explain), but the idea that it was ever practiced in this dispensation is false doctrine. In "Mormon Doctrine," Bruce R. McConkie explains that the doctrine of blood atonement cannot be practiced unless the civil and ecclesiastical leaders of the day are the same people. Therefore, it cannot be and has not been practiced in this dispensation. However, it was in effect in like the Law of Moses. You know, an eye for an eye, and a life for a life type of deal. Basically capital punishment was commanded as a way to make restitution for certain sins. But it is definitely not practiced today nor was it in Brigham Young's day. Sonya was not trying to bash us, she was just trying to clear things up. I actually love when people do that. I'm glad that at least some people will come to us with their questions rather than look to outside (and often false) resources. Sonya's doing alright and we are going to see her again this week. 

I mentioned that Dan and William both came to church last week.  Unfortunately we were not able to see William at all this week for various reasons, so we haven't had a chance to talk to him about church.  We were able to talk to Dan on the phone, but not in person.  He just said that he understands that church isn't always like that, and he knew that he would have to come several times to really get the feel for it.  I was relieved to hear that, however, he didn't come this week.  I was actually bummed that neither of them came to church because sacrament meeting was so awesome.  There was a great talk given in which the speaker talked about the hierarchy of our lives, and how different circumstances in life make us change what we are focusing on, or change what is most important to us.  However, at the top of our hierarchy (or what is most important to us in our life) should always be eternal life.  That is the greatest gift of God, and that is what we should be striving towards always.  It was a talk similar to the "Good, Better, Best" talk given by Elder Oaks a while back.  I know that as we place God first, and do all we can for that gift of eternal life that is promised to all who live his gospel, everything else will fall into place.

We also were able to meet with a guy named Matthew this week.  He was one of our potentials that we had been trying to see for a little while and we were finally able to on Saturday.  We read with him 2 Nephi 31, and invited him to be baptized on September 1.  Now, there's a lot of things that still have to happen for that to work, but I'm willing to work as hard as it takes to help him make that date.  If Matthew is willing as well, we will make it happen.  I love 2 Nephi 31.  It is one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture.  It so simply and clearly lays out for us the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Nephi often says, "I delight in plainness," or "I will speak plainly."  That chapter is about as plain as it gets, and I love that.  In a world where so many people think they can just "interpret" the scriptures to fit their liking, I love how the Book of Mormon so clearly states what needs to be taught.  In "Preach My Gospel" there is a line that says something like, "You shouldn't just teach clearly enough that they can understand, you should teach clearly enough that they cannot misunderstand."  The Book of Mormon does that.  I love it.

Well y'all, this has been a good week.  We're hitting that grind trying to find more people to teach, but I'm thankful for the ones that we are already teaching.  Whether they realize it or not, they need what we have, and I love teaching it to them.  Love y'all!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Mormons and Baptists

Howdy everybody, this week has been a tough one but also been pretty rewarding.  We've gained a few good stories to tell for sure, and here are a couple of them....

This week we were riding our bikes around visiting some people and knocking some doors, and it started raining just a tiny bit but looked like it was about to dump.  We were sort of close to home and so we just said we would go in until it passed by (the rain usually lasts like 30 minutes).  Well, it was a Wednesday night and Siberton Baptist church is right by our house, so we decided to go to a bible study instead of going in our house.  It was pretty interesting.  We spent the rest of the night talking about everything that was discussed that night and talking about all of the "watered-down doctrine" as Bruce R. McConkie (I think) put it.  It's just different to me that almost every single person believes that we just need to "accept Jesus as our Savior" and then you're good.  You're saved.  It was said that night that "We don't do good works so that we can be saved.  We do good works because we are saved."  How bizarre.  Several times, the Deacon who was doing the preaching mentioned things that were directed completely towards us, like, "You have to read the Bible, and absolutely nothing else," and "Every single religion outside of Biblical Christianity is works-based, not grace-based."  There were many things that were taught that were just out-of-context or just plain incorrect.  I could rant about it for a while, but here's one thing that I want to mention.  After it was over, almost every single person came up to us, shook our hand, told us how glad they were that we were there, and to join them again any time.  (They might have just said that because they think we are "lost" or just misguided or whatever, but that's beside the point.)  Here's the point: people don't often seem to care for what doctrine is being taught, as long as Jesus is mentioned.  However, they do care about being in a place where the people are kind and they feel accepted.  Church is such a social thing, and people just go to wherever they feel they belong.  Remember that for later in this letter....

We have had a little bit of success in finding this week.  There are a couple of people who we met that we were able to teach a little bit and set some return appointments.  Mostly what we have been doing this week is visiting all of our potentials so that we can either teach them or move on.  

One of those potentials is named William.  He is an older guy, and he was found a couple months ago.  We visited him twice this week and talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon.  He made a comment that he really likes the Bible, and one of the things he likes about it is that you can interpret it in different ways to cater to your needs.  I can understand why he says that, but I felt the need to clarify something to him.  I very lovingly but bluntly explained something to this effect:  Yes, certain scriptures can mean different things to different people at certain times depending on their situation.  However, the scriptures aren't really up for interpretation by every single individual.  That's one of the reasons the Apostasy started.  Doctrine does not change, and when people "interpret" the scriptures, that's when doctrines are changed.  That right there is why we need the Book of Mormon.  It clarifies doctrine that would otherwise be "interpreted" differently.  There are many things that maybe aren't so clear with just the Bible that are very clear with both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  I did my best to help him understand that.  We also talked quite a bit with William about attending church, and he seemed semi-confident that he would be there, but no promises were made.  However, William did show up to church on Sunday, which was a pleasant surprise.

There is also a guy named Dan who we have been trying to get in contact with for a while.  He was progressing a while ago, but he drives a truck and is pretty busy, so we haven't been able to seen him.  Then on Saturday night he calls us out of the blue and is like, "Hey I'm going to come to church tomorrow," and we were just like, "Awesome!"  So Dan and William both came to church, which was pretty awesome because we weren't really expecting either of them until Saturday evening.  Now, let me go back to our experience at Siberton Baptist.  Remember how like every single person came up and talked to us and told us they were glad that we were there?  Well, both Dan and William were each greeted by a total of 3 people: Myself, Elder Vanderhoff, and a member of the Branch Presidency.  Not a single other person talked to them.  I felt really bad about that.  There were also several children who were just screaming the entire time during Sacrament Meeting, and it just wasn't the best.  I hope so much that they didn't have a bad enough experience to cause them to not return, but I know that their first visit to our church was far from ideal.  But hey, at least they came.  That in and of itself was a big miracle.

We visited Damion again this week and he is about the same.  He started a job driving dump trucks and is pretty busy.  So since he hasn't been reading during his not-so-busy life, it's going to be tough now that he is busy.  We are still praying for him though. 

We visited Robert once this week.  We only had like 20 minutes to talk, and he just kind of ranted about how expensive doctors and dentists are for the whole time.  It wasn't a super productive visit, but at least we were there to just give him some company and let him know we care about him.  Like they say, "Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

Haha, kind of a funny/sad/weird story:  There is a potential named Sonya that we stopped by on Saturday and made an appointment on Sunday for 3 PM.  At about 2:30 she calls us and says, "Hey, I'm dropping off my grandkids somewhere, can we make it 3:30?"  We said sure, but when we got there at about 3:35, she wasn't home.  We called, and this is basically what she said: "Well, I was driving home just a minute ago, and I saw some rocks on the side of the road. I thought to myself, 'I want those in my garden.'  So I pulled over, put it in park, left the car running, and went to grab these rocks.  While I was doing so, my dog bumped my car into drive, and it started rolling away going uphill and then turned off and crashed into a ravine.  The car is totaled, but my dog is fine."  It was an interesting phone call.  Needless to say, she cancelled our appointment.  That's a pretty talented dog to be able to put his foot on the brake and shift into gear.  I'm not sure how that happened, but somehow it did.  (Or she probably just left her car in drive when she got out, I dunno...)  We have likened this story unto the story of the demons being sent into the herd of swine, who then jumped off the cliff and drowned.  It's pretty much the same, right?  The dog drives a car off a cliff because it was possessed, and he knew that if he didn't, then his owner would have met with the missionaries and been taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Dumb dog, haha.  Satan will do whatever he can to stop this work.

Well, this week was full of some fun stuff.  We have met lots of people, sweat lots of liquids, and have some fun stories to tell because of it.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it is the book that will prepare the earth for the second coming of the Savior.  In it is found the fullness of the everlasting gospel.  Anyone who reads and sincerely prays about it will know that it is true as well.

Alright, love y'all.  Hope you have a great week.  Thanks everyone for the notes and gifts that y'all sent for my year mark.  I loved them!  

Love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#DevilDog

My new area - Attalla!

Got to see lots of fun friends at Zone Conference.

We stopped by a pretty cool high school football stadium.

I sweated a lot this week!

We left this note in this mailbox.  I'm sure they will call us, ask us to baptize them, and that will be awesome!

Week 1 in Attalla

Hey everybody, hope y'all have had a good week. Everything is going well here and I have been having fun and sweating lots. Obviously as I told y'all, last week was transfers. I was moved to Attalla, Alabama, which is about an hour northeast of Birmingham, and about an hour south of Scottsboro. New comp is Elder Vanderhoff. He's from Oregon originally but lives in American Fork now. Has been out for about 9 months. We are in a biking area which is neat because it's usually about 90+ degrees and super humid. I've done my share of sweating in the last week haha. 

Transfers were cool because I got to see lots of awesome dudes that I love to see. Even Mama Reyes was there! It was awesome. I think we had about 30 people go home this transfer, and President did some crazy stuff like switching lots of Elders areas to Sisters and vice versa, several areas were closed, and several cars were taken away from the mission. Things are definitely different here than they were last summer.

Things are pretty good in Attalla so far. On Thursday last week we went out to go visit this guy named Robert. He has a friend named Michael and they previously had taught them together, but Michael couldn't meet that night. Anyway, Robert is awesome. He has been reading as much as he can in the Book of Mormon (it's kind of slow going because he's blind in one eye). He told us that Michael has gone to his pastor and obviously was told to stop meeting with us, so I guess that's why we didn't see him. But Robert was just like, "I'm gonna have a talk with Michael and tell him to shape it up. I like reading this book, and I'm not going to listen to anyone who tells me otherwise. It's up to me to decide if it's true, not some pastor." So yeah, Robert hasn't come to church yet (prayers for him this week) but he is at least reading and seeking answers from God instead of someone else. 

There is another guy named Damion that we visited the other day. He has been taught for the past little bit, and was actually on date for baptism a couple weeks from now. Based on our lesson yesterday, he is far from ready to be baptized haha. We basically started over with him, and just shared a very basic Restoration outline and then read the intro to the Book of Mormon. I was very clear with Damion (as I am with everyone) that "If the Book of Mormon is true, then the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's true church on the earth." That's basically what the introduction says, but for whatever reason, a lot of people don't seem to pick up on that unless we reiterate it to them very clearly. Anyway, he claims to have read all the way to Alma 50 something, but he doesn't remember anything, so we know he hasn't read. I think after the lesson yesterday he should start actually reading and do it for a purpose - to find out if it's true, and therefore, if the Church is true. 

Yesterday we were also out biking and we could tell it was going to rain and so we started to head home. We were a few miles away, and it was about 7 PM. About halfway home we were completely drenched, and while we were riding some guy pulled over and offered us a ride. His name is Keith and he works at the rec center that we play basketball at on pdays. We ended stuffing both of our bikes in the back in his tiny Nissan Altima and then he drove us 2-3 miles home. The whole time he was saying stuff like, "I'm just a crazy Baptist, but I like you Mormons," and "Tell a Baptist that there will be fried chicken and you know they'll be there." Haha he's pretty funny. Best quote of the night though was this - So there are these storage sheds right next to our complex and I guess Keith used to live in our apartments a few years ago. Well he says, "Man, the worst thing they ever did was put all this storage right here..." and then this huge bolt of lightning strikes pretty close by and Keith says, "Forgive me Lord, it was just my opinion!" Haha he's definitely a crazy Baptist, and a funny dude. 

Well everything is going pretty well here. Bikes are okay, Elder Vanderhoff is fun, we have several people to teach, and the branch is small but helpful and supportive. Thanks for all of your prayers, I love y'all! Have a great week. 

Love,

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#CrazyBaptists

PS - Scripture of the week - Alma 36:3 "I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

We were able to share that with someone who was struggling with stuff and it really helped out. It's a great verse.

My "Dad" went home this week!

It was fun to see lots of friends from the mission at transfers.

Saying good-bye to lots of friends and my apartment in Greenville.

I hit my one year mark this week!  

Transfers

Howdy everyone back home.  The Wi-Fi just went out at the church so I have to type this email on my phone. Sorry if there are typos and if it's not as lengthy as usual. 

Transfer news came last night, and Elder Kapcsos and I will both be leaving Greenville this transfer. And we are being replaced with Sisters haha. First time Sisters have been in the Montgomery district for about 2 years! President Sainsbury came to our branch on Sunday and made no mention of anything about transfers except "make sure your apartment is clean." Other than that we didn't really know anything for sure until last night and today. 

We met a lady named Bobbie this week while tracting. She invited us right in and we just sat down and started teaching her. It was great. As we decided how to begin teaching, we mentioned that we were there to teach her and then invite her to act. One of those invitations that we would extend would be to come to church with us. She quickly responded, "In Highland Home? Y'all are crazy, plus I don't even have a car." (Keep in mind, she lives in Greenville 25 miles away). I almost just said to myself, "Dang it, another one of these people who have almost no chance of progressing just because of logistics." Anyway, we kept teaching her about the Restoration. She had better comprehension skills than most people we run into, and was really into the lesson. After we finished sharing the first vision with her she just said, "Wow, I just feel something, like I just feel that that's right. Y'all don't even know I feel so good, mhmm, yeah, that's nice, I like it, I feel good." (Typical Southern, elderly, black woman talk haha). Well, we took the chance to explain to her that what she was feeling was the spirit, and the spirit's role is to testify of truth. When she feels that way, she can know that whatever she is hearing or reading or learning about is true. It was a great lesson, and we (or I guess the Sisters) have a return appointment on Friday. Bobbie was really excited to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us again. 

I've said it before but I'll say it again - sharing the first vision account in Joseph' s own words and then bearing testimony of it invites the spirit in a way that not a lot if things can do. It's one of my favorite things. Not sure what will come of Bobbie in the future, but I know that she felt the spirit that day. 

New subject - President Sainsbury came to the branch on Sunday to speak. I guess he was here like 18 months ago, and I guess the branch had a tiny little linger longer afterward and he was so impressed by the food that apparently he has talked up Highland Home for the last year and a half. Well, word got back here about that, and so on Sunday the branch went all out for a pot luck after church, just to impress President once again. There was so much food, and all of it was awesome. President and Sister Sainsbury both spoke about member missionary work, and invited each member to do something to be a missionary. I would have followed up with people in the next weeks about accepting and acting on that invitation, but I'm leaving, so oh well. We'll leave a note for the Sisters. I do want to share with y'all some advice about member missionary work however. It is similar to what Sister Sainsbury said on Sunday, but it's a little different. This comes from Elder Oaks in the October 2016 conference titled "Sharing the Restored Gospel." Elder Oaks gives three tips that everyone can, and everyone should, do to be member missionaries. Here are his words:

"There are three things all members can do to help share the gospel, regardless of the circumstances in which they live and work. All of us should do all of these.

First, we can all pray for desire to help with this vital part of the work of salvation. All efforts begin with desire.

Second, we can keep the commandments ourselves. Faithful, obedient members are the most persuasive witnesses of the truth and value of the restored gospel. Even more important, faithful members will always have the Savior’s Spirit to be with them to guide them as they seek to participate in the great work of sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Third, we can pray for inspiration on what we can do in our individual circumstances to share the gospel with others. This is different than praying for the missionaries or praying for what others can do. We should pray for what we can do personally. When we pray, we should remember that prayers for this kind of inspiration will be answered if accompanied by a commitment—something the scriptures call “real intent” or “full purpose of heart.” Pray with a commitment to act upon the inspiration you receive, promising the Lord that if He will inspire you to speak to someone about the gospel, you will do it."

I thought that was such great advice, and such simple advice, too. We all can do all of these things. I ask that y'all go find this talk, read it, and follow the advice given by an Apostle of the Lord. 

Alright, well this was a good week. I have had lots of fun in the Highland Home Branch, and I look forward to where the Lord has assigned me to go next. I look forward to it. Love y'all. Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Helping to build a home in Greenville!  Learning lots of new skills and getting to do lots of service!

Member Missionary Work

Hey everybody,

Unfortunately, as I look back on the week, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to report on.  I'll just start writing about stuff and see where it goes...

Just so y'all have an idea of how our week went, last night (Sunday) we went out and knocked doors for an hour or so from about 7:15 until 8:15.  Now, it is common knowledge that "prime proselyting time" is from 6-9 PM, because that is when people are supposed to be home and together with their families.  Add that to the fact that it is Sunday, a day in which most people would be home anyway, and you would think that everything would be shaping up for us to have a good tracting session.  Well, during that hour of knocking, there was a total of one, 1, yes one single door that was opened.  And that one man that we met at that one door that was opened told us he "knew all about Joseph Smith" and seemed like he definitely would have bashed pretty hard with us had he not been busy at the time.  Haha it would have been a treat.  So anyway, that's how our week has been as far as finding and teaching goes.  Kind of a bummer, but we also have some things in the works.  Let's jump to that for a minute.

We had our first branch council since I have been here in the Highland Home branch.  We have been talking a lot with President NeSmith (our Branch President) and with President Sainsbury about member missionary work.  We have been visiting with some of the active members and inviting them, encouraging them, and helping them to fulfill their missionary responsibilities.  President NeSmith has also been pushing the members a lot in that direction.  In Branch Council we were able to talk to some of the branch leadership about what we can do to strengthen the struggling branch and get things picked up in this area.  As we talked about it during the weeks leading up to branch council, we decided that working with less-actives is the way to go.  So during branch council we identified a few families and individuals that 1) have some potential as far as reactivation goes, and 2) are "active" members but aren't deeply converted or who need better gospel knowledge. We have also found some members who are willing to meet with them with us. We'll see where that takes us, but it should be good. 

Another good thing is that President and Sister Sainsbury are coming to the branch to speak next week, so hopefully their comments and invitations give us and the members another little push to get out there and be better missionaries. We have given members suggestions on how they can do that, but maybe President will give them some others. It also provides an opportunity for us and President NeSmith to talk to President Sainsbury about the whole miles vs working with members vs working in Highland Home vs living in Greenville situation and all that. It's just tough, so maybe we can get something figured out together. 

Ray has still been coming to church (that's about 7 weeks now). He made a comment in Elders Quorum about how he was grateful for our visit last week and how we left him with a great prayer that he needed to hear. He still is taking things slow, but is reading the Book of Mormon on his own, and he knows that he can turn to us if he has any questions. He shows lots of potential, he just needs some time. It will be interesting to see where he ends up in a few months or a year or two. I know he enjoys coming to church, and the members love him and are friends with him. 

Well, it's been an interesting week. I'm looking forward to doing more member work to hopefully get things going in our little branch. We very much appreciate your prayers every day. Love y'all. 

Elder Beach

#RollTide

Helping to build a house!