Last week, like all of you, we heard the news of the passing of President Monson. How grateful I am for the life that he lived, for the lives that he touched, for the lessons he taught, and for the example he lived. It's good to know that he is in a place free of pain, sorrow, the weight of responsibility, and that he is with his wife again. That makes me so happy for him. I am also grateful for the organization of the Church that the Lord has established to call His prophets, seers, and revelators. I know that even with the death of a prophet, there will be no keys, power, or authority lost, and there will be no doctrines altered or changed. Everything in this Church has been established perfectly. I'm so grateful to be a part of what the Lord Himself has designated as "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth" (D&C 1:30). What a blessing. I love it!
On Thursday of last week we had a great lesson with Deana. We taught her lesson 3, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she absolutely loved it. We also invited her again to be baptized, and she gave us a very confident "yes!" She is on date to be baptized on February 3. At this point, we are hoping to move that baptism up to a date that is before transfers (Jan 24), so that Elder Marshall and I can be here for it. I think that could be possible, however, if that doesn't work out, she will definitely be ready by Feb 3. I'm super excited for her.
There were a couple of things that Deana said during our lesson that stood out to me. 1) She told us how sad she was that people didn't believe the things that we teach. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly is "good news," and so many people just don't want it. Deana kept telling us that every time she read the Book of Mormon, it just helped her understand previously misunderstood concepts from the Bible. She said, "How can someone read it and say it's not true?" We definitely agreed with her, and told her that that's how we feel every day. It is a sad thing, but we can't let it weigh us down. Her comment reminded me of a scripture that I had read very recently in personal study. It is in Mormon 7:
"For behold, this (The Book of Mormon) is written for the int
The chapter heading of Mormon 7 reads, "All who believe the Bible will also believe the Book of Mormon." I know that to be true, which also means that a few other things must be true. Those things are: 1) People really don't read/believe/understand the Bible like they claim to, for if they did, they would believe the Book of Mormon, or 2) They don't understand the Book of Mormon when they read it, which is unfortunate, because in my opinion it is so much easier to understand that the Bible. I'm just thankful for someone like Deana who proves that quote from Mormon and from the chapter heading to be true. Deana reads, studies, loves, and from what I can see, actually understands the Bible. Because she does, she has also taken the time to read, study, understand, and love the Book of Mormon. It's awesome! I love seeing prophesies being fulfilled!
One other thing that Deana said during our lesson which stood out to me, is that she explained several of her life's circumstances that led her to be able to accept the missionaries and the lessons, the Book of Mormon and the doctrine it contains. She mentioned several times how the Lord has been preparing her for it her whole life. That reminded me of two other verses from the Book of Mormon:
Alma 13:24 - "For behold, angels are declar
Alma 16:16 -
"the Lord did pour out his Spi
Once again, prophesies in the scriptures are being fulfilled, and I am a witness of it. What a blessing it is. Please keep Deana and her husband in your prayers. I have really been seeing them both change as a result of prayer. Deana has grown so much in her confidence, and her husband (while still not supportive) is tolerant of her decisions. They have both come a long way, but I know that the closer we get to her baptism, the harder it's going to be for her. Thanks!
One bummer of a thing that happened this week is that President Sainsbury has really been cracking down on the amount of miles that we put on our cars. He never has in the past, but he recently got a call from HQ in Salt Lake that we have been going way over, so now he has to. Anyway, we found out this week that we have been allotted 1000 miles per month in our area. Well, I've been here for 5 months, and the least amount we have ever done in one month is over 1700. The most was about 2300. We have our doubts that we will be able to stay under 1000, but we will do our best. So last Friday we rode our bikes over to Mama Reyes' house for dinner. It was pretty cold, but I was actually sweating a good bit by the time we got there. After dinner, we rode home with Andrea and Jeremy (Mama's daughter and son-in-law who live near us) and we left our bikes there. Saturday morning we had the biggest accomplishment of my entire mission: WE DROVE 0 MILES! Instead of driving to pick up our bikes, we walked the 5-6 miles to her house, and then rode our bikes for the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we went on team-ups with Brother Williams, so he drove and we didn't spend any miles. It was great!
On Saturday night when we went on team-ups, we went out to visit Sister Mangold, one of the less-actives in the branch. Her husband is not a member, and we talked to them for a good while and invited them to church. We were also able to give Sister Mangold a blessing for some health things that she has been struggling with, and it was awesome. We also went to go see Dustin that night with Brother William, which was actually pretty good. Dustin has become really comfortable around us, so he is kind of rowdy sometimes. We figured if we brought someone who he had never met, he would at least try to be a little bit more formal, which he was. Dustin told us that his family would be at church on Sunday, and so we planned to call and wake him up, or knock his door down again like we did last week. Anyway, he told us he would be there, but when we called him Sunday morning we got no answer. We drove up to his house and knocked on the door, and he actually opened it this time, unlike last week. Anyway, he told us that their heater had gone out that night, and the maintenance guy wouldn't be there for a couple hours. He told us it was too cold to get the kids up and ready (it was maybe 65 degrees in their house) so they didn't end up coming to church. Dustin really needs the Gospel. It would bless his life SO much. His problem is that he is exceptionally lazy. He also likes to just be difficult sometimes. Besides making excuses about why he hasn't come to church, he also has only read a tiny amount of the Book of Mormon, and he told us that he didn't want to start reading more until he had a hardback book, not the paperback ones that we give out. I told him that I had a brand new hardback Book of Mormon at the apartment (which I did), but he said he didn't want to be given one, he wanted to buy it. Since I wouldn't accept money for it, he didn't want to take the one that I have. He's great at being difficult. Well, he finally took the one that I offered to him on Sunday night, so I hope he starts reading soon. We read with him sometimes, but his house is far from ideal to study and focus in. Furthermore, he needs to read and pray and study on his own if he is ever to gain a strong testimony for himself. He can rely on us missionaries for a while, but that will only take him so far.
This Sunday after church we were able to give Sister Cantu (pronounced "Chawn - too") a blessing. She and her family have been struggling with financial problems, struggling to find work, and in the near future they will have to find a new place to live. It's really stressing her out, and she is having a hard time with everything. It was so great to give her a blessing and see some of that stress just leave her, see the Spirit come in and just let her feel at peace. Certainly our Father in Heaven does not just remove our problems, but he helps us along every step of the way as we do our best to resolve them. I know that everything will work out for the Cantu family. She was very appreciative of us, and it was probably just as much of a blessing to me as it was to her.
This Sunday we also found out that there are 3 children in the branch who belong to the same family who are unbaptized. They have been coming to church for their whole lives, and attend Primary regularly, but for whatever reason, they haven't been baptized yet. Their dad is not a member, and that might be part of it, but he seems to be fine with it now. Either way, we have an appointment will all of them this Wednesday to start teaching them. I am really excited for it. I have tried to work with unbaptized children of members before, but it has yet to work out all that well. I am very optimistic about this situation however, because their mother is very active. I think that her 3 kids shouldn't have much of a problem preparing to be baptized with her help. I look forward to teaching them.
One more great thing that happened this week was that we were able to get in contact with Deborah again. I hope I told y'all about Deborah. She is a lady that Elder Hastings and I found back in October. We taught her the first lesson, invited her to be baptized and she accepted. When we went back a few days later for a return appointment, she had left her Book of Mormon on the porch with a note that said, "I have prayed about this, and it's not for me." Anyway, Elder Marshall and I got back in contact with her over the phone a few weeks ago, but we hadn't been to her house until this week. We were able to chat with her, and I'm sure glad we did. One of her major concerns was based solely on a misunderstanding: she thought that the Book of Mormon was supposed to replace the Bible. We helped her understand that that is not the case at all. The Book of Mormon is meant to add clarity, correct, and give additional witnesses to the Bible, not replace it. She was glad that we helped her understand the facts, and we made another appointment with her tomorrow (Tuesday). I'm excited to start teaching her again.
This has been a good week! It's hard to believe that I have been here in Scotty B for 5 months. I don't want to stay here forever, but I'm not looking forward to the day that I leave. In all likelihood, it will probably be my last transfer here, and I will probably leave on Jan 24. I'm going to miss this place, but I look forward to going wherever the Lord needs me.
I love y'all! I'm so thankful for your thoughts, prayers, letters, emails, and packages. I hope you have a good week, and I hope you cheer for Alabama in the National Championship tonight haha!
Love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
P.S. - Happy Birthday to Grandpa Gary! It was awesome to see that the whole family got together to celebrate. Hope you have a great 80th!
(All Jackson sent this week was videos, so, sadly, there are no pictures to share.)
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