Elder Jackson Beach: The End of Scotty B

Hello to everyone back home! I love y'all and thank you for your prayers and thoughts, letters and emails. They mean a lot, and I appreciate them. This P-day has mostly been wasted driving to and from Birmingham for an A1C check, so I'm going to have to make this short and sweet.

We got transfer calls last night and I was told that I will be transferred this Wednesday. I'm so sad. I honestly was surprised by it, and I was very much hoping to stay here another transfer. However, that will not be the case. I've loved being here in The Boro for so long. I love all of the members, the investigators, the crazy people, the awesome people, the investigators, and the memories I have of this place. I'm sad to go, and I look forward to the day I get to come back here after the mission.

If this week had to be my last, it was a good one. It also had a few unfortunate incidents, which were a bummer. But overall it was a good week. Here it is:

Last week we got to listen to several Apostles speak. Not sure if I told y'all, but last Monday, Elder Bednar spoke in Salt Lake, but it was broadcast to our multi-Stake Conference. He gave a great talk, and he gave a major call to repentance. It was great. Then last Tuesday, as we all know, the new First Presidency was announced, and President Nelson spoke to everyone as well as President Oaks and President Eyring. It was awesome as well, and I hope every one of you watched it. Then last Friday, Elder Andersen was in Huntsville for a Stake devotional with the Huntsville, Madison, and Tupelo Stakes. We didn't go to Huntsville, but we watched the broadcast of it to the Scottsboro building. Elder Andersen talked a lot about his experience last week with the calling and setting apart of the new First Presidency. He talked about their time spent in counsel in the Upper Room of the Temple, and the experiences he had. He shared some wonderful things, and it really strengthened my testimony that he is an Apostle of the Lord, that the others of the Twelve are as well, that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God, and that this Church is Jesus Christs' Church. That was really awesome.

The next day, Saturday, Elder Andersen drove down to Birmingham and we had a mission conference with him. This was even more cool than his devotional the night before. I got to shake his hand! The way he presented his discussion was pretty informal (at least compared to our perception of the Apostles in General Conference). It was so cool to talk to and visit with a special witness of Christ like Elder Andersen is. One major thing that I learned from the conference was this: It is such a good thing that I am in a mission where people believe in Jesus Christ. Sometimes it is difficult because people don't want to hear our message because they already belong to another church, or they've "been saved," or something like that. But that's fine. Those people have faith in Christ. Obviously the message of the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation is something that everyone needs to hear, and is something that everyone will have the chance to hear and accept or reject. But if people don't want to hear the Restoration, just talk to them about the New Testament. There's nothing wrong with that. If people don't want to hear our message, just talk to them about Jesus Christ. Talk to them about their beliefs. Help them build their faith in Jesus Christ, whether that is by teaching the Restoration, or simply discussing the New Testament. I thought that was interesting advice, and I will definitely use it. Another thing that was interesting that Elder Andersen shared was this question: "Do I believe in Jesus Christ, independent of the Restoration?" I do of course, but it was a question that I had not thought of before. This stems from the fact that most of my knowledge and testimony of Christ comes from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation. Elder Andersen's invitation to "fall in love with the New Testament" is something that I will have to do, and I invite y'all to do it as well. Sometimes as Latter-Day Saints, we sort of discount the Bible because we have the Book of Mormon. DON'T. The Bible (while sometimes more difficult to understand) is awesome! Study it. I know I'm going to more. (Should be easy now that I've finished my "bashing Bible" haha).

This week we met with the Orgill kids again, and taught them about the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have basically been coming to Primary all of their lives, so they knew almost all of it already, we just had to review. I'm excited for them. They are one of the reasons I'm sad to leave here.

Another reason is Deana. Unfortunately, this week we have had little contact with her. We had an appointment with her, but she cancelled because I guess she had an allergic reaction to some new medication she recently started taking. That was a bummer, but we still were able to speak with her on the phone a little bit. That appointment was supposed to be on Thursday. On Saturday we texted her and we were expecting her at church in the morning. However, about 10 minutes into Sacrament Meeting she texts and says that she had to go with her husband (to where, I don't know) so she wouldn't make it. That sucked. I know that there are still some major struggles between Deana and her husband. I'm still not sure exactly what the situation is, but I know that they both need lots of prayers. Deana is still on track to get baptized on Feb 3, provided she comes to church this week and we get another couple of appointments with her in the next couple of weeks. As far as we know, her husband is okay with her getting baptized, so I'm not sure what the situation was on Sunday. Either way, I was pretty sad that she wasn't there, and I could tell that she was too.

There was one awesome thing that happened on Sunday, though. Sister Cantu, who I told you about last week, is married to a guy who is a Lakota indian. Brother Cantu has met with dozens of missionaries before, and has enjoyed their visits and lessons, but has just enjoyed his tribal beliefs and traditions a little bit more. Well, he and Sister Cantu have been married 7 years, and I guess that she finally got to him. One of the first things that he said to us when he walked into church (for the first time in a long while) was, "I'm going to start learning the Book of Mormon so that my wife and I can get sealed in the Temple." Whoa! That's awesome! They told us that he would start taking the lessons so that he can get baptized. That was another awesome thing, and another reason I'm sad to leave here. However, I know Elder Marshall and whomever else will do a great job teaching him. So for Gospel Principles class we taught the Restoration to him, and invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He seems ready and excited to start learning about the Church. Only one problem: I'm not sure where you draw the line between his Native-American beliefs, and what we would call "apostate." Obviously there are things that he can keep because that's his culture and they are in line with church standards. However, I don't think praying to Wanka-Tanka (which he does) is okay if he is to become a member of the Church. I'm not sure where that line has to be drawn, but I guess whoever teaches him in the future will just have to talk with the Mission President. Either way, I'm excited for him and his desire to learn and progress in the Gospel, eventually to be sealed to his wife. It's awesome.

We didn't see Dustin at all this week until Saturday night, and when we went over. He hadn't read the Book of Mormon at all. We gave him an assignment to read (which was only like 9 verses), and invited him to church. He promised he would do both, and then didn't do either. When I called him and told him I was getting transferred, he was really upset. I love Dustin, and he loves us, but it is hard to be encouraging and supportive and loving and kind or anything like that when he is such a flake. He was upset that he never kept his promise to me that he would come to church before I left. I'm going to go over to his house one more time before Wednesday, and just help him see that we still care about him. I also want him to remember that feeling that he had when he found out he didn't do all that he could, and use it as motivation to keep commitments. Eventually we will all stand before the Lord. It says in the scriptures that if we aren't prepared to meet him, if we aren't worthy, if we haven't done everything we could, we would be glad to drop a mountain on ourselves to hide us from Him. I don't want that to be the case for me, or Dustin, or any of us. I just want us all (especially Dustin right now) to have the faith to obey the simple yet sometimes difficult command from the Savior, "Come, follow me." I don't want Dustin to come to church because of me. I don't want any investigators to keep commitments out of obligation to me or my companion. Obviously that is better than not keeping them at all. However, I would much rather have them keep commitments so that they can draw nearer to the Savior, and do what HE wants them to do, not what I want them to do. I hope I can help Dustin realize that before I leave.

I'm not excited to leave Scottsboro, but I am excited to serve the Lord and the people of Alabama (or maybe Mississippi) in another area. I know that there are great things in store for me in other areas, just like there were here. I'm so thankful to be a missionary, and to be doing the Lord's work. I love it!

Sorry if this email seemed rushed, or if any part of it didn't make sense. I had to type fast and didn't really read through it. Either way, I love you, and I thank y'all again for your prayers. Keep them coming!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#GoodbyeScottsboro