This week was week one in Montgomery! I was pretty sad to leave Scottsboro, but I know that this is where the Lord wants me. I've already been able to have lots of fun and meet lots of new and exciting people. I look forward to my stay and my service here. These are a few of the exciting things I've done this week:
Last Tuesday I was able to get packed and go around to a bunch of people to say goodbye. There were a few kind of sad things (no tears though haha), but there was one thing in particular that was pretty disheartening. Remember Roger? Elder Hastings and I found and taught him way back in August all the way through October, and he was such a solid investigator and friend, and at one point he was preparing to be baptized. Then, soon after we taught him the Word of Wisdom, that and some other factors led to him dropping us. That was a bummer. Anyway, last Tuesday I wanted to say goodbye to him and maybe see if he still had interest in investigating the Church. We stopped by Advance Auto where he works because his car was there. When we walked in, we asked the guy at the front desk if Roger was there, and he told us "it was against federal law for him to give us that information." I figured that was a bunch of garbage, but we just told him that we were friends of his and just wanted to see him again. We weren't able to, and I had a weird feeling like he had seen us coming in, told the guy in the front to say that, and then hid in the back. His car was the parking lot, so he had to have been there. Either way, I didn't get to see or talk to him. Then later, as we were driving out to the Hicks' for dinner, Roger texts us and says, "Why did you guys show up at my work today? I'm not interested in going to church anymore. Leave me alone. Greatly appreciated." Dang, that hurt. He was so solid, and he was our good friend. If he didn't want to go to church, I can respect his agency. But not even saying hi or bye to us, that was rude. I just responded, "Elder Beach is leaving Scottsboro soon and just wanted to say goodbye, that's all. Sorry if we offended you, just wanted to say bye to an old friend." He never responded. I still love the guy, and I hope that he comes around one of these days (or years) and remembers the testimony that he had begun to grow, and the spirit that he had felt as we taught him and as he came to church.
After we tried Roger, a couple of others, and had dinner with the Hicks, we went over to Dustin's real quick to say bye. He was pretty sad that I was leaving, but I think he'll be alright. I asked him how he was doing, and he just said, "depressed." When I asked why he said, "no job." I then asked, "Well, are you doing anything to fix that?" to which he responded, "not really." I don't know what to do with him. He is probably the person that needs the Gospel the most right now, and yet he is the laziest person I've ever met. I hope that the new Elders in Scottsboro will figure out what to do with him. He needs the Gospel and has shown interest and desire to change, but pretty much hasn't kept a single commitment ever. I hope that he either starts soon, or just gets dropped. I called Dustin on Saturday night and asked him if we was going to church, and he just said what he says every time: "I'll try." I called Elder Marshall last night (Sunday), and he said that Dustin didn't show. Go figure. Another thing that Elder Marshall told me is that Deana didn't come either. That was bad news. He said that she has yet to tell her husband of her plans to get baptized, so her date for Feb 3 is now being postponed (and hopefully not cancelled). I guess her husband isn't quite as neutral as I thought, and so they both still need lots of prayers. She loves the Gospel and is ready to enter into the covenant of baptism. However, there are things in her life that are preventing her from doing that, her husband being the main road block. It's an unfortunate situation, and there's not much that can be done except prayer.
Back to Dustin: After establishing (again) that he is super lazy, I just told him a few things that are not only true to him, but true to all. 1) The Gospel will bless your life. 2) You have to be proactive in the Gospel and in life to be happy. 3) The missionaries are there to invite and to help others come unto Christ, but it's up to you to accept the invitation. 4) Please accept the invitation. Live the Gospel. It will make your life better and make you happy.
I know that those things are true. I hope Dustin listened. I'm going to miss that guy.
Lastly, we went to say goodbye to Mama Reyes. She's such an amazing person. I'm so thankful for the time that I spent in Scottsboro, and that was in no small part due to her. We shared a good bit of time just talking about the past six months, previous missionaries (and how we were her favorites haha), and sharing stories and testimonies. It was a great way to end the night, and a great way to end my time in the Holy Land of Scotty B. I can't wait to go back there someday.
On Wednesday we drove down to transfers. My new companion is Elder Furgeson. He wasn't actually at transfer meeting, so I didn't meet him until we had driven down to Montgomery and met up with them. My area is called Capitol, and I'm in the Capitol Ward as well. It's a lot bigger than up in the Boro, and so I'm going to have to learn names and faces and the area pretty quick. We live in a house, not an apartment, which is interesting. It's a pretty cool place, and we live like 5 minutes from downtown Montgomery and the State Capitol building. Like everyone we have talked to in the last 4 days has told us all about some shooting, stabbing, robbery, or some form of crime that they have seen or heard of recently. It's a great place. However, even with all the crime that goes on, the biggest news in the whole city BY FAR is that last week the Taco Bell caught fire and burned down. Literally everyone is talking about it. Apparently it made national news, but of course we don't watch the news, so I don't know. Anyway, everyone is pretty sad about it haha.
Wednesday night we had a coordination meeting with our ward mission leader, Brother Chiu. He is a great guy, and eager to do missionary work. Of course I was brand new (still am) and I didn't really know any of our investigators or less-actives or anything, so I pretty much just stayed quiet. I did learn that we have one investigator who is on date for baptism or March 3. Her name is Ariela, and she is a soccer player at ASU. Unfortunately she will be out of town A LOT over the next month or so trying out for different pro soccer teams. She also started her second job this week, so I just hope and pray that we can find time to meet with her. As of today (Monday) I haven't met her yet.
Last Friday was the best day so far here in Captiol. There is a couple in the ward, Joey and Laurie Villalobos, and they have two young daughters. They were baptized sometime last spring, and on Friday they went to the temple for the first time to do baptisms, and so we were able to go with them. It was really cool to be able to see them do something so sacred and so special that they had never done before. Joey is a priest, so he could have done the baptizing, but elected to just be the the one getting baptized for his first time. He said that next time he would do the baptizing, and he would probably try to drown Elder Fergeson in the font haha. Joey's an interesting guy, but I love him and his family. That night at the temple there were also about 8 other recent converts who were doing baptisms for the first time. One of them chose to be the baptizer, and so I watched him baptize a few times. It was interesting to watch, due to the fact that he was new and struggled a bit. He read the words wrong a couple of times, and had to start over. He barely got people under the water most of the time, and once he missed so that baptism had to be redone. It was definitely a learning experience for all that were involved. Yet here is the lesson: You don't have to be the most experienced, and you surely don't have to be perfect. The Lord qualifies those he calls - rarely if ever is someone completely qualified before their calling. The man performing the baptisms was far from perfect, but he kept trying until he got it right. As long as the baptisms are performed correctly, they count - no matter how inexperienced the ones involved are.
The coolest part of the night, however, had nothing to do with the Villalobos. We were waiting outside the confirmation room for their names to come back from the baptistery, and the guys in the confirmation room said to me, "Hey Elder, can we borrow you really quick?" Of course I said yes, and so I went to sit in for some confirmations. They only did one, which I thought was kind of weird because usually they do a whole list of like five or more. The man acting as voice struggled to get through the confirmation, and his voice was breaking the whole time. After he said amen, he said to me, "Thank you. That was my grandfather." That was a cool experience. I'm glad I got to be a part of his family for that little bit of time, and I'm so thankful for the saving work that we get to participate in in the temple. What a wonderful work it is!
One little side note about the Villalobos: there is a girl who lives with them named Harley. She is 16, and I'm not really sure what the story is there, but she lives with the Villalobos family. She is technically an investigator, as she isn't a member of the Church, but she has been coming to church with them for as long as they have been coming (almost a year). Her dad is very much against her being baptized, so we have to wait until she turns 18, which is in May of 2019. Either that, or we can pray for a miracle so that her dad will let her get baptized. But hey, I guess that's one of the many reasons the phrase "Expect Miracles" is all over our apartment.
On Saturday we drove out to Tuskegee, which is about 40 minutes from Montgomery. Apparently there used to be a Branch in Tuskegee, but only like 6 people went so they shut it down a while ago. We visited a few less-actives out there and invited them to church, but most just said that it was too far away and gas was too much and so they wouldn't be able to come. Many were really nice, and we were able to help them out if they needed, and share an uplifting thought and prayer with them. It's unfortunate that they are just poor and live so far away.
A few days ago I had one of my first authentic Southern meals. An elderly member couple, the Stockmans, had us over for dinner. Brother Stockman is like 86 and his wife is like 92. They had made us some weird tomato/okra concoction, turnip greens, creamed corn, chicken, fruit salad, corn bread, and a few other things. They also made a southern favorite for dessert: banana pudding. It was a pretty good meal, some stuff was a little weird, but that's alright. They are great people, and it was good to meet them.
Yesterday we went to church. I'm definitely not used to being in a ward. There were SO many people there haha. It's going to take me a while to get everyone's names down, but I plan on doing it. When Elder Andersen was here a couple weeks ago, one thing he told us was that we needed to know everyone in the branch or ward by name. I'm pretty sure I had that done in Scottsboro. Hopefully I can do it here fairly quickly.
Well, I look forward to my stay here in Montgomery. It's a crazy place, but there are lots of good people, and all of them need the Gospel. I'm excited to get out and share it. I love y'all, hope you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
#ExpectMiracles
My new home!
There's even a place to hang my hammock!
We got to attend the ward Pinewood Derby.
Some of downtown Montgomery.
Rainbow tunnel.
Temple trip with the Villalobos.
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