Elder Jackson Beach: Dressed in White

Hello all my family and friends, this was a great week in good old Attalla. One of the best weeks I've had as a missionary, and y'all should know why if you have been reading my previous emails.

Daniel was baptized on Saturday, and I had the opportunity to baptize him. It was such a great experience. He is the most prepared individual that I have ever had the privilege of meeting and teaching. At the end of his service, Daniel shared his testimony and told a brief story that I had only heard part of before. It was my understanding that his journey in the Restored Gospel had begun when he ordered a Book of Mormon online last spring. He said that his journey had actually begun a little bit before that when he was on YouTube and stumbled across a video from "Brother Monson" in General Conference. He said that he was very impressed with Brother Monson and his genuineness and humility, and that was kind of his start to learning about the Church. What a cool thing! It's been so great to be part of Daniel's progression over the past few months and see his knowledge and testimony grow. He's going to be a great member and will add much to this branch in the coming years.

Daniel's daughter, Gabi, also came to church on Sunday for the first time to attend his confirmation. She stayed for all of church, and the Young Women did a great job of making her feel welcome. We didn't have a chance to talk to her a whole lot afterwards, but I'm hopeful that whatever fears she may have had about coming to church were lessened or dispelled.

Ruby was also baptized on Sunday afternoon. Her service was so awesome. I hopefully filled you in on her story before, but she was a member back in the 80s. For some unknown reason (I've tried to talk to her about it, and I'm not sure if she even knows why) she asked that her name be removed from Church records. Nearly a year ago now, there were some members who asked the missionaries to go check on her, and she told them her story, told them how much she missed the church, and almost immediately started attending again. Her baptism and re-admittance into the Church has been a long time coming, and it was a joy to be a part of it. She too has an incredibly strong testimony. I love hearing testimonies of those who are relatively new in the gospel like Ruby and Daniel. They are so pure and genuine and focused on what's important. In the words of Elder Anderson, "[They] may not know everything, but [they] know enough." I, like Daniel and Ruby, know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. It is here to help us learn how to return to live with God again, and I know that as we obey the principles of the gospel we will be able to do just that - live with God and with our families. What a blessing that is. I'm so glad I was able to play a part in helping them both enter on the strait and narrow path on their way back home.

This week as we were riding down the road, there was a lady who pulled us over in her car. She told that she was a member, had just moved to Attalla a couple of months ago, and asked us where the church was. She also told us that her husband was not a member, but she felt that there was some potential there. He had met with missionaries before in Georgia, but hadn't been able to since they moved here. It was definitely an unexpected stop, but those are the kind of things we love! Finding is tough, and I love when they come to us instead of us going to them. Unfortunately they didn't come to church on Sunday like she said they would, but hopefully we will be able to go visit them this week and start teaching her husband again.

We also got a call from a member family a week or so ago telling us that their neighbors want us to come over and more or less perform an exorcism for them. We called and made an appointment with them for this Wednesday. Now, we aren't going to do an exorcism, but we can definitely go visit them, bless the home, pray with them, help them to feel the Spirit, and "chase away darkness" as President Sainsbury says. I look forward to the visit, and hopefully we can make it be uplifting for them and us, and not weird (like most visits I've had with people who claim they have evil spirits in their homes).

This past Saturday we also were able to set up our Family History booth at the Attalla Heritage Day festival. It rained most of the day unfortunately, but it was still a semi-successful event. Not a whole lot of people were interested in learning about their family, but we did meet several individuals that we had family/gospel discussions with. One lady said that she used to cut the hair of a previous bishop and she had read the Book of Mormon before. She said that she had had lots of gospel discussions with this bishop before, and she took another copy of the Book of Mormon and told us that she would be up for meeting with us and discussing it sometime. I really hope she gives us a call, I would really love to meet with her again. Time will tell with her and others that we met.

One final thought for the week. Last week at Zone Conference, President Sainsbury asked us all to take time and notice tender mercies, or miraculous coincidences, that happen each day. He asked us to write them down, right when and as they happen. I had actually started doing a similar thing about a month ago (since I have not been too great at journal writing), and I have noticed that as I write those things down, I definitely recognize the Lord's hand more often. "Revelation received is good for the moment. Revelation received and recorded is good for eternity."

Love y'all! Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, and mail. I love receiving them all. Have a great week!

Elder Beach

#RollTide

#8-0

PS - We are moving into our new dwelling this upcoming weekend. I'll get y'all the address as soon as I can. If you have anything to send, please wait until you get the new address (unless it will get here by Oct 27. Thanks.)