Hey all of you back home! I love all of you guys and miss you a little bit haha. The MTC has been amazing and I love it here. The spirit is so strong and I have grown so much in my knowledge of the gospel in just a week.
The first day here was really long and I honestly wondered what I was doing here. My companion was a little homesick and I didn't know anyone in my district. It was hard. At the end of the day, we had all the new missionaries devotional and we sang "Armies of Helaman." In the song it said, "We are now the Lord's missionaries", instead of "We will be the Lord's missionaries" and as I looked around, I just kind of lost it because I realized how amazing it was that I was part of the Lord's army of missionaries. I was hoping Elder Peterson wasn't gonna think I was an idiot but he didn't haha.
Elder Peterson is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and he is a great guy. We complement each other really well. I am more serious, get down to business, and he is a very funny and care free guy. So we have a good mix of work hard and play hard haha! He has so many funny sayings and I am starting to use a lot of them. One of them is "chapped", which pretty much means something is unfortunate or stupid. So you would say "That's pretty chapped," if something sucks. And he always says, "Let's make like a baby and head out." He honestly cracks me up so much. I am blessed to have him as a companion.
Our district is great! 6 of the 8 elders are going to the Minnesota, Minneapolis Mission and the others are going to the Denver, Colorado mission. The 3 sisters are going to Ohio, Cleveland. Our district is amazingly close after just a week. We do everything together and we are all great friends already. It's amazing how the Lord can bring people together so quickly!
We already have taught two "investigators" twice each. Our first investigator is Talia and she is a Catholic. She is really accepting that God loves her and has a plan for her but she got really hung up with baptism and why it is so essential when she has already been baptized. It is hard and so sad when people you love don't want to accept it. Our other investigator, Kayla, is doing awesome and she has already committed to be baptized when she feels the time is right for her. She is really trying to read and understand the book of Mormon and build a relationship with God through prayer. It is amazing! The most amazing thing I have learned while here is that when you have the true love of Christ for your investigators, it doesn't matter if the lesson is perfect. Just have a perfect love for them and they will feel it. I can testify that that is so true. Preparation in regards to what the investigator needs is key as well. Teach the person, don't just teach the lesson. There are times where we go in with a lesson plan and we end up teaching an entirely different thing because of the spirit and what the investigator needs or has questions about. It is so amazing to help people come unto Christ!!
I have been able to workout pretty much every day so I am a happy camper haha. The fitness center has free weight dumbells and our dorm room has a pullup bar on the wall so I have been doing lots of pullups, not butterfly just strict, and lots of L-chin-ups. My roommates and I do handstand pushups and handstand walk stuff every night. Even though they aren't the best they love to do stuff that challenges them physically and they are getting way better even though Elder Foutz almost died trying to do handstand pushups haha. Best news though: I broke my handstand walk record!! I went a little over 50 feet (estimation) but we are pretty sure it was at least 49 feet. The photo of me handstand walking was during my record run!
I am having a blast here and I know this is where I am supposed to be! Mom and Dad and my family, and Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for the food and all the support and prayers. I can feel them all the way in Provo. I love all you guys back home. The church is true and God the Father and Jesus Christ love each and every one of you so much!
Much Love,
Elder Beach
