Hello to all y'all back home in Cache Valley!  I sure do think about everyone back home a lot and also my fellow Band of Brothers serving the Lord and those getting ready to serve very soon. There is nothing greater than serving the Lord and the people of your mission. As you grow to love them you will love it so much more!

My first day here was insane. Lots of new missionaries and all of us really looked liked deer in the headlights haha.  We all met at the mission home in Bloomington and had lunch and a chat with the President Forbes and his wife. They are really laid back which is nice.  All the new missionaries had an interview with him and mine was really strange. He asked me about my recycling business and then asked why I am serving a mission.  Then he said well we are happy to have you here! And that was it.  I was like uhhhh..... Ok. Then we got our bikes and stuff and I got my pack of instants so thanks mom and dad for those! My bike has been doing good, it's just like so nice for me to know how to use everything on it haha. But it's been a great bike so far! 

My trainer Elder Cordara has been great! He is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada so I got 2 'Berta Boys for my first two companions! He is 24 because he went to 4 years of college before his mission! He is really outgoing and friendly so that helps me a lot haha. He has only been out 6 months and was in Thunder Bay for about 4 1/2 of those months so we both are still getting to know the area.  We cover Maple Grove, Champlin, Osseo, and Dayton!

We live with the Parkinsons, who are a member family. They have 2 kids and both are moved out so they are empty nesters. We stay in the basement and we have a pretty good set up.  They are really nice and Brother Parkinson is awesome and Sister Parkinson is a mom away from home. They are great! Pictures from the apartment are below.

So my first day here we taught a lesson with Ted Otis, who is a way awesome biker dude that the missionaries have been teaching for a while. He is so great!  We are still working on him for baptism but he is progressing. He quit drinking and he is smoking less so that's good!

We also taught Peter Abbey who has been investigating the church for like 3 years. He was dropped by the missionaries but Elder Cordara felt like we should visit him. We talked about what was keeping him from being baptized and he said he just hadn't got an answer yet from God. We shared Moroni 10:3-5 and D&C 8:2-3 and 9:8-9 with him. I was able to share the scriptures and Elder Cordara asked him to be baptized and be said he would when he got an answer! October 10 is the date he set so we hope he can make it. 

We got to do a booth at Maple Grove days focusing on family history work. We had several hundred people stop by so it was great. We also got to talk to some pastors from other faiths and share our beliefs with them. It was so cool! And I got to take a picture with Iron Man, so yeah!

We have been able to have dinner with members every night! It's been great. The best dinner I have had was Carbana which is Mac n cheese with grilled chicken, bacon and egg mixed in. I had 3 plates full of that!  It was delicious! The members are great! We had dinner the first night with Jephtah Gatei and his wife. He is a convert to the church and is from Kenya. He is so awesome. His wife isn't a member but we are working on her haha. 

We are helping this lady we found tracting a lot with yard work! Her name is Luann and she lives just down the street from the Parkinsons. She loves rocks and especially rocks from Utah. So we hit it off talking about Utah!  I even talked her into letting me mow her lawn while Elder Cordara talked to her about the Book of Mormon. She is coming to the family history center with us tomorrow as well!

We have been knocking doors a lot in Champlin because we have pretty good success at least talking to people. So we went to this lady's house named Janna, who the Elders had met once and helped with her lawn mower. Her brother Dan answered the door and said she wasn't home. So we told Dan who we are and our message and gave him a Book of Mormon to read and he said he would and we could swing by this next week to talk to him again!

We had a really cool experience yesterday evening. We ride by this farmhouse every time on our way to Champlin and I felt like we should go knock their door. So we got on our bikes and rode to the house and the owner of the house was out front so we pulled up and were like "Hey we are missionaries from the LDS church..." And so on and he basically was like no go away I don't want to talk to y'all and he went inside. So I was like what the heck? But as we rode back home I had another prompting to talk to this lady and her son on the side of the road by the trail head. We talked to them for about a half hour about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and stuff. It was so cool!! They accepted a Book of Mormon and a Proclamation to the Family pamphlet. What a way to end a day!

I am so grateful I have the opportunity to serve the Lord and I love the people of Minnesota dearly already. It's amazing! I love all y'all back home so much and miss y'all but I know I am supposed to be here. Alex and Bryce, this is going to be the hardest thing you've done but it is so amazing if you just lose yourself in the work. Eminem said it best: "Lose yourself in the music, the moments, you want it, you better never let go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance, don't blow this opportunity cuz it's once in a life time." You'll both do great! I love y'all. Thanks to everyone for the emails, I love getting them. Thanks for your prayers and support! 

Much love, 

Elder Beach

Deer in the headlights the first day in the MMM.

Pretty nice digs living with the Parkinson's!

Elder Beach and Elder Cordara

Elder Beach with Iron Man at Maple Grove Days

Kitchen in Maple Grove.

Apartment in Maple Grove

Picking up the new bike!