Lots of Lessons to Learn!

Hello to my friends and family back in Cache Valley and to my brothers at college and serving worldwide! I love all of you very much and I hope you know that!

This week has been a really good week! Last Monday (P-Day) we had a zone p-day and played volleyball, basketball and football at our church building. I was soooooo hyped that I got to throw the football around for a while. It felt great to do that because I haven't thrown a football since I left! It was a fun day and we had a great time with our zone. 

On Wednesday, there was a crazy rainstorm here. It rained like 2-3 inches in an hour and a half haha. It was nuts. Luckily we were with Brother Parkinson because he was joint teaching with us, so he drove us around! That night we had a lesson with Sister Saylee who is a less active member in our ward. We taught about tithing so she can start getting ready to go to the temple. She said if she paid her tithing, she wouldn't have enough to pay her rent. We promised her that if she had faith, and did what the Lord asked her to do, it would all work out. We shared 3 Nephi 24:10 where it quotes Malachi 3:10 talking about if you pay tithing the Lord will "open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings... And there won't be room enough to receive them." That is a powerful promise that the Lord has made to us! Sister Saylee seemed to like that so we are hoping she can pay her tithing this week.

On Thursday we did a lot of finding because we had like one lesson. So we biked up to North Champlin and caught Emmanuel at home! He has a baptismal date set and I hadn't even met him until Thursday haha. He works pretty much all day every day. Anyway, he is a really cool guy and we set up an appointment with him for Saturday and he called us Saturday and told us he couldn't make it because of work. So we are trying really hard to see him soon!

We found these two guys that rent a house together and they were fixing their motorcycles out in their drive way. We walked up and the one guy says "Hey Elders!" And we were like uhhh... Hey!! The guy's name was Maui and he said he was "ex-Mormon" haha. His roommate was a big guy, looked like a linebacker and he was super funny. He kept swearing and I was just trying not to die. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon and how it can change your life for the better. The big linebacker guy seemed to be touched by it, because he thought he wasn't a good person. I felt bad because you could just tell his heart was gigantic. I told him that no matter what we have done or if we feel like we've messed up too much, we can always improve and change through the Atonement and that the Book of Mormon shows us how to do that. It was really cool! He said we could come by whenever we were around and get a soda. They were heading out on a bike trip to Wyoming this week!

We actually had a gospel discussion with Luann on Saturday!! It was cool! We talked about temple work and baptisms for the dead. The topic of priesthood authority came up and I just started explaining to her straight up about how we have priesthood authority straight from Jesus Christ and she didn't really want to hear it. Elder Cordara then told this huge loop of a story of how God just wants us to show our commitment to him by being baptized and that the authority we have is like God's stamp of approval. She liked that way of explaining it a lot better haha.  It was a good learning experience for me!

Yesterday, Sunday, I got to teach the lesson in Gospel Essentials class. I taught it on priesthood because when we got home on Saturday, I was really mad that I couldn't find a scripture anywhere in the Bible that talks about Jesus giving his disciples the priesthood authority by the laying on of hands. It has ones about giving them power to heal the sick and cast out Devils but not where it says he gave them the priesthood. So I did a lot of digging and research on the priesthood and basically ended up having a whole lesson of research so I just taught about the priesthood. It was a really good lesson! We had one investigator there named Gloria. She gave some really good comments on the lesson and it was cool. 

We taught Ann Pearson again on Wednesday and also had a zone training in St. Cloud. The training was really good, but it was basically just new missionary training for everyone who isn't training or being trained. They had all the missionaries leaving this transfer bear their testimonies and it was really cool to listen to those. I started thinking about when I will go home and I'm excited to come home haha. But then I thought, if I was at the end of my mission right now, I would not be satisfied at all with what I have done so far, so I was like, "G, you better get to work!" It was a cool moment of inspiration for me. 

The lesson with Ann was great! We taught about the Book of Mormon and how it will help us overcome fears and doubts we have in our lives.  The spirit was really strong and I was even tearing up a little. We left her with a challenge to take a concern she has to the Book of Mormon and she could find peace in it!  It was a way cool lesson. 

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Yesterday night we were visiting potential investigators and we stopped by this one guy named Gary Deering. He opened the door and was like "Come on in!" We were a little taken aback by it, but we went in and taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it testifies of Christ just like the Bible. He is a really cool guy and had actually met with missionaries before and they kind of lost contact. He says he really appreciates our efforts to spread the good word. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon along with his bible and that he would come closer to Christ if he does. He said he would! It was way cool to find him like that.

It's been fun, I've had some ups and downs but I know this is where I am supposed to be. God loves all of us so much and that is the thing I have learned most since I've been here. He is there to help us and wants to help us, we just need to turn to him and ask! I read Ether chapters 1-4 and it's awesome to see how blessed the people are when they pray sincerely for help vs when they don't. Keep that in mind this week; if you need anything, ask God! That is one of the most comforting thoughts knowing that he is always there for us. I have a picture of the Savior on my workout white board and it says "The way may be difficult at times, but I will always be there." If that isn't God's truth then I don't know what is. I love the gospel and I love sharing it with the people of Minnesota and the Maple Grove ward (there ya go dad). Thank you all for the prayers and emails. They mean so much and I love hearing about how all of you are doing! Makes me feel like I am still home! Much love to all my fellow Bobcats serving worldwide. Last I heard we are at 112! My Brothers from football - I love y'all so much and pray for you daily. Keep fighting the good fight whether that be at college or in the mission field. Family, I love you all as well and pray every day for you. Thanks for all the support and just know I am so grateful for you and for all you do for me

Much love, 

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

Sorry not a lot of photos this week! We've been hard at work with lessons and stuff. This is Ziggy who I had to take a picture with during a lesson so he would shut up and pay attention.