I hit my 5 month mark on the 22nd which is insane!! Time is flying by super fast and seems to be going faster each month. Next month I will be a quarter of the way done with my mission.
I'll start with today because it is Thanksgiving! We are eating dinner at the Nelson's house right now and they are so awesome. The Cowboys vs Redskins game is on and Brother Nelson said he isn't turning it off. Tender mercy from him! I'm loving life. There are several other families from the ward here and we are just sitting around talking and having a great time! I seriously love this ward so much and am going to cry when I to leave.
This morning we had a huge basketball game with like 25 people there. It was super fun! We had like 15 ward members and we had one of our investigators come too. He was a baller and can jump outta the gym.
Brother Nelson had been talking crap to us all week that he was going to kick our butts in basketball. So we show up and we were ready to go and let's just say he didn't show up to play... hahaha We kicked his butt. Johnny Chapman, who is in our ward and loves basketball more than life, invited the sons from a family in the Eden Prairie ward to come play so they came up, too.
Yesterday was a pretty cool day! We had a solid day planned and literally everything fell through so we decided to do some stop bys and tract. We did that for a few hours and didn't really have any success so we did a few member stop bys as well. We had 3 appointments for the evening but all of them were in Wayzata, Orono and Plymouth and we live in Hopkins and have no car haha. We asked literally 21 people to joint teach with us and no one could because it was the night before Thanksgiving. Then finally Brother Smith bailed us out and said he could go. He is one of my favorite members of the ward. He is a super humble, down to earth guy but he is so cool at the same time! It's hard to explain but I love him! We visited Stormy and Robert in Wayzata and when we got there, Stormy had apparently left Robert and we didn't know where she went or anything. So Robert has dementia and can barely get around his apartment and stuff. We have become friends with some of the guys in his apartment building who drink and smoke all the time but love football, so we hit it off really quick with them haha. One of them is named Mike and said he would check on Robert each day. He is super cool and his daughter is really interested in the Book of Mormon and she's like 9-10, so we talk to him and his daughter quite a bit! We gave Robert a blessing and he asked me to do it and I honestly have no clue what I said, but after we left, Brother Smith was like "Beach, that was a really good blessing!" I was like, "Thanks!" haha. It's cool to be a mouthpiece for the Lord and the Spirit! Later that night, we saw Mike Pike, who is the ex Navy SEAL sniper in our ward. Haha he is the funniest guy. He doesn't have any teeth and he is on pain killers all the time so he is pretty fun to talk to.
Last week we got in with this less active guy in our ward named Joel Winspear. He hasn't been to church in years and he let us in and we had a super good lesson with him! He came to church two weeks ago and said he would start reading the Book of Mormon again. We text him one verse out of the Book of Mormon to read each day!
DeAndre and KeAndre are doing pretty good! They are these twin black guys we are teaching and they are so funny. We have had 3 lessons with them since last time I wrote. We taught KeAndre about choices because he asked us why we have to make decisions in life and we don't just have the way laid out for us. We taught about Todd Maranovich and how his dad gave him no choice to be anything other than Robo QB, and then eventually he just destroyed his life through drugs and stuff. Then we contrasted that with Peyton Manning. His dad, Archie, was a great example to him of how to be a QB and didn't force him to be a QB. Peyton made his own choice and just followed in his dad's footsteps and eventually became one of the greatest of all time. Satan wanted us to be the perfect person all of the time and that doesn't work. Jesus came and was the perfect example for us but we have to choose to be like him. We get to chart our own course. KeAndre loved the lesson and it made a lot of sense to him because he actually played football. Anyway, on Sunday last week, we stopped by to pick him up for church with Johnny Chapman and we called him like 30 minutes before we went over and he said this girl had broken into his apartment and trashed it and smashed his finger in the door. So we go over and there is blood everywhere. Like everywhere. The apartment was trashed and it was crazy. We had stopped by the night before and actually taught a lesson on the doorstep to the girl that had trashed the apartment. She was there and told us she was KeAndre's girlfriend. We found out later that he had been messing around with her before work, went to work and came home with his girlfriend that actually was his girlfriend, and then the girls got in a fight and the one smashed KeAndre's finger in the door and it was a mess. So we talked to him about finding a good girlfriend and not having girls on the side and stuff and he said he would start doing that now haha.
Eleshea is doing really well too! She wants to get married before she gets baptized but she told us she is in Alma in the Book of Mormon and believes it is true 100% and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this is the true church! She has even been sharing the Book of Mormon with people while she's at work. She's on fire right now haha. She's coming to church again and has some super good fellowshippers in the ward too. I'm excited for her in the next month!
Since it's Thanksgiving I figured I better share what I am grateful for!
1. I'm grateful for my family. I didn't realize how much I would miss you guys until I had to be apart from you for 2 years. I really love you and thanks for all you do for me!
2. I'm grateful to be alive at this time. Life is too short and goes too fast to not be grateful for it.
3. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon. It is really the keystone of our religion and I know without a doubt it is true. I'm grateful for the answers to questions it has given me and for the peace and joy I've found in its pages.
4. I'm grateful for my friends. You have influenced me so much for good and I am always going to be grateful for that! I love you guys and love you like family!
5. I'm grateful for football. I'm lucky I have the opportunity to continue to play the game I love after I get home and I'm thankful that Coach Martin gave me a shot to play for the Mavs.
6. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission and share the gospel with people. I love helping people change their lives and come closer to our savior Jesus Christ!
I love you all and hope and pray all is well with you. Look for God's hand in your life and you will find it and find happiness as well! Book of Mormon scripture for the day: Alma 26:37 "Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen." Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving! Love you!
Much love,
Elder Beach
Our awesome investigators, DeAndre and KeAndre!
Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner at the Nelson's.
Awesome place, awesome hosts, awesome company for Thanksgiving!
