What’s up to all my family, friends, and coaches back home, at school, and serving around the world! Hope y’all are doing well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather and the amazing sunshine I haven’t seen for like 6 months haha. This week was pretty good! Lots of interesting stories to report on and lots of laughs as well haha. So.... here we go:
Monday was P day and we played some volleyball and threw the football around at the church! It was super fun this week. We had some really good volleyball games, so it was great. I love playing on the front against Eder Peterson so I can block all his spikes. It was really fun. Probably one of the better P days we’ve had in a while. After that we took the North Elders shopping and then we had to do some stuff to get ready for MLC. So we spent a good hour just texting people to get numbers, goals for the next month, and putting it all into spreadsheets for MLC reports. We also finished the zone focus for May and it is sweet! I’ll put a picture of it in this email so you can check it out.
Tuesday we had MLC in Bloomington! It was a much better MLC than usual. When we did our problem/address the problem portion of MLC, we actually accomplished something this time instead of just adding more problems to the original problem. That’s how last month's MLC was. We also got the opportunity to share our “departing testimonies” because they usually have the missionaries going home share theirs at Zone Conference. For the next Zone Conference it will be a Mission Conference with a General Authority coming, so President just had all the departing missionaries share their testimonies at MLC. It was really bittersweet to see so many people that came out with me and now we are all almost done. It was sweet to see how much our testimonies and hearts have changed since we were in the MTC though! One thing we also did at MLC that was really cool was we talked about setting a mission goal for monthly baptisms and everyone will focus on that goal. We prayed as an entire mission leadership council and came to a unanimous decision that 20 baptisms was a good goal that was achievable. The spirit was super strong and it was amazing that over 30 missionaries all came to the same conclusion of 20 baptisms. Revelation is so cool. After MLC we drove out to Waconia to blitz their area overnight. I worked with Elders Roundy and Harris. They are both super cool young Elders. I had a blast with them! We found this really cool dude named Fostin. He was out working in his yard, so we stopped to offer some help! He was so excited that we stopped to help haha. He said he was done working for the day (it was like 8:15 pm) but he would love some help in the next few days. We talked to him about the restoration of the gospel and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was really interested in coming to church! So I know the Elders were supposed to help him finish his yard work, but I’m not sure what happened after that. I’ll have to find out. We also had a super funny dinner with all 5 Elders at the Amott's house. Sister Amott has no filter whatsoever, and she is hilarious.
Wednesday morning was district meeting and interviews for the Waconia District so we drove out to district meeting and it went really well! After that we stopped by some less actives and former investigators in Hopkins and St. Louis Park. We talked to this African dude who was a born again Christian or something like that. He said he wouldn’t take a Book of Mormon because the Bible was the only book of scripture on earth. He also said all you have to do is believe to be saved. Then his wife comes out and starts giving us her two cents, too. We both shared some scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon about being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost. Then they told us we needed to repent and accept Christ as our Savior so we were both pretty fed up at this point and just walked away before we said something stupid haha. Some people are frustrating..... we did a few more stop bys after that and then headed back to our apartment to put all our stuff away from exchanges and pick up the North Elders for dinner with Sister Wetzel and the Abstans Sisters. So this dinner was seriously the coolest miracle this week! We got there and only Becky was there (she’s not a member of the church but wants to be) so we talked to her about baptism and reading the Book of Mormon and just got to know her a little bit. We were there for almost an hour before Sister Wetzel and Aamanda (Becky’s sister who is a member) showed up. This guy named Eric came with them and he is friend with Sister Wetzel. She has known him for like 3 years and she told us she’s been waiting for the ideal opportunity to introduce him to the church. So Eric had met the North Elders like 5 months ago at Taco Bell. And then we had dinner with him! We taught him an awesome restoration lesson and he had so many cool life experiences that have perfectly prepared him to accept the gospel! Like his best friend's name is Joseph Smith. Go figure. It was so cool! He told us he wanted to come to church, but he worked on Saturday night super late. We told him if he read the Book of Mormon, God would provide a way for him to come to church. So he started reading Wednesday night, called us Friday morning and said his boss gave him Sunday off! It was a miracle. Then he didn’t come to church, so that sucked.
Thursday morning we had Lake Nokomis District Meeting and then we started weekly planning after lunch. Oh! Brother Archibald and the Buffalo Elders came and took us to Tepanyaki for lunch! Haha Brother Archibald is so funny! He called President and got it approved and everything. He’s doing well and it was good to see him! We had this bible referral named Isaiah, and we had a lesson set up with him at 3 pm. We texted him to make sure it was still good to come over. He’s like “Nah, I’m working.” Then he starts telling us God hates us because we are white and God was black. We were like, “Dude, it doesn’t say that anywhere in scripture that God is black.” Then he sends us all these random scriptures about random things that have nothing to do with anything. Then he’s like, “Do you honestly believe that there was a group of people in the ancient Americas called Mormons?” Peterson just went off on him at that point because the dude is making the dumbest comments. It was so dumb haha. I felt like I lost brain cells talking to the dude, but it is what it is haha. After that we had a zone finding hour and we met some pretty cool people! We met this lady named Cady who grew up in Vermont and her best friend was Mormon. She said she was super busy at the moment we knocked on her door, but that we could come back in a few weeks and teach her family! She also had no clue the church was like a mile from her house haha. So she thought that was sweet, too. After that we had some dinner at the apartment and then commenced weekly planning.
Friday morning we had the Spanish district meeting and it was good! After that we headed to the VA for service. We had a Cinco De Mayo party with the guys and made salsa and guacamole with them and did a piñata! Elder Hickman and I held the piñata and almost got whacked in the face a few times haha. It was super fun though! We had a blast with the old guys haha. After that we headed over to the Showleys and helped them put in a rock path in their backyard. We dug out sod, dug it down, filled it with base filler and then put the rocks on it. Brother Showley likened it unto a POW camp doing hard labor, but it wasn’t that hard. Anyway, it looked really good when we finished. We got most of it done!
Saturday morning we finished helping the Showleys with the path and got it all done! It looked super good and we were proud of our handiwork. See pics below. After that we helped Brother Pridgeon load up a UHaul truck and move his stuff because he is moving to North Dakota, I’m pretty sure. We stopped at a gas station to get drinks before we went to the Pridgeons and these black ladies came in and were like 5 people behind us in line to get fountain drinks. I was filling my drink up and they’re like, “Oh my gosh! Can’t they see there's people in line? They need to hurry up! Oh my gosh!” I wanted to just be like, “Shut up! Wait for freaking 30 seconds.” Man they were being so rude. None of us said anything but I was like man.... After that we headed home and showered and headed to the church to have dinner with the Gadds and Sister Piene, the Mission Secretary. It was super good! We had ham, sweet potato fries and fresh fruit! It was awesome. Sister Piene made me this sugar free cinnamon apple jello stuff for dessert that was super yummy, too. After that we did some contacting in the MLK Park and talked to Denny again! He’s like, “I haven’t read the Book of Mormon yet. I just don’t know if it’s true or what church is true and i just found out I have lung cancer and need to stop smoking.” So guess what? We just testified that if he read the Book of Mormon every day, he would be able to stop smoking. He was like, “I don’t know...” So we were like, “Denny, what do you have to lose? We promise that if you read the Book of Mormon each day, you will have the spirit more in your life and be able to overcome smoking.” He said, “Alright! I’ll start reading it.” So that was pretty cool! He also said he might check out church soon. After that we went with the North Elders to basketball. That was super fun and we had some good games.
Sunday was such a weird day. So Eric didn’t show up to church, but we ended up having 2 part member families come to church, so that was sweet! We also got a new Bishop and Relief Society President. Bishop Barleen is the new Bishop and Brother Bundy and Showley are the counselors. I’m excited to work with them! The North Elders are teaching this guy named Thome Nicoceli, and he’s getting baptized on May 19th, so we got to talk to him a lot on Sunday and he’s way cool! Super nice guy. After church we met with Bishop Barleen and discussed some members to work with and how we can work with ward council better in the ministering efforts. Then we had “linner” with the Chryslers. I love them, they are so sweet haha. We had taco salad and it was pretty good! After that we were suppposed to meet with a Bible referral we got, so we dropped the North Elders off and then hurried over there and we called him right when we got there and he’s like, “I’ll call you back in a second.” So we waited for like 10 minutes and texted him and he’s like, “Oh I’m busy right now. Sorry.” So we went to this super ghetto Native American place called Little Earth to stop by a part member family. They weren’t home, but we were able to help their next door neighbor carry in some groceries. So that was cool that they actually accepted our help haha. We went back and got in the car and this lady with blue lipstick comes over to us. So we roll down the window and she looks at our name tags and is like, “You need to stay out of here. We don’t need you white people around here. We have our own creator. Go to another neighborhood.” Elder Peterson was like, “We are stopping by a member of our church who lives right there.” She’s like, “Stay out. You guys are being predatory and we don’t need your bibles in here. And tell your Jesus to give us back our land.” Then she made some super racist comments, so Elder Peterson goes, “Have a good one! Thanks for being racist!” She flipped out and started charging the car so we just peeled out and drove away really quick. Not the best moment of the day haha. Then we see these three guys with a weed American flag marching down the street to support the legalization of marijuana. The dude like came up to my window and starts yelling facts about weed at me. I was like, “Dude, I don’t care!” It was so weird. Then we stopped by the Soogers and we were there for like 2 hours. They can talk, my goodness. We got the whole life story again haha. After that we did like 3 more stop bys and almost ran over a Somalian dude who ran in front of our car. There was a YSA devotional at 7 pm so we headed home about 7:30 pm to catch the tail end of it. We get home and the WiFi in the community room isn't working. Elder Peterson and I were just like, “Man, that’s the cherry on top.” So we ate dinner because we were starving and did numbers and then Sunday night sauna. It was super nice!
Well, it’s been an interesting week here in “Lake N’Chaos” as it has been called before haha. I’m really enjoying my mission and just love serving others and helping them see how great the restored gospel is. It makes me sad when people won’t take seriously what we offer or just think they have it all already. I’m grateful for what I do have and for the joy and happiness it brings me and my family! I’m grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day say Saints, and I’m so grateful for all that entails! Have a great week, smile, be happy! Love life, serve others and thank Heavenly Father for all your blessings. I’m so truly blessed to have all I do! Thanks for the prayers and support. They help out so much on the tough days!
Much love,
Elder Beach
#MavUp #10
Lovin' the mission!
Cinco de Mayo at the VA!
My new boots!
Golf, anyone?
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