What’s up to all my fam, friends and coaches back home! Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the start of summer break! I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. I've only got two more weeks of work until my parents get here! Pretty crazy! This week was awesome. I feel like I’ve grown a lot this last transfer of my mission and also that Heavenly Father is helping me to see miracles more and more each day in the course of the work. I’m grateful for His ever present hand in this great work! We had a lot of cool stories from this week so I’d just like to share all of those.
First off, Kevin Cornelius that I was able to teach in the Minnetonka ward with Elders Gooch and Nielson got baptized on Saturday. His parents both came to the baptism and sat on either side of him during the service. I was able to be a witness for the baptism and also be in the circle to confirm Kevin. This was honestly one of the most powerful spiritual experiences I’ve had on my mission. I remember the first time we taught Kevin. He was very skeptical and didn’t seem like he really wanted anything to do with the church. As we kept teaching him, as he kept reading the Book of Mormon, his heart changed. He changed. You could see that he wanted the restored gospel in his life. I was so grateful to see that be able to come full circle on Saturday. When we confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and conferred upon him the gift of the Holy Ghost, I cried tears of joy and happiness for Kevin. This is only the second time I think I’ve cried on my mission (the first day in the MTC was the first time haha) It was awesome to see Kevin, lots of members of the Minnetonka ward, and lots of missionaries I’ve served there with.
One of the really cool things we’ve had happen this week was seeing the power of our testimonies combined with the influence of the spirit change people's hearts as we talk to them! On Saturday, we were stopping by a less active member and she didn’t live there so we were walking back to our car and saw a guy next door to her house out front checking his mailbox. We stopped to talk to him and found out he was atheist and wasn’t super interested in any sort of religion. He was slightly rude to us and just seemed like every other atheist I’ve talked to on my mission. However, he asked us the question, “How do you know there is a God?” It was interesting because I had just read a scripture in Alma that day answering this question! So Alma is preaching to an anti-Christ named Korihor. Korihor basically says I’m not gonna believe in God unless you show me a sign that there is a God. Alma answers with the following response in verse 44: But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.
So we shared that verse with him and then we each bore testimony of how we knew that there was a God and also about the true nature of God. Elder Akins is so good at sharing his testimony and inviting the spirit to bear witness to others that what we are sharing is true. I’ve really loved that aspect of working with him. He is so good at just sharing his testimony and inviting others to gain a testimony the same way he did. It is awesome. Anyway, we continued to teach him about the Plan of Salvation and testify to him. By the end of talking to him he said to us that he actually felt he was more agnostic and not atheist. It is amazing to see the spirit work in people’s hearts. Literally all we did was teach truth and bear testimony. He accepted a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read Alma 32 and pray about it. He said he would check it out but probably wasn’t interested in meeting again unless he had some questions. It was just really amazing to see the spirit work in him in like 25 minutes. It was sweet!
On Sunday we tracted into this lady named Caroline. She opened the door and was like, “In this house we are 7th Day Adventists.” I was like, “Oh man, here we go haha.” I haven’t had the best experiences with them on my mission. So we asked her what exactly she believed and she told us she only believed in the Bible and some other stuff that seemed a little interesting to me. She said she didn’t believe the Book of Mormon was scripture and I started to ask her why she believed that if she’d never read it. Elder Akins jumped in and asked, “So how did you gain a testimony of the Bible?” She told us how she had read it after going though a period of time in her life where she didn’t believe in God or anything like that. She came to know it was true through reading it and praying to know if it was true. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Elder Akins shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how he came to know it was true through following the promise in Moroni 10. I was then able to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon as well and how we can enhance our testimony of Christ through reading it and asking God if it is true, much in the same way she did with the Bible. At this point she was like,“I guess that makes sense. I will take a Book of Mormon and read some of it.” She had told us that she had skimmed through it before and found a lot of things she didn’t agree with in it. I bore testimony to her that if I just skimmed through it, I would also find a lot of stuff that I didn’t agree with either. It was through diligent study of it and sincere prayers that I came to know it was true for myself. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. The power of bearing pure testimony is real!
Another really cool thing that happened this week was we were able to do a new member lesson with Thome' in the Showley’s home on Thursday night. It was awesome! Thome' just got back from Utah because he went out to visit and go to the 40th anniversary celebration of “Be One” this past weekend. He loved it and said he felt such a great spirit in Salt Lake City and at the conference center. We had planned to read some the talk “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives” by Russell M. Nelson. Thome' expressed some of his questions he had had about whether or not to move to Utah, stay here in Minnesota, or maybe even move to Denver. He really wants to find a Mormon wife, raise a family in the church, one day serve a mission, and also continue to work for U.S. Bank. All of these are playing a part in his decision. The Showleys were amazing in sharing experiences they have had in their lives with personal revelation and we talked a lot about how to receive it for ourselves. I would strongly recommend reading that talk and applying the things President Nelson teaches us about personal revelation into your own lives. I’m still working on them, and try to fully incorporate each aspect of it, but I’ve already seen great strides in my ability to hear the spirit and receive guidance and answers in my life. This quote from his talk stood out to me more than any other thing I heard in conference this April: “Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” President Nelson is without any shadow of doubt the prophet of God. I know he knows things are coming in this world that we must be prepared for. I do not know what those things are. But I do know that having the spirit with us is essential. Being able to know truth and find answers and receive personal revelation in the coming days is necessary for our spiritual survival. Anyway, it was a sweet lesson.
Ok 2 more things and then I’ll be done for the week! So the biggest miracle we had this week was Sunday night at 8:30 pm. So we stopped by this less active part member family and they weren’t home, go figure haha. So next door there was this family out playing with their dog. So we stopped and talked to them! We ended up teaching the whole family the restoration on the front porch! So there was a Mom named Quinetta and her 3 kids and then her brother DeAndre. DeAndre said he grew up religious but didn’t really go to a church or feel like he had a lot of faith. He was such a nice, genuine guy and we answered all his questions. Quinetta had some really good questions as well and I felt like we just clicked really well with them. They were super nice and we set up a return appointment for next Sunday, and they also said they would like to do a church tour on Saturday, so we need to get that set up with them! It was such a great way to cap off the week. Elder Akins and I were on cloud 9! Such a cool miracle!
Lastly, I read this amazing talk by Elder Uchtdorf this week called, “The Adventure of Mortality.” It talks a lot about enjoying our life journey and how we can find joy in the journey. He talked about counseling with the Lord in our decisions and had this couple of paragraphs that really stuck out to me: "Now, when we speak of letting God guide our lives, I would like to clarify one thing. You might not like what I’m about to tell you. When you ask God what to do about decisions in your life--including some important decisions--He may not give you a clear answer. The truth is that sometimes it just doesn’t matter to the Lord what you decide, as long as you stay within the fundamental covenants and principles of the gospel.
In many cases, the decisions you make may not be as important as what you do after making the decision.
For example, a couple may choose to get married even though some in their own families do not consider them a perfect match. However, I have a great deal of hope for such a couple if, after the decision is made, they stay totally committed to each other and to the Lord with all their heart and mind. By treating each other with love and kindness and focusing on one another’s emotional, spiritual, and temporal needs--by doing the “little” things consistently--they become the perfect match.
In contrast is the couple who thinks they picked the “perfect” person and then assumes that all the heavy lifting is over. If they quit courting each other, stop communicating one-on-one, and slide back into egotism and a self-centered life--this couple is on a path that leads to sorrow and regret.
The same principle applies to vocational choices. I have great hope for those who pick a less prestigious occupation but who do the best they can and find ways to make their work interesting and challenging.“
I felt like that stuck out to me a lot as I’ve been thinking about my future job, spouse, life etc. Those were some great words for me to read and know that whatever I decide to do, as long as it is within the fundamental covenants and principles of the gospel, it will all work out! I know this is true for everyone. God loves us and wants us to make our own choices. He will help guide us in our choices but also wants us to make our own decisions. Whatever we decide, God will help us and it’ll work out as long as we go for it with faith and trust in God!
Well it’s been a great week. Looking forward to 2 more good ones. Thanks for all the prayers and support and I can’t wait to see you all soon! Love you all!
Much love,
Elder Beach
My former companions, Elders Gooch and Nielson, with whom I helped teach Kevin. This is at Kevin's baptism. One of the highlights of my mission!
Having some fun with some of the other missionaries.
The cool hats I bought at Mall of America.
Belief is the reason we go on a mission. It is the motive for preaching about Christ and sharing/Proclaiming his love. Faith is understanding we are children of God and our Heavenly Father. May the definition of faith bless you in life Faith is defined again and because faith has an inherent joy it gives us a solid foundation that we finally have the peace we have been searching for.
ReplyDelete"Many believer's feed themselves on what God hasn't done. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I create the atmosphere for the spirit of offense to arise and to thrive. When I dwell on what hasn't happened, I legitimize unbelief. I live with a sense of justification, for not believing God.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance. even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance
Heaven is a place where everyone is celebrated, some are more honored but everyone is celebrated. All men and all women shall be judged on the light which they have received. Heaven is a permissible culture. God's nature is eternally permissible. These statements protect us from credit.
Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there's no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present. Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn't done. Faith in it's purest form is the absence of resistance. Faith doesn't deny a problems existence, it denies it's influence. He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed for he or she had a deeply rooted, and a vigorous faith.
Now we can act as we have always dreamed. Now we can act as we have always been. Now we can step into the light and gather the sunlight instead of blocking out our possibilities. Instead of blocking out our joy. Variety will bloom in/under the sun. We can show off our best, we can enjoy other people's gifts. We can blossom where we stand upon the joy that faith provides us. Upon the joy that faith inherently has, which blossoms the entire field of flowers"
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDYaxabUfkA - The Definition of Faith