What’s up to all my family, friends, and coaches back home, at school, and serving around the world! Hope this email finds you well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather that is finally here. I’m pretty sure we are in the clear in Minnesota as far as spring goes. It’s been in the 60’s and sunny this last week and has been awesome to be outside talking to people. This week's been pretty good! We got “My Plan” this week, which is what you work on your last transfer of your mission to prepare you to go home. I don't know why they send it out so early because then people get trunky (not me) but it seems to have that affect on some people haha.
Monday we had p-day and Elder Peterson’s birthday party! The Spanish District and the Eden Prairie Elders came to the church to play some board games and stuff and hang out. The Perezes brought some Little Caesar’s pizza and stuff and the North Hermanas baked a cake for him. It was super fun and we played Mafia like 4 times haha. It was getting pretty wild and he was the narrator, so you know it was fun haha. After that we helped Sister Tolbert move a bunch of huge chairs and couches in her house outside because they are redoing the floor. Then we had a lesson with the Ludwigs that was less than stellar. I’m pretty sure we mutually dropped each other after the lesson. We were super blunt with them and I don’t think they liked that much. Basically all they do is give us these bible verses to read and then ask for our explanation of what it means and then bible bash with us. Also, Galatians chapter 3 is talking about the freakin' law of Moses. They think it means “the law”, meaning you don't do anything past saying you believe in Christ. Then they tried to explain that it isn’t talking about the law of Moses, which it obviously is. We talked about how we need to be baptized and they both were like, “Yeah, it says that in the Bible, but we don’t think it’s necessary. God will decide.” I just shared my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I know it’s true and because of that, I know that we need to be baptized by proper Priesthood authority to receive salvation. Then they started trying to bible bash again, and I was like, “Look, wasn’t the reason you wanted to meet with us so you could learn about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?” They said yes. I was like, “Ok, well basically all we do when we come over is debate biblical scriptures or get grilled with stupid questions you have about really nit picky stuff. So if you want to learn about what we believe, but you don’t want to listen to us teach it to you, read the Book of Mormon.” They’re like, “Oh well, we don’t subscribe to the Book of Mormon. We don’t believe it’s true.” I was like, “Have you ever read it?” They’re like, “Uhhhh.... no....” I was like, “Ok well that’s like me reading the Bible and saying it isn’t true. So read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it’s true.” That was pretty much the end of the lesson and I don’t think they were super thrilled about it.
Tuesday we took the Spanish Elders up to Maple Grove to get Elder Cross's bike fixed. The Spanish Elders bike full time so he definitely needs his bike to be working. His crankshaft and gears were all messed up so they got him fixed up and now he’s good to go. After that we did a bunch of stop bys and did some tracting as well. I don’t really remember a whole lot from Tuesday haha. It’s been a long week!
Wednesday was pretty fun! We went to the Waconia District meeting. They’re really struggling with finding, so we are going to do a finding training in their district meeting this week to help them out with some ideas. I literally don’t know how it’s so hard to find people. Like I’ve had areas where we found people but no one was solid after like one or two lessons, but they’re just not finding anyone period. So it’s a little tricky as to how we can help them. After that we did some stop bys in Hopkins and did some tracting as well. We tracted into Maxx Williams' sister! He played TE for the U of M, and now plays for the Ravens in the NFL. She was pretty nice and accepted a Book of Mormon. Hopefully she reads it and wants her brother to as well. haha. We knocked on this one guy's door and he comes to the door and here’s our dialogue:
Guy: “If you’re bill collectors, get the f*** outta here!!”
Us: “We are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have an awesome message to share with you!”
Guy: “I’m Missouri Lutheran. Why the h*** would I want to know more about Christ?”
*starts to close the door*
Us: “So can we share a message with you?”
Guy: “Go **** yourselves!”
*slams door*
Us: *die laughing*
It was pretty funny to say the least haha. After that we headed back into the main part of our area and stopped by some more people in this town home complex. We stopped by a potential named Irene. She did not live there but this dude name DK did, and he was pretty sweet! When we told him who we were, he wasn’t super interested at first. As a zone we have a controllable goal we set each week. So ours is to invite 5 people to church every day. So we invited him to church and gave him a card. He looked at it and was like, “Oh, you guys are Mormons? Man, I think it’s dope that you have like 4 wives! That’s hype!” Elder Peterson and I looked at each other and we were both thinking, “Man, should we set him straight or just keep rolling with this?” But we told him we don’t practice polygamy anymore haha. He was a little disheartened by that, but we ended up teaching him the restoration and giving him a Book of Mormon to read! So that was pretty sweet haha. We had dinner with the Showleys and that was great. They had some game called “BayBlades” that Elder Peterson and their son played. I had no clue what it was haha. Sister Showley had some CMU hats she didn’t use anymore, so she gave those to me! So that was pretty sweet. They’re not the best hats, so I’ll probably use them as hard work hats or just put them on my memorabilia shelf for college haha. After that we stopped by a bunch of people in the south part of our area and nobody was home. Then we did comp study at the church and did some administrative stuff and headed home.
Thursday was pretty sweet, too! We went to FMSC (Feed My Starving Children) for service and then exchanged with the Eden Prairie Elders. I went with Elder Salins to our area. The kid is brand new to the mission, but he’s basically Elder Calhoun off of "The best two years". This kid talks to anything that moves. Like he will try and jump out of the car to go talk to people. So that was really fun for me to just talk to like a million people in one day! We met some sweet people and found a couple new investigators, too! We got to play basketball with this potential investigator's son named Khalil. So Ibe was a potential in our area book, and Elder Peterson and I met him once. Elder Salins and I stopped by and his son was out playing basketball. So we played H-O-R-S-E with him until his dad showed up! So as we were playing basketball with him we talked about the Book of Mormon with him and if he goes to church. Kahlil goes to church with his grandma a decent amount and really likes it. He said he would be interested in coming to our church as well. He’s in 6th grade and is super with it haha. We also talked to Ibe once he got home and invited them to basketball on Saturdays, and they were pretty stoked about that. So that was sweet! Elder Salins was adamant that we didn’t have dinner so we could keep working. I was starving, but I was like, “Alright dude! Let’s do it!” We did a bunch of tracting and stop bys and then had a lesson with Paula, this lady that Elder Peterson and I found like 2 weeks ago. She invited us in and we taught her a full restoration lesson. She has some pretty unique beliefs! She thinks her mom is a prophet and that all people hold the Priesthood. She also said she believes in the Book of Mormon but she had never read it or heard of it. Then she started asking us about other books that came before the Bible. I was like, “Well, the Bible starts with Adam and Eve. I’m not sure how you can have anything before that.” She’s like, “No, they had books before Adam and Eve were on earth. You should read them. I’ve never read them but you should research into them.” I was like “Ok......?” Super weird. But she said she’d read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. So that was good! After that we exchanged back and then went to Taco Bell on the way home because I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and was starving haha.
Friday we had Spanish District Meeting and then went to the VA and had a blast with all the homies there. There’re these two guys named Doug and Neil that I’m getting pretty tight with. So I hung out with them while we did a sing-a-long and played some board games. Haha we played “Apples to Apples” and Neil dominated, but he didn’t even know how to play. The whole game he’s like, “I don’t even know what the hell is going on? How am I winning?” I was like, “I don't know, Neil. Just keep doing what you're doing, man!” So he destroyed us, but didn’t quite grasp the concept of the game hahaha. We had a great time and the guys were happy to hang out with us! After that we had dinner with the Ramseys and the North Elders. They fed us some really good spaghetti, but it destroyed us after. All four of us were just camped out in the church bathroom for a while. Not good. After dinner we had to do weekly planning because that was like the only time this week we could do it. So that was pretty much Friday!
Saturday morning we met with Brother Patterson at McDonald’s to do our coordination meeting. These two old ladies were sitting next to us and they were 90 and 98 years old! They were so impressed with how nice we were dressed up that they stopped and talked to us and we ended up having a really cool conversation with them! We asked if they’d be interested in having the Elders in Minnetonka over to visit them, but they declined. They were so nice and really sweet. It was awesome! After that we helped Brother Patterson lift up his garage door because it was out of whack and didn’t work haha. Then we headed back to the church and dropped off the car for the North Elders and then did our studies and planning and then headed out on our bikes. It was a beautiful day out and tons of people were out! We talked to a lot of people and gave out like 3 Books of Mormon. Haha so many people are not interested in our message, but when you talk to everyone that’s out, you find those who are interested. We definitely saw that on Saturday! After that we went to SA of miracles really quick to get a drink. It was a little warm out so we got some super sippers. After that we had dinner with Brother Glover. He is pretty sweet! He used to be in gangs and some crazy stuff and then joined the church like 14 years ago. He got us fried chicken and fish again haha. It was good but not healthy haha. I felt like a fatso after dinner haha. After that we headed out to Plymouth to play some basketball! DeAndre Singleton that I taught in Minnetonka was there and when I walked in he literally jumped on me and we just hugged for like 20 seconds. It was awesome! He’s doing good! Basketball was way fun and we had a lot of people there.
Sunday we basically had meetings the whole day. We had stake report meeting in the morning, then church, then met with Bishop, then we had to go back to Bloomington for the JustServe meeting with the stake then we drove back to dinner, then back down to Bloomington to Mission President's Fireside. So much driving haha. We literally had like 30 minutes to proselyte on Sunday. We just stopped by like 3 people and knocked a couple doors. It was kind of rough because it was a way nice day out and we were stuck inside in meetings all day. The meetings were good though, and we got some good headway on some stuff to help the work move forward. Mission President's Fireside was great! The Minnesota Mormon Chorale performed and they did such a great job. It was really amazing. Brother Archibald was there with the Buffalo Elders so I got to see him and I talked to Jeffrey from Minnetonka for like 20 minutes. He’s been struggling a lot, so I talked to him and offered some advice and my love! It was a good ending to the day.
Well, it’s been a week! Time's clicking by. Can’t believe my friend, Max gets home this week and I have less than 2 months to go! It’s wild. Some ladies gave the North Elders a bunch of anti-Mormon material and told them they were going to hell. I read through it and it’s funny that they use a lot of church materials in their arguments. However, they’re used completely out of context and if you read like the whole chapter of the verses they use, it actually makes no sense in their argument. I’m grateful to have grown up in the church, with parents and grandparents who taught me the truth but didn’t force it on me. They allowed me to find answers for myself. And that is what I would advise you all to do as well. God wants you to know, He wants to speak to you, He wants you to be happy. Ask him in faith! Read the Book of Mormon, study stuff out for yourself! Don’t just take others' word for it, especially when they're way off. I’m grateful for the Holy Ghost who testifies to us of truth and helps us know in our mind in heart when things are true! I love my Father in Heaven and His perfect plan for us. I’m grateful for His son, Jesus Christ, and his role in God's plan for us. Without Christ, the plan would be for nothing. I know this is God’s work and this is His church! If you want to know for yourself, read the Book of Mormon and “Ask the missionaries! They can help you....” to know for yourself if it is true or not! (Quoting Russell M. Nelson) Love you all, hope you have a great week!
Much love,
Elder Beach
#MavUp #10
Happy birthday to my companion this week!
My new CMU hats.
