What’s up to all my fam, friends, and coaches back home, at college, and serving around the world! Hope this finds you well and loving life and enjoying the journey! I’m seriously loving the mission right now. The weather has been great, tons of people have been out, and we are just having a blast sharing the gospel and serving people! It’s awesome! This week was our car fast/bike week in the Minneapolis Zone and it was super fun!
Monday we had p day and just hung out with the Lake Nokomis and Spanish districts at the church. We made this gigantic club sandwich and devoured it pretty quickly. We also played some volleyball and we actually have people who know how to play so it was really fun! Funniest moment of the day was Elder Cross (Spanish Elder) served a laser and his companion, Elder Dyerly, just jumped up out of nowhere and just smashed it right as it went over the net. It’s an illegal play but it was just the funniest thing ever because Elder Dyerly isn’t really into sports or anything like that but he just smashed this serve haha. We had to take a 5 minute break because we were all laughing so hard. After p day we got ready to do exchanges with the Lake Nokomis North Elders and I went with Elder Hickman again, but we went in our area this time. Brother Showley called us and said someone had requested a blessing in the VA hospital, so we went down there and gave a man from Duluth a blessing before his surgery. His wife was there and she is a member of the church and he is Lutheran, I believe. He was very grateful for the blessing, though! We visited with his wife for a while, too. She seemed a little stressed out so we talked to her for a while. Afterwards she seemed much better.
Tuesday was probably the funniest day of the week and the coolest, too! Elder Hickman and I made a goal to talk to literally every single person we came across during the day. So basically anyone within like 30 feet of us while we were walking and biking. Just a warning before I dive into some of these stories: some of the people we met and talked to were a little crazy and said some pretty crazy and funny stuff. So everything that will follow is true stories and just stuff that happens to us as missionaries. So in the morning we just walked around our apartment and did some stop bys and contacted a lot of people. We were blessed to meet a dude who was a bus driver and had like a 15 minute discussion with him and gave him a Book of Mormon. We met this guy literally walking out of our apartment building. We said we were going to talk to everyone, so we did! He was Muslim but was interested in the Book of Mormon! After that we walked a ways before we saw anyone else or had our next stop by. We were walking down this Main Street Avenue thing and this older gentleman was across the street walking with a cane. So Elder Hickman and I ran over to talk to him and see if he needed any help. Anyway, this dude was a little nuts haha. He started telling us about how he was being chased by evil spirits and how the tree across the street was following him. He also told us about how he had been part of a “delicate orgy” and the evil spirits like overcame him and his girlfriend. It was so weird. The dude was like 65, too. Kind of odd I thought haha. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read 3 Nephi and that if he did, he would feel much better and feel the spirit! I’m hoping he does. We walked like 2 more miles and talked to some more people and did a few stop bys, and then on the way back we were walking down the same street and here comes Phil walking towards us. He’s got his cane down the back of his shirt like a sword and one hand just chilling in his pants as he’s walking down the street. He’s like, “Hey guys!” We were like, “Hey Phil!” After lunch we biked up to see Dave Roberts, the older guy who’s blind and almost deaf. When we got there we locked up our bikes on a stop sign and there was a lady sitting on a bus stop bench, so we went and talked to her. She ended up being from Mexico City and we told her about the Spanish ward that meets in our building and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She took a copy and actually lives in the North Hermanas' area, so we got her info and referred her to them! Then we visited Dave, and right when we got into his room, he starts pulling off his pants and is like, “I need my diaper changed!” So we just ran out of the room really quick and grabbed a nurse haha. After that we had a really good visit and he listened to a general conference talk with his headphones! Then we headed to Taco Bell to meet the other Elders for dinner. After dinner we biked over to Brother Glover’s house and had a lesson with him and read “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives” by President Nelson. We had a really good discussion about it and talked about some things he can do to have the spirit more in his life and how to receive revelation for himself. I’m pretty sure we just biked around and talked to people that were out after that! Then we exchanged back at the end of the day.
Wednesday morning we had to do some administrative stuff at the church, so we biked there in 15 minutes (3.8) mile bike ride which was our personal record. We did our stuff and then we, the North Elders, and the Spanish Elders went to Taco Bell again haha. I ate before we went. It was a sight to see 6 elders biking down the road together haha. Pretty sweet! After lunch Elder Peterson and I biked to Hopkins which is like a 12 mile ride. We had a few appointments out there in the afternoon, and all but one fell through. We had a lesson with this guy we found a while back. He’s a less active member named Brother Penfield. He told us he wasn’t a member, but he’s on the ward list so we aren’t really sure the whole story. He hasn’t been to church in probably 15+ years. We shared the restoration with him and just invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if that’s true! So that was cool. After that we did a few stop bys and then biked back to our dinner in the South part of our area. The Purcells fed us orange chicken for dinner and it was heavenly. Biking a lot really takes it out of ya! After that we headed back home and started getting our stuff packed for our apartment move on Friday. Thursday was AP exchange, so I had 0 time on Thursday to pack for the move on Friday. I think we biked like 30-35 miles on Wednesday haha. It was a lot! But it was pretty fun!
Thursday I went to Bloomington with Elder McNeil. We walked around in the morning and stopped by potentials and talked to people outside. We met this really cool girl named Zxerina. She was just walking down the street and we stopped and talked to her. She had never heard of the LDS church before and was actually going on a mission trip with her church this summer. So we talked about missions and shared the first vision with her. She was really interested in the Book of Mormon. We had already given our copies away, so we gave her a restoration pamphlet and set up a time to meet with her again. Funny thing: she’s a senior in high school and just decided to ditch school and go for a walk that day. We contacted her at like 12:30 pm. Pretty sweet how we ended up crossing paths because she decided to ditch school. Might’ve been the best decision she ever made. After that we had lunch and then biked out to the East part of the area and stopped by people and talked to tons of people outside. We gave out 3 Books of Mormon and had some really good conversations with people! I love just being out and talking to people. Even if they don’t want to hear the message, I always try to help them feel they are loved and cared about and that makes me so happy! Bike week has been awesome for me. It’s been like a spiritual recharge haha. After all that we biked back home and drove to our dinner because it was like 20 miles from where we worked during the afternoon. Dinner was kind of awkward. I ended up talking to this member's kid the whole time about the NFL draft because Elder McNeil and the STLs were just kind of in their own world at dinner. The members just talked to them the whole time and I just kind of was there. It was weird haha, so I just ate food. After dinner we helped this less active family move. They reminded me a lot of Brother Cosgrove up in Sauk Rapids. Just super nice people! They were throwing away a lot of stuff and had this old pair of cowboy boots. They were a little more like show boots or dress boots than mine are and they asked if I wanted them or else they were just throwing them out. I said, “Sure I’ll take them!” So now I've got two pairs of boots haha. I've got to do some work on the ones I just got. They’re pretty dirty and old, but once they get cleaned up they’ll be nice. After we got done with the move we did a few stop bys and then headed back up to Lake Nokomis!
Friday we packed up our apartment and then moved the Spanish Elders into the new apartment and moved us into the Murals apartment with the North Elders. It was kind of a hastle, but we got it done in about 4 hours. Then we went to the VA to do some crafts with the old folks there. Haha this one dude, Tom, he loves me haha. He’s like “Man, you’re gonna go places with football and you’re gonna be a lady killer, too!” So this week he was bringing a bunch of women over to meet me. So he’s trying to hook me up with a date I guess. I don't know what he’s doing. We made a hand tree on a painting canvas and it was pretty fun! After that we got to visit for a while and then headed to dinner with the Ramseys. Brother Ramsey is awesome. He’s one of my favorite people in the ward here. We always go with all 4 Elders and have super cool and funny gospel/deep doctrine/conspiracy theory discussions haha. So we talked about Lincoln, early apostasies in the restored church, George Washington, and Trump. Quite the deadly combo. After dinner we were walking back and these old people come walking back by and they’re like, “Put on a coat! It’s cold out!” I was like, “It’s 65 degrees!” They seemed clueless that it was 65 degrees and sunny because they had they’re huge fur lined parkas on. Then we were walking by this car and this white dude is sitting in the passenger seat with a baby in the back seat. He had some hood rap blasting and he was dancing around singing. We were dying haha. The baby looked like it was so confused. After that we weekly planned and got ready for interviews with President Barney on Saturday.
Saturday we were in meetings like that whole day haha. We had interviews with President Barney until like 2 pm. He told Elder Peterson and myself that he’s planning on keeping us together for our last transfer! So that’s pretty sweet. Should be a legendary last transfer haha. After interviews we had stake council meeting in Bloomington with Elder Schweitzer of the 70. He is a super cool and funny guy. One thing he said that really stuck out me: He talked a lot about President Nelson and how he has been prepared to be the prophet. He told us a story about when they were having council meeting about introducing technology into missionary work. People were worried that missionaries wouldn’t be using technology correctly or it wouldn’t help hasten the work. President Nelson stood up and said, “Brethren, the Lord did not lower the missionary age to increase baptisms. He did not instruct us to use technology in missionary work to increase baptisms. He did it so we could help save this generation.” That really blew me away. The people who are serving missions are learning how to use technology wisely and properly to fulfill the work of the Lord. That’s so important in the days ahead. We are also learning how to be diligent, have the spirit with us, and strengthen our testimonies of Christ and his restored gospel from a younger age. That’s cool! After that meeting we had dinner really quick and then had the adult session of Stake Conference. There were lots of people there from the Minnetonka ward that I hadn’t seen for a while, so it was great to catch up with them and get some stuff set up for when we are coming out in June to visit!
Sunday was Stake Conference, so we drove up to the Crystal building with the North Elders. It was really good and Elder Schweitzer gave a really good talk about the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. I got to see Kevin Cornelius from Minnetonka and talked to him for a while! He’s doing good and is getting baptized in June. After Stake Conference we had lunch and then had a Skype call with the STLs to figure out what to do for the Zone focus this next month. It took like 2 hours to get one made because we didn’t really know what to do to help the Waconia District because they’ve been struggling hard core with pretty much every aspect of missionary work. We finally got one nailed down that we think will be fun and get them excited to be out doing missionary work! After that we biked to dinner with the Staleys. They’re super cool and have the biggest baby I’ve ever seen. It’s 19 months old and is huge haha. It eats like non stop, too. They made chicken, beans/sweet potato/carrots baked together, and butternut squash and then fresh blueberries and strawberries. It was so good! I loved it. After that we biked down to the South part of our area and dropped off a Bible and Book of Mormon to a media referral we got. He wasn’t home, but we talked to him and he said to drop it off and then we could meet on Thursday this week. So that’ll be sweet. He seems like a really cool guy! After that we stopped by to see Lisa and David. Lisa was already asleep but we talked to David and got a lesson set up for Thursday, and it’s Lisa’s birthday on Friday so we are gonna bake her a cake on Thursday for it! I’m excited for it! After that we had to bike home and do numbers and #SaunaSunday.
This weeks been great! I’m so happy and loving the mission right now. I’m grateful to be in the Lord's service and be doing his work here. On Sunday night when we were biking, we rode by this homeless guy sitting in the median of a really busy street. I had a bag of rolls with me from dinner, so I felt like should go offer them to him. I ended up having a 10 minute chat with him and just got to know him and talk to him. He asked that I say a prayer with him and I gave him a Book of Mormon as well. His name was Matthew, and I’m grateful I was able to meet him. He was such a nice guy! It was a great experience for me to just feel the Savior's love for him! It made my whole day. Love you all! Have a great week, enjoy the spring, get rocking the farmer's tans because I’ve got mine going full swing haha. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Keep them coming my way! They help so much.
Much love,
Elder Beach
Car fast/bike week.
Exchanges with Elder Hickman.
Our yummy dinner.
Welcome to Longfellow!
Me and Elder Peterson - we started our missions together, and will end our missions together!
Listening to a talk together at the VA.
