This week was pretty crazy! Elder Gooch, who was my companion, got emergency transferred to Brainard and my new companion is Elder Nielsen. He and Elder Gooch were friends in high school so that was cool.
Wednesday night we had a super fun game of basketball at our church. Johnny Chapman brought like 5 guys who play at Hopkins high school to come play with us and it was pretty fun. Those guys were super good and Elder Gooch and I and one of our investigators named Kendall took those guys to town haha. One less active guy in our ward named Zack Strickland came to play too and he was also on our team. He is basically what I would be if I was less active. He loves watching football and I think that plays a part in his church activity. But he's been to church the last two weeks and came to basketball so that is super cool!
On Monday night we went to Brother Broadbent's house for dinner and to get the treats and stuff ready for the Ward Harvest. We had a super good time even though I suck at decorating cookies haha. Tuesday night we had ward harvest and me, Elder Gooch and Brother Broadbent visited Brother Dam, this super nice old Vietnamese guy in our ward, Sister Kaimondo, who is a single lady in our ward, and dropped off the gift package things at some other people's houses. It was a good night and we visited like 35-40 people as a ward council/missionaries. So pretty successful!
On Thursday we got up and it was just a normal day and the Mission President called us at like 8 am and said the APs were coming to get Elder Gooch at 11 am. So we hurried and packed up all his stuff and they came and brought Elder Nielsen, who was serving in TCYSA, and brought him to Minnetonka. Then we immediately went to zone service at this old folks home and sang Christmas carols with them. Elder Glauser who is in Bloomington, was not happy to be there. He found a nut cracker and carried it around with us and pretended the nutcracker was singing and it was pretty funny! I got to talk to this lady named Delores and she showed me this book about her family that she had made and it was super cool to talk to her! She was really nice and wasn't super interested in the gospel but I could tell she really enjoyed the chat so it was cool to spread some Christmas cheer!
On Saturday we had the ward Christmas party and it was soooo fun! We had to shovel out the church at 8 am and help set up and help clean up so we spent about half the day there. I love the Minnetonka ward so much! Now that Elder Nielsen is here, I will probably serve here for 6 months so that will be sweet! We had a great brunch and we had some less actives there, but unfortunately none of our investigators could make it. Jeffrey was going to come but he didn't get ready on time and his ride had to help set up. He told his ride to just go to the party without him. We went and visited him after and took him some food from the party and he ate ALL of it. It seemed like he hadn't eaten in days. We probably will take him some more food this week because I'm not sure how much he has to eat. We talked about the party and a little about the plan of salvation and dating haha. He said he will come to church for sure this next weekend. He's doing super well and we are going to see him tonight too!
We haven't seen KeAndre or DeAndre for like over a week and I'm a little worried about them. They were doing really good and I'm afraid they just got caught up in the fast life again. Drinking, drugs, partying, etc. It makes me sad that they are slipping but we are doing everything we can to help them and teach them but they have agency too. It sucks, but that's just how it goes! It is a great part of the plan of salvation that we get to have our agency.
Eleshea has been MIA as well and we haven't seen her for a week either. She keeps setting up appointments with us and then isn't there when we go and then doesn't answer our texts or anything. So it's been kinda hard with some of the investigators we have been doing well with. But now we just need to find some more good ones!
We had to bike 9.5 miles to dinner in a snow storm and 8 degree weather (not including wind chill) on Friday night and then on Saturday we biked about 3 to dinner as well in sub zero temperatures haha. I consider myself a true Minnesotan now after having done that! It was cold but we managed to survive! Just another cool story to add to the mission experience.
This week I got to start opening the 12 Ties of Christmas! That is honestly the sweetest present as a missionary. Haha. I love getting a new tie each day and I have quite the plethora of ties now! Thanks to all the great men who have given me ties so far, and I'm excited to keep opening the rest of them this week!
On Sunday we had to stay inside because it was like -22 without windchill, so we texted the whole ward and asked them to share the Light the World video, favorite Mormon message or scripture on Facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. Then Brother Sherman called us and told us Kevin could meet with us that evening. Kevin is Brother Sherman's daughter's boyfriend that we are teaching. He is super cool! So we got picked up and it takes like 30-40 minutes to get to their house haha. We taught the plan of salvation and it was a super good lesson. We used this plan of salvation visual aid kit I acquired from a missionary who went home and it is awesome! Kevin really caught on to the principles taught and he told us his grandma was really struggling with health issues and he broke down in tears. I was able to testify that God loves her and him and that even if she passes away, he will still see her in the next life. I told him I knew that from personal experience. He loved it and it was a super good lesson!
Then Sunday night we had a dinner and FHE with RN and her 3 girls. She and her husband got divorced so we have helped her with yard work and stuff like that. We read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 and did the window nativity with them. (My mom sent me a window cling Nativity set to decorate their apartment with.) I saved it just for that! And our window has a layer of ice on it so it wouldn't really stick. But thanks for sending that mom, because it was awesome for the FHE! We ended up having a really productive Sunday even though we were confined indoors all day!
On Sunday we had to stay inside because it was like -22 without windchill, so we texted the whole ward and asked them to share the Light the World video, favorite Mormon message or scripture on Facebook, twitter, instagram, etc. Then Brother Sherman called us and told us Kevin could meet with us that evening. Kevin is Brother Sherman's daughter's boyfriend that we are teaching. He is super cool! So we got picked up and it takes like 30-40 minutes to get to their house haha. We taught the plan of salvation and it was a super good lesson. We used this plan of salvation visual aid kit I acquired from a missionary who went home and it is awesome! Kevin really caught on to the principles taught and he told us his grandma was really struggling with health issues and he broke down in tears. I was able to testify that God loves her and him and that even if she passes away, he will still see her in the next life. I told him I knew that from personal experience. He loved it and it was a super good lesson!
Then Sunday night we had a dinner and FHE with RN and her 3 girls. She and her husband got divorced so we have helped her with yard work and stuff like that. We read Luke 2 and Matthew 2 and did the window nativity with them. (My mom sent me a window cling Nativity set to decorate their apartment with.) I saved it just for that! And our window has a layer of ice on it so it wouldn't really stick. But thanks for sending that mom, because it was awesome for the FHE! We ended up having a really productive Sunday even though we were confined indoors all day!
Thank you to everyone for the Christmas wishes and presents. I love all of you back home so much and all my friends at school and at college. Family, I love you guys so much and wish you a very merry Christmas! Have a great week and a happy holiday this weekend!
Much love,
Elder Beach
#MavUp #10
Decorating cookies for the Ward Harvest.
Grandpa Gary's tie.
President Wilson's tie.
After biking 9.5 miles in the snow for a dinner appointment. Maybe we should have said, "We'll eat in, thanks!"
Coach Johnson's tie.
Kris White's tie.
Welcome to Minnesota!
The nose warmer my mom sent me - crocheted by one of her colleagues at work.
Erik Durrant's tie.
The window cling nativity.
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