Doctrine and Covenants 65:2

Hello to all my friends and family back home in Cache Valley! I sure do miss all of you and hope and pray you are all doing well. Thanks for everyone's emails and support, they mean the world to me out here! Congrats to my Sky View boys for the homecoming win against Northridge! Sounds like y'all are hitting your stride! My Mavs are undefeated and getting it done haha. Shoutout to Coach Martin and the Mav Nation for making me sooooo excited to play there when I get home!

This week has been really good as far as missionary work goes. We have seen a good amount of successes and some new investigators we have are really promising!

On Monday, we went to the Hicken's house with the Plymouth Elders and played basketball and pool. I found a real football in their closet so I got to throw that around for a while. I was so happy and as Nacho Libre said: "It felt goood. Reeeal good!" Haha so I was a happy camper on Monday for sure. We had dinner with the Keepmans on Monday night. They are an older couple in our ward and they love the missionaries. So they fed us dinner and Brother Keepman updated me on all the NFL stuff that's been going on (God bless that man), and then he came joint teaching with us. We had like 5-6 less actives we wanted to stop by, but the first 4 weren't home so we were looking through our ward map and I saw this guy named John. So we were like let's go see him. We knocked on his door and no one answered so we knocked again and this old guy with a huge lizard just chilling on his chest opens the door! I was like, "What the heck?" So we started talking and he let us in and told us how he had joined the church in Wilmer, and the first Sunday he went to church after he was baptized he realized it was "the worst decision he had ever made in his life." So we were like, "Why do you think that?" And he said because "we aren't allowed to eat candy or drink coffee." My companion and I just looked at each other like, "What the fetch?" I still don't know how he even got baptized in the first place because he hates the church and has never read the Book of Mormon and didn't know who Joseph Smith is haha. So yeah, I'm still scratching my head over that one. We had a nice chat about how he is a bus driver and the kids tick him off sometimes but he just puts it in God's hands to chastise the kids. Haha it was super weird. After we left, the guy we were teaching with says, "Well, that was an interesting visit!" I just died laughing! 

On Tuesday evening Brother Hunsaker went joint teaching with us. This week we had joint teachers almost every night because we didn't have the car this week. So we walked and biked a lot during the day and had members drive us to appointments at night which was great! So we got a media referral named Billie who lived right by us in another apartment complex. So we went over to see her and weren't really sure what to expect. She was AWESOME! Haha She was the nicest lady ever and was super outgoing and had a great personality. She said she had had a college roommate that was Mormon and just wanted to learn about the church because she had heard a lot about it recently. She was a flight attendant for 20+ years and her step-son played point guard for the Jazz right after John Stockton. Anyway, she said she was raised Baptist but her family has gone all different religious directions since then so she was kind of looking for a church. She asked what we believe in so we just went through the articles of faith with her. She absolutely loved them! She said she believed the exact same things! Then she asked us about where we came from and where we go when we die and we told her and she said "That makes my heart happy that you believe that. That is what I believe too!" I almost died. Because most people don't believe the plan of salvation stuff haha.  It was a great lesson and the Spirit was definitely there. We had to pass her off to the Minnetonka Sisters because she is a single lady, so they can visit her without a joint teacher. Billie is great though!

On Wednesday, we did exchanges with the Plymouth Elders. So I got to go to Plymouth with Elder Vaughn who was in my MTC district! I was hyped. We had a good time. We did a lot of stop by's and tracted some apartment building, but didn't really find anyone. We got drenched by a huge rainstorm. We were biking and it just started pouring haha. Then we thought there was going to be a tornado so we almost went into Wayzata High School to hide, but it quit raining and luckily there wasn't a tornado. The clouds were doing this huge swirly thing and it was crazy! We biked home really quick to get the car and go to this investigator appointment they had set up. Then it really started raining once we got the car so we drove to his house and it was raining incredibly hard. It was nuts. So we waited till right at 8 pm to run into his house and try not to get to drenched. Well... we got drenched and muddy haha. We knocked on the guy's door and he opens it and looks at us and goes "Is it raining?" And we were like, "Yeah, bro."  And he says "Oh man, I'm really sorry, but can we reschedule?" Elder Vaughn and I looked at each other like what?  I almost said no, but Elder Vaughn was like, "Yeah, that can work." So we ran through the waterfall of water coming off his roof and then through the torrential downpour back to the car and it's like 8:15, and I was like, "Let's go to Taco Bell!" So we did! They had a 2$ meal deal where you got a cheesy beef burrito, loaded nachos, and a drink for 2$!! I was hyped! So then it quits raining right when we get to Taco Bell and it's like 8:40, so we drove home and right when we get home it starts pouring rain again. So we just sat in the car and ate our food and then ran in and got soaked even more, and then lifted some weights and went to bed. It was a fun day haha.

On Thursday we met Brother Dam, who is this super old Vietnamese guy in our ward. We go visit him once a week because he lives alone and loves the company. He is the nicest guy ever but he speaks like no English, so it's a little tough to communicate. We usually just read the Book of Mormon with him because he loves it! He can't speak English hardly at all but he can read it which is weird, so it works I guess. The gift of tongues must come into play when we read because he usually can understand what we say and we can understand when he reads. So it all works out! I love seeing him because he always is so happy to see us and it makes my day. That night we had dinner with the Francis family and Sister Francis is the Primary President, so she gave us a big list of members to go see who are less active and stuff. I was like "Thank you so much!!" Haha because that helps us out a lot with knowing which less actives to go see. Then her husband was our joint teacher for the night so went to see this less active named Brother Armstrong. Easily the coolest visit I've had with a less active. He has a ton of WWll memorabilia and guns and knives and all kinds of stuff. He gave me a WWll marine knife and a Black Legion pocket knife thing. He said "All Elders that come to my house get knives!" So I was like uhhhh okay!  He was an interesting guy and thinks people at church try to frame him for stuff so he doesn't ever come. He also has like really bad social anxiety, but he loves talking to the Elders, so it was good to build a relationship with him!

On Friday it rained really hard all day and my companion's bike had a flat, so we walked around Hopkins and did some finding in the rain all day! It wasn't too bad, and you think of stupid ways to make it fun haha. That night we had a visit set up with this guy named Foday who has been an investigator for a while. He lives about 2.5 miles away so we walked there and when we got to his apartment no one answered. I was a little chapped, so I texted him and was like,  "We are here where are you?" And he texts back and was like, "Daaamn I'm in Minneapolis." I died laughing, so I wasn't as mad. Then we walked home and on the way this guy named Anthony stopped us and asked if we were JWs and we were like, "No, we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," and we told him about it. He said he was a free mason, and I said "Masons make great Mormons!" because I had heard that somewhere. so I said it!  He thought it was funny haha! So we gave him a Book of a Mormon and he said he and some of his friends would be interested in learning more about the church so we are setting up a meeting for this week sometime!

When we got back to the apartment we were sitting in the lobby planning for the next day because there is wifi in the lobby so we can sync our area book app. Then this lady and her boyfriend walk in the door and she just starts yelling at us! She's like "No one wants to join your religion! Why are you always hanging out in our lobby? It's creepy. Go somewhere else! You don't even live here!" And I was like, "Yeah we do live here."  She was like, "What floor?"  And I said, "The second floor." And she's like, "What number?" And I was like, "1207." She's like, "I'm gonna talk to the landlord about you hanging around here." I was like, "We know the landlord and she knows us, too."  Then this other random lady walks in and is like, "Are you Jehovah's Witness?" And we were like, "What the heck? No!"  She then proceeded to keep thinking we were and told us to leave the building. So we have two ladies yelling at us to leave and thinking we are JWs and we live in the apartment and aren't JWs.... so interesting experience to say the least. 

On Saturday we had a great lesson with Jaelen.  Brother Hamilton gave us all a ride to the church and we did a church tour with him. When we went in the chapel he was like, "Man. I can really feel the Spirit here." It was so cool!! It was like a moment from the District videos. Then we showed him the baptismal font and we were sitting there looking at it for a minute and he says, "I think I want this. I want to work towards baptism." I was just like, "Heck, yeah!"  I was so hyped. He then told us his dad isn't really for him coming to church and he actually lied and told his dad he was with friends so he could come with us. But he really wants to come to church and stuff. He is a great kid and he is so funny.   He is doing an improv show at his high school and he raps as well. He said he loves Drake and he always texts his ex girlfriend Drake lyrics and I was dying haha. He's a funny kid. We said a prayer that his dad would allow him to come to church. I got a feeling that it may not be this weekend, but it would be soon, and his dad's heart would be softened. It was a neat experience, and I have high hopes for him! 

It's been a fun week! I miss all my brothers who are serving the Lord and at college. You are all the best and we are gonna be Brothers for Life! I love you all and pray for all of you daily. Family, I love you,and thanks so much for all you do to support me! I love you all so much and hope all is well with you. Thanks for all the emails and support I get each week, they always brighten my week and I love them! This is God's work and I'm grateful to be a part of it!

Much love,

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

We saw an albino squirrel!

Rainbow in Hopkins.

Fall is in the air!

Taco Bell mustache at District Meeting...

My new knives!

My daily lunch - salad, grapes and veggies.

Good Week in Minnetonka!

Hello to all my family, friends and brothers in Cache Valley and all over the world! I love you all and sure do miss you! My CMU Mavericks are getting it done!! I'm so excited to play there when I get home. Congrats to my Bobcats as well, have a great homecoming week and all you seniors enjoy it because it's your last one! 

This week here in Minnetonka has really been good! We have had some good experiences and also found some new people to teach!

So last Monday, after P-day was over, we helped a brother from our ward clean out his shed and then he took us to get BBQ. It was sooo good. Easily the best BBQ I've had in my life. So anyways, after we went there he took us home and it was about 8pm, so we just went for a walk and talked to everyone we saw. We met this couple who were smoking outside an apartment building. We just started talking to them and then we asked them about their church and we started talking about our church. He said he isn't super happy with his church because it's really big and fancy and not really a church per say. We told him about our church and he seemed to think it sounded good! We gave them a Book of Mormon and a pass along card and said we would see them around. So we got back to our apartment and I realized we didn't get any of their info.  So we've been trying to find which apartment they are in in their complex, but so far no luck.  I learned a good lesson to get people's info and I will NEVER make that mistake again. 

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the ZLs which was super fun. Elder Tugavaue came here to Minnetonka and Elder Long went to Lake Nikomis with Elder Peterson. Elder Tugavaue played football at a JC in San Francisco before he came out so we talked about football a lot haha. We did a few hours of finding and had some first lessons with a few older ladies who were out having a smoke at their apartments haha. The coolest part of the whole day was at 3:55 pm. We were going to stop by a less active family who lived in an apartment. So we buzzed the buzzer and they let us in. We walked up to the third floor and this guy was standing outside the apartment and I asked "Do the so and so's live here?" And he said no and that his family lived there now. He asked us for a card and said he was coming to church on Sunday! I was kind of speechless for a second because we hadn't really said anything. I was like "For real?!" And he said yeah for real! Haha I was so excited! He said he was going through a rough patch in his life and needed some support system to rely on more and felt that a church would be good for that. So we talked a little more and set up an appointment with him for Saturday night!

Right after that we had a lesson with a man and his nephew who just joined the church not super long ago. He is from Chicago and used to be a gang banger and was a really good basketball player. He knows Doc Rivers and Isaiah Thomas because he played ball with them in high school and on the streets. He joined a few years ago when his wife introduced him to the church. He has gone through some crazy stuff to get to where he is at but he is such a solid member now and tries to share the gospel with everyone! He and his wife adopted his nephew because he lived in a messed up home in Chicago. He is 10 years old and is in fourth grade. He never went to school before they adopted him and didn't know the alphabet or how to read or write or anything. His first year of school was third grade and he has progressed a TON since then. He is a really nice kid and is starting to really open up to me which makes me happy.  So when we went over we showed the Hope of God's Light Mormon message because it is about basketball and they both love basketball. We found out the nephew had gotten in trouble that day at school and his uncle was really pressuring him to do well in school and to graduate and go to college. Afterwards I pulled the nephew aside and said "Hey, just enjoy it! You only get to do it once.  So don't feel too much pressure. You just be you and have fun with it!" I'm glad I talked to him because I feel like he is really starting to trust me now which is key to relationships with people! He's a good kid and I want him to succeed. 

On Thursday it poured rain like half the day ️ so we were kind of stuck out in it and had to run into these apartment buildings. We met a few people in there and talked to this lady who was outside in the rain under a tree smoking (we talked to a lot of smokers this week) But, we got drenched walking back to our car. While we were on our way back to the apartment we saw this family trying to move into an apartment building in the rain so I was like let's go help them! So we ran out in the rain and asked if we could help and both guys answered in unison "Hell yeah!" Haha it was funny. So we helped them haul stuff from the trailer up to their second floor apartment in the rain. It was cool and we gave them an Articles of Faith card and the church address and stuff but they didn't seem super interested. They really were grateful for the help though! Just planting seeds and bringing the light of Christ into people's lives!

On Friday we had dinner with Sister K, who is from west Africa. Her son recently hurt his knee playing in the NBA D-league so we got to meet him. He is jacked haha. Her nephew came to dinner too. The sisters had taught him a few times and he said he is interested but just doesn't really keep commitments or anything. So we met him at dinner and got to know him. He is a cool guy and we hit it off with him pretty well! We stopped by his place Sunday night because he said he was going to come to church and didn't. He said he would be there next Sunday and that he promised God he would come next Sunday. We told him we would love to have him there and just wanted him to be happy! He liked that we haven't pressured him or anything, we just are lovingly bold with him. 

After dinner on Friday we met this guy on main street in Hopkins. He is also a west African and we talked to him for a while. He was really well read in the Bible and said he felt like a lot of people were hypocrites with religion because they live it on Sunday and not the rest of the week. We told him about our church and how we try to live our religion all the time and live as Christ lived. He told us the missionaries could stop by his place (he lives in south Minneapolis). So that was cool!

Saturday morning, Elder Long was super sick and I had a cold. We slept in till 7:30 and had a rough morning. We went to a baptism though which was so great! She is a girl I helped teach in the YSA ward. She is so solid and loves the church! It was a great experience even though Elder Long wasn't feeling super great.

After the baptism we just went home and took a nap for an hour till we had bishop coordination meeting. When I woke up I felt more sick and Elder Long was about the same. So we went to the bishop's house and the Sisters beat us there. We walked in and Sister Gotchy goes, "You both look like death!" I was like, "Thanks!" Haha so yeah, Saturday was rough. BUT... Saturday night we taught our friend that we met earlier!! J came with us to joint teach because he is from Chicago as well.  He told us he is trying to do things right in school and be a good kid, he just doesn't have a lot of support. We told him he had us and J and everyone from our church to help him out. He is really a good kid and is coming to church next Sunday with J. He couldn't make it this Sunday because he had a practice for a performance he is in. He goes to a performing arts school in Hopkins and is really into singing and acting. He also plays basketball so J talked about that, too. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was really excited to read it. It's amazing when you find people who are just ready to hear the gospel. God truly put him in our path and is looking out for him!

So, Sunday we both woke up and were like ughhhh super sick.  We just pretty much slept all morning and then went to church because Elder Long had to give a talk in church. He did a great job and got a lot of compliments! After church our ward mission leader and a member of the bishopric gave us Priesthood blessings so we could get better. They helped immediately. We went home and slept before dinner and when we woke up we both felt way better! It was really cool! We had dinner at the another member's house. He is the CEO of United Healthcare so their house is huge and super nice and they have a lake in their backyard. The Sisters live in their basement so they had dinner with us as well. They are so nice and they do a lot to help with the member missionary work in the area. He said he is going to do a combined birthday party for me and Sister Gotchy because our birthdays are only a day apart. He said he is gonna take us to a Minnesota Wild hockey game and they have front row seats on the glass so I'm pretty hyped for that! 

Anyways, it's been a great week! I hope all my Brothers serving missions as well had a great week too! I love all of you and pray for you daily. Thanks to my family for all you do for me and know I love all of you. Happy birthdays for real this time to Jayden, Addi, and Dad! Wish I could be there to celebrate but I'm out here in Minnesota.   I'm enjoying the mission and I know it's the Lord's work. It's hard and long but things are picking up each day. I know God rewards us for our efforts and when we rely on him. Have a great week!

Much love,

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

PS: photos are best BBQ ever, selfie with a fake mustache on the way to district meeting (I wore it the whole meeting), Wendy's with Elder Tugavaue, Emma's baptism with Elders Johnston and Liaga, a beautiful sunset and a funny license plate we saw

Working Hard!

Hello to all my family and friends back home! I sure do miss y'all but I'm happy in Minnetonka doing the good Lord's work. Bobcats, great job on the win against Weber. Sounds like y'all are starting to find your groove as a team and things are taking off. I'm proud of each of you and just keep improving each week! My CMU Mavericks are getting it done as well, starting it off 3-0! I am so excited to be able to play some football again haha.

This week, even though it's been a lot of long days, has gone by really fast. We have found a few people we are trying to teach but haven't quite got any return appointments with them yet. All of them are west Africans and they are pretty bad at punctuality and scheduling. It's not a bad thing, it's just how a lot of them are, so we've been trying to meet with them but haven't had a lot of luck so far! We tract apartments quite a bit ,which is not my favorite thing to do, but it shows the Lord we have faith that He will put someone in our path to teach. So far no luck with tracting, but we have had some luck with contacting!

On Tuesday, we were tracting in this apartment complex by our apartments and we knocked a whole floor and we were like, "This is dumb, lets go outside and talk to people." So we did. And we found this guy who is from the Congo and moved to Hopkins 5 days before we found him. He was hitting the hood of his car with a hammer trying to get the dents out so I was like, "We gotta talk to this guy."  haha So we started just talking about his family and stuff and then about what he believes in. He said he believed in God and Jesus so we were like that's awesome because our whole message is centered around Jesus Christ. We gave him a really quick restoration lesson and he said if we are teaching about Jesus he would love to hear more. So we are still trying to set up a return appointment with him. 

We also found this guy who is from west Africa while we were tracting. I guess he has met with missionaries before because he knew we were missionaries when he answered. He said he wants to meet with us, he is just super busy. I hate that excuse, but everyone has it, so we are also trying to meet with him again too. 

The coolest thing that happened to me this week was on Friday night.  I got to play football! We were in this park contacting and across the street from the park I saw this kid and his dad playing catch with a football. So of course I went over and was like, Hey, can I throw you some passes?" Annd he was like, "Yeah, sure!"  So I told his dad who we were and that I was playing football when I got home and hadn't thrown a football for a while haha. Then the mom came out and I talked to her while I threw passes to the son and Elder Long talked to the dad. The mom was kinda reserved to talk at first but I just talked like a normal person and didn't say anything about the church or anything. As we kept talking she asked about missionaries because her cousin and her cousin's husband are members in Salt Lake! So we talked about Utah for a while and about football and then started talking about what church they went to. They are pretty devout Lutherans and I just said I respect that and then told her about our church a little bit and told her about what we do as missionaries. Once she started opening up a little, it was a great conversation! They were a super nice family and we will probably stop by again soon and see if we can do any service for them or anything like that! I was a happy camper that night! 

We had a zone training in Bloomington on Friday morning. It was soooo good and I learned a lot. The focus was having faith to find people and working with member families to help you find. Elder Long and myself and the Minnetonka sisters have a big plan we have made with the bishop to teach members how to turn everyday events that happen into missionary opportunities and eventually fellowshipping! I'm really excited to implement it and hopefully see the fruits of it the next few months!  The ward is really good here and they want to help with the missionary efforts, they just aren't always exactly sure how! 

One cool story of the week was we started meeting with a less active guy in the ward. He is from Salt Lake, born and raised, and joined the Marines right after high school. He was a helicopter electrician and served for like 8 years I think. So we taught him on Monday night because he is less active but wants to start coming back. We really just tried to build a good relationship with him and share a spiritual thought. So we show up, and he is dressed in a full on pirate costume. He said he just got back from the Renaissance festival and it's like his favorite thing ever. So as we started talking to him I learned that he is a little different but he is super funny and a really sincere and genuine guy. Anyways, he came to church on Sunday, stayed for the whole time plus the linger longer, AND came to stake priesthood meeting that night in Bloomington! He sat by us at all events and it was great! I was really happy for him!

It's been a much better week, and I know attitude, desire to serve, and working hard play huge roles in that. Even though we aren't seeing huge successes like baptisms or people to teach, I feel like we see a lot of little successes each day. I know God will put someone in our path soon that is ready for the Gospel. Colt, Max, and Alex, I'm pretty sure last week we all had a slow, tough week. I know what y'all are going through! It's cool that even though we are all so far apart we are still going through the same things together. It's a good feeling knowing we are all striving and struggling to bring the children of God back into the fold.  Keep your heads up and know I pray for you every single day. Jake, we all know you got your ups and downs at college as well. Keep up the good work and know that we love you so much! You are in my prayers every single day as well. Motivational scripture for the week is Alma 36:3 "...whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

Thanks to everyone back home for the prayers and uplifting emails I get during the week! There are times where I get home at night and want to put my head through the wall, but I have some great emails to read, whether that be from my parents or Christy or Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks so much for sending those, they always seem to come at the right time. I'm humbled by all your prayers. I can really feel those working in my life right now and I am grateful for them. 

I'm so grateful for this gospel and I know it is the only way to true happiness in this life and the life to come. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share it and it is going by so quickly (I'm almost out 3 months, Max is out 4, Colt is almost out 6). It's really not that long when you think about it in a lifetime perspective. The amount of good you do in those two years is incredible and I feel blessed that I can serve God for two years and share his gospel with the people of Minnesota! Love you all and have a great week!

Much love, 

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

Photos: Minneapolis zone training, Chinese "thanksgiving" party at the Feng's house. It was crazy and like 5 people spoke English haha, a helicopter almost hit our apartment building during studies, our stack of cardboard boxes in our apartment, and our XL papa johns pizza for dinner compliments of a member family.

Transfer to Minnetonka

Hello to all my friends and family back in Cache Valley! Hope y'all are doing well and I pray for y'all daily. Bobcats, keep working hard and don't let the loss get you down. It's the times when you're at your lowest that show your true character and what you are really made of. I know you are all fighters, so keep your heads up and trust each other and work your butts off. 

So the good times in TCYSA are quickly over. President Forbes called me on Tuesday night at 9 pm and said I was getting transferred to Minnetonka. I was pretty upset to say the least, and I was mad at President Forbes and I was mad at God. I just went and sat on my bed for a while and thought about moving. The lyrics from the song, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord" kept coming into my head. I realized I was being an idiot and that I needed to just make the most of it. I offered up one of the most sincere prayers I've offered in my life to God to just help me with this transfer. 

Wednesday morning the APs came and picked me up and took me to Minnetonka. Elder Long and his companion had opened the area and then Elder Long's companion was going home for some medical stuff he had going on. 

We had zero investigators and when I got there I just thought, "What the heck? This is gonna suck!" My attitude was awful and my first two days were a little rough. 

We haven't been able to teach a lot of non-members or less actives but we have been working with members quite a bit. This ward is really missionary minded and I love it. The bishop is the coolest guy and he is awesome! Our ward mission leader is about as good as they come as far as having a vision of ward mission plans. Our ward mission plan is like 4 pages long and encompasses all aspects of missionary work. I'm so pumped to work with him these next few transfers.

I've really grown a lot in the last 5 days spiritually and in my desire to serve the Lord and just rely on him in everything I do. I did not want to come to the area, but I knew this is where I needed to be.  I knew there was something the Lord needed me here for. I've never prayed as hard and sincerely as I have the last 5 days, just pouring my heart out to God to put people in our path to find and teach. It hasn't happened yet, but I know miracles will happen as we put our trust in him and believe miracles will happen here. I can't really explain what happened, but my desires to serve have really increased and I feel like God is giving me strength and abilities I have never had before. Talking to complete strangers about the Gospel is getting so much easier for me and something I want to do now. I want people to have the message and the happiness that comes with it. I hadn't really had that up to this point in my mission. I don't know if it's just because my own testimony and conviction of the gospel and Book of Mormon is so much stronger than it's ever been or what. I just know that I truly want to share the gospel with people. There's a song in "Creed" when he is driving into Philly and it goes, "There's something in your heart, and it's in your eyes, it's the fire, inside you." I feel like I have that fire burning inside me stronger than ever and I just want to share it with the world. I was listening to a song about Joseph Smith that Elder Long had and as I was listening, I just knew that he was a prophet and that the message of the restoration is real. It was a profound experience for me. 

We haven't had a lot of lessons, just active member lessons mostly. We went tracting in this apartment complex yesterday and pretty much everyone we talked to only spoke Russian or was Jewish or Muslim. This one Russian couple I think gave us a blessing because he started yelling at me in Russian then said Amen! And smiled at me, so I was like Amen! Haha it was funny. So I just gave him a mormon.org card and told him to check it out! 

We are really working hard to find people and I know that God will put people in our path. We have a few people that want to meet with us but are just super busy. Please keep Elder Long and me in your prayers and thoughts. I really appreciate all you do to support me! It means the world to me. I love you all and I pray for my Band of Brothers every day. I love all you and miss you but I know we are doing the Lord's work. My bros at college, keep kicking some butt and killing it. I love you all so much!

My scripture for the week is John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

This scripture got me through the hardest day of my mission so far, where I was questioning why I was in this area, and even my own testimony. I had to go into the bedroom during personal study because I was getting emotional when I read this and I just prayed to God and thanked him for letting me find this scripture and how much it helped me.  It was great! Well, tonight we are back at work and I'm excited to share my testimony with the people of Minnetonka!

Much love, 

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

It must be "Missionary Mustache Monday..."

Elders Beach, Liaga and Johnston before the transfer.

Wishful thinking...

TCYSA! (Twin Cities Young Single Adult ward)

Hello to all my family, friends, and neighbors back in Cache Valley and to my "Band of Brothers" at college and serving world wide. I love y'all and hope and pray all is well with each one of you! Shout out to the Bobcats for the 35-0 win vs Logan.  Way to go boys!

This week was transfers and I got moved to the TCYSA ward in Minneapolis. It is a party. My companions are Elder Johnston, who played kicker at Bingham and is playing at U of U next fall, and Elder Liaga, who played at UNLV for a year and will be at USU or BYU when he gets home. So we are a football oriented tri-panionship for sure haha. They are awesome and are a little crazy, but I'm learning how to be really good at contacting with them!

My first day here we met with Teli who has a date set here for baptism. His girlfriend is a member but he isn't. He plays rugby and is really good. He took us to Tepanyaki buffet and it was soooo good!! Teli is really quiet but has a pretty firm belief in the gospel and his baptism is coming up soon. We had some concerns with him and the word of wisdom but he didn't even go out with his buddies on the rugby team because he knew they would go drinking. So that is awesome! He is holding strong to what we taught him! We went to his rugby game to support him on Saturday and it was so fun. Rugby is a cool sport.

Another investigator we have here is named Emma. She is way cool and loves the gospel. She has only been taught for 2 weeks and already set a date and is really solid with that date. She is doing really well and came to church yesterday for the first time and loved it. I'm so excited for her baptism.

We hang out with the Spanish Elders a lot at the institute and I love them haha! Elder Porter and Elder Cardwell are the coolest guys. Elder Cardwell and myself are really good friends already because he loves CrossFit too, and we have like the same personality, so it's pretty cool. Elder Porter is hilariousl We do personal and comp studies at our apartment and then walk to the institute building and spend all day there and on campus contacting, then walk home at night. So we aren't ever home during the day!

Yesterday afternoon we went contacting out on campus and talked to like 10 people in 2 hours. It is crazy how many people will stop and talk to you. We share simple doctrines about the gospel with them and give them a pass along card with our info and the institute info on it and try to set up return appointments. It's really all we do and the Elders said they usually teach 20-30 lessons a week which is crazy haha.

The ward is really great and I'm still getting to know everyone. There are some really cool people here though. On Wednesday we took some investigators and played soccer with the ward at a park. It was way fun and a good workout to get out and run around. Me and Elder Johnston owned it cuz he played soccer in high school so we had the give and go down pat.  It was way fun. Elder Liaga got tripped by this girl who is super teeny and face planted and we died laughing.  It was so funny haha. 

Elder Johnston and Liaga are the ZLs for the St Paul zone, so I get to kind of be a zone leader with them. They wanted the zone focus to be football related, so we made this sweet plan of scoring points and TDs for lessons and stuff. The focus is basically strive to teach 15 lessons a week so your investigator pool is larger, which in turn will make all your other numbers or key indicators increase as well. We used a photo of the SV captains from last year as the background photo and it was pretty cool. I attached a pic of it in the email.

Even though this is kind of the party of the mission, I'm really trying even harder to pray more earnestly and study harder. It's helped me a lot with my confidence in talking to people on campus. I pray every day for the Lord to help put words in my mouth so I can speak with the Spirit. It's amazing how much better I am getting at talking to strangers about the gospel in like 4 days. Alma 26:12  "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I love this because I know it is true with all my heart. We as individuals are not good enough to preach the gospel and be successful. We need God to help us and give us the power to teach those who are ready to listen. It's been a great week and I love my new area and companions. They are good guys and will do anything for me. Family, I love all of you and thanks for all your support, it means the world to me. I pray for you every day and hope things are well for you! My brothers at college and on missions, I also pray for y'all every day and pray you will have the Spirit with you always. I love you guys and I hope y'all know that! Thanks to everyone else supporting me on my mission. I couldn't be out here without the support of everyone, no matter how big or small. I appreciate all you have done for me!

We are going to the State Fair today and it is one of the biggest in the nation, so I will send some more photos tonight! Love you all and God be with you this week.

Much love,

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

Panorama of where they live in Minneapolis.

At the rugby game.

Rugby!

More rugby!

When three college-bound football players are companions, this is the focus of the zone goals!

Elder Beach, Elder Liaga, and Elder Johnston at the State Fair.

Missionaries at the Minnesota State Fair.

Another one at the State Fair.

"Mazda Speed Cam" at the Minnesota State Fair.

Elder Liaga, Elder Johnston and Elder Beach with the Minneapolis skyline behind them.

2 months out + Transfers!!!

Hello to my family, friends, neighbors back in Cache Valley and to my "Band of Brothers" at college and serving world wide! I love y'all and sure miss you, but the work here is so much fun and I love it! Today is my 2 month mark woo woo!

I am getting transferred!! I will be in the St. Paul zone with two other Elders in a tri-panionship. They are the zone-leaders and they both play football so I am hyped!  This area is the TCYSA (Twin Cities Young Single Adult) area and I have heard it is a super fun area!

This week has been a blast!  We had a good lesson with Ann on Tuesday. We had a lesson planned but she had some concerns about her family. We talked about those with her and set up a meeting with the Bishop for her. We are really trying to have her son meet with us and her as well, but he is a super busy guy with school starting and he is in the marching band and they practice for like 6 hours a day. She told us she wants to get baptized and she knows this church is true but she doesn't want to tear apart her family, and she doesn't know if her husband will give her permission. We pray for her a lot and she gave a very sincere, heartfelt pray at the end of our lesson. It will be hard to leave Ann.

On Monday we had a lesson with Peter. He has been on vacation for a few weeks so this has been our first lesson with him since my first week here. He had a lot of doubts about prophets before he left, so we told him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He told us on Monday he had a stroke or something so he doesn't remember anything we taught him, which I'm 99% sure he didn't have a stroke. He said he had a problem with the Articles of Faith as well, so we went over them with him to see if we could clarify them. We read all the longer, confusing ones and he said he was good with them. So we read the one about honoring and obeying the law, and he said he thought that laws were stupid and were meant to help some people but not others. So we talked about following the law of God and he said he could do that. So then we read the one about prophets, pastors, teachers, etc etc... And he's like yeah I'm good with that one. So we were like ok good! Then we keep teaching and he says I don't think there is a prophet today and we are like, "Peter, you just said you agreed with the article of faith." Then he started talking about all this weird stuff and I kept trying to bring it back to prophets and the gospel, but it wasn't happening. Then he started telling us that in the Book of Mormon it talks about Ruth, who is Adam's first wife who was rebellious, and then Eve came after her. My companion was like, "We actually need to get going," and I was ok with that. I was dying in the car after haha. We moved Peter from having a baptismal date set, to visiting once or twice a month because he is starting to have some crazy ideas about stuff! It's sad but it happens I guess. 

We had a really good lesson with Grace on Friday. Her kids are getting their visas so they can come here from Liberia. It's been a miracle how it has all worked out for her. It's really cool! She probably has the greatest faith of anyone I've ever met. Anyways, her cousins live with her and one is usually like way out of it when we go over. He perked right up when we came over and told us he was an endowed member of the church, and we were like, "No way, that's sweet!" So we talked to him and he said he had a falling out with the bishop of his ward but really liked our bishop so he wanted to come back to church. But he didn't come on Sunday so that was a bummer. But he is a really cool guy! We had a lesson with his brother on Saturday. He has had a date set for like 3 months and I had never even met him yet. He said he still wants to be baptized and we went over the interview questions to see what we still needed to teach him. Prophets, chastity and word of wisdom were ones he still hadn't been taught or had questions about. So we are meeting with him on Thursday! Just kidding I won't be there.

On Thursday we did exchanges with the ZLs. I went to Medicine Lake with Elder Anderson and Elder Long came here with my companion. Elder Anderson is from Spanish Fork and he is basically what I want to become as a missionary. He loves what he does and it is easy to tell that. He says hi to everyone and loves those he works with so much. He introduced me to this country album called Nashville Tribute to missionary work or something like that haha. It's really good! There is one song called "Today is the Day" and if you want to get pumped to do missionary work then that is your song! It was good! We had a missionary country jam session in the car haha.

Our lesson with Dan this week was soooooo good!!  We took a brother from our ward who loves golfing and he and Dan hit it off really well. They chatted about golf for like 10 minutes haha. We kept talking about the Spirit World and were able to clear up some questions he had about that with Alma 40. The spirit was really strong and we challenged him to be baptized. He said he didn't want to commit to a date but he did want to be baptized into a church, he just hadn't found the right one yet. We hope he will come to realize that this is the church he has been searching for. If you met him for the first time and talked to him about what he believed, you would think he was LDS. It's insane how close his beliefs are with ours and he has never met with missionaries before! I'm really sad that I have to leave Dan because he is progressing really well. 

We had another lesson with Gary and taught some more about the Book of Mormon. He had a lot of questions about like how it relates to the bible and the time frame of it. So we talked about that and I got to bear my testimony of it. Gary is a great guy. He even invited us to help at his church's breakfasts they put on haha. I don't know if Elder Cordara and his trainee will do that, but I was all for it!

Yesterday was the President's fireside. We took Ann with us and basically what they do is have a few converts come and share their stories and testimonies. There was one lady that shared her story and it was a lot like how Ann's story would be. Her family was really against it and she only had support from those in the church. Ann was crying the whole time and it was great! Not that she was crying, just that the spirit was there! It was a great meeting. This one elder sang "I Stand All Amazed" and I cried through the whole song. It really hit me just how much the Savior loves us and how much he truly did for us. I know he will always be there for us no matter what. In D&C 122:7-9 it talks about how the "...son of man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" It really hit me that no matter how low we feel, He has been just as low or lower and knows what we are going through. It is truly amazing to have that in mind. 

I am really going to miss the Maple Grove area, the ward, my companion, and especially the people I've come to know and love here. It's been a blessing to serve in this area but I am looking forward to serving in the YSA area next!  My dad sent me an email with a scripture from Exodus 14:13..."Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." That has been my scripture of the week! Even though the mission is hard and there are things I am scared to do every day, I know this is the work of salvation and that the Lord has his hand in every part of what we do. I love all of you back home and thank you for the prayers and emails each week. They mean more than you know, and help me feel like even though I'm a thousand miles away, I'm still home. 

One more big shoutout to my Bobcats back home taking it to Riverton! Y'all keep it up and kill Logan this week haha to my Brothers at college and on missions, fighting the good fight, I have a quick scripture I found in my studies this week:  Moroni 8:3 "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end." I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers and pray the good Lord will keep you safe until we meet again. Family, I love you all! To my brother, I am proud of the hard work you have put in for football this season. You deserve everything you get, my man. To my sisters, keep working hard at school and sports and love every day! Mom and Dad, thanks for everything. I love you more than you know!  Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for the support and I miss you a lot but I know I'm supposed to be here!

I love you all back home and thanks again for the support!

Much love,

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

Elders Long, Anderson, Cordara and Beach