Second Week in the MTC!

Hello to all y'all back home! I miss you guys and love all of you! I am so happy where I am right now doing the Lord's work.

This week has been crazy, hard, and very fun and spiritual.  Elder Peterson and I got two new TRC investigators this week and they are so great.  Shannon is our first one and she just moved here from Florida with her husband.  She has been Methodist her whole life and is just barely learning about the church.  The first lesson with her, we taught the Restoration of the Gospel.  It was a very spiritual lesson.  I had memorized the first vision so when we  got to that part in the lesson, I was able to look her in the eyes and tell it just how Joseph Smith did.  It was one of the coolest moments of the MTC so far.  You could tell she was feeling the spirit really strong.  We also have started using Mormon messages with her to help tie in what we are teaching to her own life and they are so awesome!! I love using them.  Yesterday we taught her the Plan of Salvation and we drew the picture of it with her as we went.  She really listened intently as we taught her and after she said we had helped answer some really deep questions she had had in her life.  It was awesome! 

Our other investigator is Jessica.  She is the sweetest person ever! She has such an outgoing and fun personality haha.  She is looking for some change in her life and feels like the church is what she needs.  We have been teaching her a lot about the Book of Mormon and she has had some cool experiences reading it on her own.  She said she wants to be baptized sometime in the future once she has had all the missionary lessons and goes to church a few times.  We are so hyped for her!!

Elder Peterson and I have been doing lots of CrossFit at the gym.  All they have is dumbbells and a rowing machine so it's hard to make up workouts without barbells and pull up racks and stuff.  We do a lot of AMRAPs and Metcon complexes (21-15-9, or 42-21-30-15-18-9 rep schemes).  He doesn't really lift he just likes to "coach" me as I do it, but he is more than happy to be there working with me.  I am really blessed to have him as a companion!  I broke my handstand walk record! I got 61 feet which is the whole length of the hallway in our dorm.  We measured it so it is a legit 61 feet  I am also getting really good at strict pullups because we have a pull-up bar in our dorm.  I can do 17 unbroken and I am shooting for 22-24 by the time we leave next Wednesday!

Our district has been having some struggles this week.  A couple people have been a little one dge with each other and the sisters in our district felt like this one elder was being really flirty with them so we had bunch of drama there.  It was really stupid and Elder Wiltbank had to sort it all out because he is the district leader.  He is the right man for the job because I don't have the patience to deal with all that kind of stuff.  Last night with our teacher Brother Cook we basically had a heart to heart as a district and everyone just said how they were feeling about stuff.  I felt like that helped a lot and after we did that we had an amazing, spiritual lesson.  It is crazy to see how hard Satan is working in our lives, and when we humble ourselves and turn to the Lord it all works out!   Anyway, I know I am doing the Lord's work and that this is where  I am supposed to be right now.  I can't wait to get out in the field next week and start bringing the gospel to some real people! 

For Canada Day, which is July 1, we all wore red and white ties and hung Elder Peterson's Canadian flag in the classroom and did a Canada geography lesson hahaha.  It was super funny!  They let us watch the fireworks on the 2nd for the Freedom Fire concert.  Sadly, I didn't get to hear Tim McGraw, but the fireworks were amazing!

Mom and Grandma, thanks so much for the food! It is a blessing to just have some snacks whenever I need them! The Queso was a hit and it is about gone already.  Our room (The 131) is basically the party room so we always have people coming in and out.  I love my roommates and I am going to miss them when we all head out next week.  

Thanks everyone for your emails and letters! They mean so much to me and it's great to hear from all of you!  I truly love all of you back home and pray for y'all everyday.  Look for the hand  of the Lord in your life and you will find Him.  I have a strong testimony of that.  I know the  church  is true and I am in the right place, doing the right thing right now!  Can't wait to see all  of you in two years!

Much Love, 

Elder Beach

#MavUp #10

P.S. the pictures are of Elder Peterson with the Canadian flag, our teacher Brother Cook, and
when we went on a temple walk last week.

First P-Day!

June 30, 2016

Hey all of you back home! I love all of you guys and miss you a little bit haha.  The MTC has been amazing and I love it here.  The spirit is so strong and I have grown so much in my knowledge of the gospel in just a week. 

The first day here was really long and I honestly wondered what I was doing here.  My companion was a little homesick and I didn't know anyone in my district.  It was hard.  At the end of the day, we had all the new missionaries devotional and we sang "Armies of Helaman."  In the song it said, "We are now the Lord's missionaries", instead of "We will be the Lord's missionaries" and as I looked around, I just kind of lost it because I realized how amazing it was that I was part of the Lord's army of missionaries.  I was hoping Elder Peterson wasn't gonna think I was an idiot but he didn't haha.

Elder Peterson is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and he is a great guy.  We complement each other really well.  I am more serious, get down to business, and he is a very funny and care free guy.  So we have a good mix of work hard and play hard haha!  He has so many funny sayings and I am starting to use a lot of them.  One of them is "chapped", which pretty much means something is unfortunate or stupid.  So you would say "That's pretty chapped," if something sucks.  And he always says, "Let's make like a baby and head out."  He honestly cracks me up so much.  I am blessed to have him as a companion.

Our district is great!  6 of the 8 elders are going to the Minnesota, Minneapolis Mission and the others are going to the Denver, Colorado mission.  The 3 sisters are going to Ohio, Cleveland.  Our district is amazingly close after just a week.  We do everything together and we are all great friends already.  It's amazing how the Lord can bring people together so quickly!

We already have taught two "investigators" twice each.  Our first investigator is Talia and she is a Catholic.  She is really accepting that God loves her and has a plan for her but she got really hung up with baptism and why it is so essential when she has already been baptized.  It is hard and so sad when people you love don't want to accept it.  Our other investigator, Kayla, is doing awesome and she has already committed to be baptized when she feels the time is right for her.  She is really trying to read and understand the book of Mormon and build a relationship with God through prayer.  It is amazing!  The most amazing thing I have learned while here is that when you have the true love of Christ for your investigators, it doesn't matter if the lesson is perfect.  Just have a perfect love for them and they will feel it.  I can testify that that is so true.  Preparation in regards to what the investigator needs is key as well.  Teach the person, don't just teach the lesson.  There are times where we go in with a lesson plan and we end up teaching an entirely different thing because of the spirit and what the investigator needs or has questions about.  It is so amazing to help people come unto Christ!!

I have been able to workout pretty much every day so I am a happy camper haha.  The fitness center has free weight dumbells and our dorm room has a pullup bar on the wall so I have been doing lots of pullups, not butterfly just strict, and lots of L-chin-ups.  My roommates and I do handstand pushups and handstand walk stuff every night.  Even though they aren't the best they love to do stuff that challenges them physically and they are getting way better even though Elder Foutz almost died trying to do handstand pushups haha.  Best news though: I broke my handstand walk record!!  I went a little over 50 feet (estimation) but we are pretty sure it was at least 49 feet.  The photo of me handstand walking was during my record run!

I am having a blast here and I know this is where I am supposed to be!  Mom and Dad and my family, and Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for the food and all the support and prayers.  I can feel them all the way in Provo.  I love all you guys back home.  The church is true and God the Father and Jesus Christ love each and every one of you so much!  

Much Love,

Elder Beach

Quick Update

June 25, 2016

Hello Everyone!

We had like 5 minutes to email today so just a few updates:  We already taught our first "investigator" named Will and have him quickly on the path to baptism!  It makes me so excited to teach real investigators!! My companion Elder Peterson and I are getting along so well and so are all the elders in my district.  It's like we've been friends for years, it's amazing.  Anyways, I love you all and I will send a big email with pics and more stories about our adventures and teaching experiences here next Thursday!

Love,

Elder Beach

First Day in the MTC!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Hello!

The MTC is awesome!  My district is so great and there are some amazing people in it.  So when we got here, we took all our stuff to our rooms and then went to our classrooms where we will spend a majority of our time here.  Lots of learning haha.  My companion is Elder Peterson from Edmonton, Canada and he is a really cool guy.  We are connecting well and everyone in my district is getting along great already!  We had a big devotional with all the new missionaries and it was great!  We sang "Armies of Helaman" but one part of the song was changed.  Where it usually says "... We will be the Lord's missionaries," it now said, "We are now the Lords missionaries."  It hit me really hard that this is where I am supposed to be and I am so excited to be a missionary representing the Lord! Anyways, miss you all back home and thanks for the support and prayers.  Love all you guys!

Elder Beach

P.S. I will send some pictures in my next email home!  Our P-day is next Thursday.