Week 3 in the Field!

Happy August 1st to all y'all back in good old Cache Valley and my fellow Band of Brothers serving worldwide. I love all of you and hope y'all are doing well! I hope the Sky View football team is having a good time with Bobcat makers and are working hard to carry on the tradition of success. I'm excited to hear about all the success y'all will have this season!!

This week has gone by so fast, it seems like just yesterday I was writing about last week haha. 

My favorite thing this week was our lesson with Janna's brother Dan. Dan is investigating the church and is the definition of "perfect investigator." We weren't really sure what to expect going in. Dan is a really nice guy and that's about all we knew. We taught the Restoration because that is the first lesson and he believed every single thing we taught! As we taught, he would tell us about things he believes and it was pretty much exactly what we believe! Dan used to be a party animal and had some drug and alcohol problems, but has come full circle and has been sober for just over two years. He has built a strong relationship with God and Jesus and loves the bible. We talked to him about reading the Book of Mormon and he says, "Well, I haven't read that much..." And we ask him how much he has read and he says, "About 15-20 pages." And we were like Dan! That is awesome!! So we are really excited for him. He said he has a lot of questions about foreordination and life after death so we will be teaching him about the Plan of Salvation tomorrow and I am hyped.

Another amazing miracle we had this week was yesterday! Ann Pearson and her daughter, Laurel, came to church!! It was great. Ann knows like everyone in the ward because she has been investigating for a few years and she had a great experience coming to Sacrament Meeting. Laurel really enjoyed it as well but is really hung up on the whole Atonement. It is such a huge part of what we teach and believe and she feels like it is more of a primitive sacrifice, but we are teaching her again on Tuesday, and we can hopefully address all her concerns! I'm excited. Laurel is great and is really trying to figure things out for herself. She is going to Humboldt State in Northern California to become a marine biologist. She is almost done with school and is heading back on Wednesday, but will be back at the end of September! Anyway, the miracle of them coming to church was that EVERY single talk and song was about what we have been teaching them and you could just see them thinking about it and it was touching them. It was great! It's so easy to see God's hand in everything we do out here. Sister Forbes, who is the Mission President's wife, has a great relationship with Ann, so that is awesome because Sister Forbes is a convert from Catholicism. Things are really falling into place I feel like!

We had dinner with the Trainor family on Wednesday and it was really great! They had a burrito bar and Sister Trainor had fried tortillas for it and they were so good. Their family is really trying to be more involved in member missionary work so we were able to help them with the ward mission plan. I would recommend our ward mission plan to everyone back home. It has the acronym PIPA and I will discuss it in detail right now: 

P- Prepare your home in a way that invites the spirit.  Keep it clean and have church pictures around your home that will lead to questions from non-members. 

I- Invite a nonmember into your home AT LEAST once a month. It doesn't have to involve a lesson or anything - just have a nonmember in your home and have your home prepared as a place they can feel the Spirit, and questions for you to answer about the church will follow!

P- Pray for the people you have in your home and also pray that you can be ready to answer questions they have. 

A- Answer any and all questions they have about the church. If you do this, they will feel the Spirit and have a desire to learn more. If nothing else you have strengthened your relationship with them and "planted seeds" in them (Alma 32:36).

The Trainors are awesome and they bought Elder Cordara peach yogurt because he loves it haha. They have a chocolate lab named Brownie and he is a cool dog! A lot of people here have cool dogs but none as cool as my dog! 

We had Zone interviews on Wednesday and they were great! President Forbes is so funny and such an amazing guy. During my interview with him I sat in a chair and he paced up and down the room and ate cashews. It was a great interview and time to get to know him better!

Wednesday night I had quite the funny experience while I was sleeping!  We had taught the Restoration like 5 times that week and so I had a dream that we were teaching someone the Restoration. However, I was sort of half asleep, half awake, and I was sitting up in my bed teaching to no one! As I finished my part of the lesson and it was Elder Cordara's turn to teach, he didn't say anything (he was asleep, obviously). So I was stressing out really bad and I was like Elder! Elder it's your turn! But he didn't say anything. So I sat there for a minute trying to figure out what the heck was going on and finally realized I was having a dream haha. So I sheepishly fell back asleep and the next morning Elder Cordara was like, "So apparently you can teach the gospel in your sleep!" And I was like yeah...

We got to teach Jephthah Gatei again and his brother-in-law, Prince, who joined the church about 4 months ago! Jephthah is a great man. And Prince is so cool! Haha Prince is 37 and we both thought he was 24-25.  He is very energetic! Jephthah's wife, Mercy, isn't a member but she has been taught all the lessons and believes everything. She has a calling in another church she goes to so we wanted to talk to her about that. She wasn't there, so we talked to Prince and Jephthah for about an hour about her. Prince came to the conclusion that one day, she will just call the missionaries and say she is ready to be baptized, and that that day is in the near future! Jephthah agreed and it is so incredible to see how much faith is in their home!

We had a west African BBQ and had the ward council and invited all the Africans in our ward to come because a lot of them are less active. We only had Jephthah's family and Sister Saylee come to it, which is a lot less than expected but it was a good event. Sister Saylee even came to church the next day!

The elderly lady, Luann, that we help out with yard work has been a little more open about talking religion. We talked to her about her church and our church and about missionaries. We also mowed her lawn yesterday and she gave us $40 to go to this place called Pizza Ranch, which is a really good pizza buffet but expensive so she told us to go there for helping her! She is so great! Keep her and her husband in your prayers!

Last thing, the Parkinson's next door neighbor isn't a member but is a very nice guy. His name is Jacque and he is the coolest guy ever! He used to do MotoX and BMX racing and now is an avid biker. He has been helping us out with bike stuff and teaching us how to tune up our bikes and keep them running well! He is such a nice guy! My bike has been having a problem making 2 clicks every time I pedal and I can't figure out what it is and Jacque didn't know either.  So if anyone has any advice, I would love it!

I'm having a blast out here! It's hot and humid, but lots of fun and hard work. I'm learning so much about the gospel and also about myself. It's amazing how many things I need to work on haha. But I'm glad that I have the opportunity to improve in those areas of my life! I keep y'all in my prayers every day and know that I love each of you back home so much, and I love my brothers out there fighting the good fight with me, whether that is at college or in the mission field. I read a talk this week by Elder Maxwell called "O Divine Redeemer." It is an amazing talk about the Savior, and I would suggest it to everyone! Anyway, I love you all, and best of luck to the Sky View Bobcats this year! Represent well at Maverick Stadium in the opener!

Much love, 

Elder Beach 

#10 #MavUp

My workout board

A beautiful nature shot

Me with a football in my shirt because that is the only way I could carry it. #ballislife

A goofy pic of me

50 Shades of Elder Gray (I borrowed Elder Gray's name tag for the photo)

A typical lunch for me: Turkey, cheese, and lettuce wraps, Gatorade, fruit, and chips

MMM mission (Many Mighty Miracles!)

Hello to y'all back home! Hope things are going great and I was excited to hear that the Bobcats 2016-17 season starts today! Work hard and have a great season y'all. I'm excited to hear how it goes! 

We have had a week of many miracles! The Lord is truly present in this great work we are doing. Whether it be service, knocking doors, working with members, anything... We have had miracles this week!

On Tuesday, we took Luann to the family history library and she LOVED it!  She stayed for almost 3 hours! She found a lot of info about her dad and his side of the family. It is so cool to see how family history work brings families closer together. We have been helping her a lot with yard work, which I love! Service is a great way to share the gospel. Our relationship with her is really building but she is still resistant to hearing any gospel messages. So for now, we just love her and serve her! However, she said she would watch Meet the Mormons because she is really interested in the candy bomber! So it's a start. She said we should go to this pizza place called Broadway Bar Pizza so we are gonna check it out tonight! Please keep Luann and her husband in your prayers! Her husbands health isn't doing super well right now. 

Ok, biggest miracle of the week: Sister Parkinson has a friend named Ann who has been investigating the church for a few years. Her mom recently passed away and it has been hard on her faith. Her husband isn't a huge supporter of the church either. But we've had two lessons with Ann and one with her daughter Laurel this last week! Yesterday we taught Ann the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was an amazing lesson. Brother and Sister Parkinson came with us and it was great. I had the opportunity to challenge Ann to be baptized and she said yes! She feels like she needs to be an example for her family so she really wants to! It's so cool she has had a lot of physical and emotional struggles the past little while and we shared Ether 12:27 with her and told her how the Lord will make our "weaknesses become strong."  It was an amazing spiritual experience. We are meeting with her again on Wednesday and with Laurel sometime this week as well!

We have dinner with the members almost every night and we decided to follow up on a promise made by Elder Rasband (I think, not sure) at a stake conference out here. He said if you have the missionaries in your homes and have them teach you the first two lessons in PMG, by no later than the end of the second lesson you will have a name in your mind of someone ready to receive the Gospel. So we have been doing that each night at dinner. We have return appointments with like 4-5 families for this week! So hopefully our list of potential investigators and referrals grows this week!

Another miracle that happened was we got to teach Janna! She is the lady that Elder Cordara and Elder Last found and helped with her lawn mower. So we set up a first lesson with her, taught the restoration, and set a a baptismal date with her as well! It's incredible! We are having another lesson with her next week and we have a lesson with her brother Dantomorrow!

There is a single mom named Kristi who just got baptized on the 2nd of July and so did her daughter Laney. So we have been teaching them as well and helping Kristi get ready for the temple and baptisms for the dead. They are so nice and I love them! Anyways, Kristi's best friend Nastasia wants to have a lesson with us so we are meeting with them on Thursday! I'm so excited for it!

This week we are mowing 4 lawns in 2 days! Just like the good ol' days back home haha. It's fun though and myself and Elder Cordara are getting really good at it!

The most spiritual experience I had this week was when we taught a lady named Glory. She is from Liberia and has some kinda crazy ideas about doctrines and stuff but she is great! So her two sons, Josh and Ziggy were there too. They are like 11 and 4 I think. We taught about the sacrament and showed a quick video. Josh was really paying attention and thinking. It was cool. After the video, we talked to Josh about what the sacrament means to him. I don't remember what he said, but it was really profound for an 11 year old with little knowledge of the gospel. As we were sitting there, I felt Gods love for him so strongly. It was such a powerful, amazing yet simple feeling: God loves you and has good things in store for you.  It was incredible. And as we said the closing prayer I prayed that Josh and Ziggy would be able to feel of the love God has for them and know that he really does love them. It was so cool! Right after that lesson, we had a lesson with a new convert named Grace who is also from Liberia. Grace has such a strong testimony!  When we got there, she said her friend named Terri was there and she was going to join us! So we ended up teaching restoration, and set a baptismal date with Terri! But as we were sitting there teaching, I had that same overwhelming feeling of Gods love, this time for Grace. It truly made me realize that God loves us so so much! Like more powerfully and deeply than we can know. It's awesome!

Well, we are back at it again tomorrow! I miss y'all back home and think about each of you daily. God has good things in store for all of us! I can't wait to hear how Sky View football does this year! I know y'all can do well if you work hard and come together as a team. Trust each other and have each other's backs. I love getting emails about stuff going on at home so if anyone wants to send me one, even just a quick one, that would be awesome!  I love all of you back home and I know God loves you too. My dad sent me a piece of advice from President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and go to work." Simple yet so very true! I can't stress enough how amazing prayer is. Rely on the Lord during your trials and he will carry you! I love you all! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Much love,

Elder Beach

#10 #MavUp

Hello to all y'all back home in Cache Valley!  I sure do think about everyone back home a lot and also my fellow Band of Brothers serving the Lord and those getting ready to serve very soon. There is nothing greater than serving the Lord and the people of your mission. As you grow to love them you will love it so much more!

My first day here was insane. Lots of new missionaries and all of us really looked liked deer in the headlights haha.  We all met at the mission home in Bloomington and had lunch and a chat with the President Forbes and his wife. They are really laid back which is nice.  All the new missionaries had an interview with him and mine was really strange. He asked me about my recycling business and then asked why I am serving a mission.  Then he said well we are happy to have you here! And that was it.  I was like uhhhh..... Ok. Then we got our bikes and stuff and I got my pack of instants so thanks mom and dad for those! My bike has been doing good, it's just like so nice for me to know how to use everything on it haha. But it's been a great bike so far! 

My trainer Elder Cordara has been great! He is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada so I got 2 'Berta Boys for my first two companions! He is 24 because he went to 4 years of college before his mission! He is really outgoing and friendly so that helps me a lot haha. He has only been out 6 months and was in Thunder Bay for about 4 1/2 of those months so we both are still getting to know the area.  We cover Maple Grove, Champlin, Osseo, and Dayton!

We live with the Parkinsons, who are a member family. They have 2 kids and both are moved out so they are empty nesters. We stay in the basement and we have a pretty good set up.  They are really nice and Brother Parkinson is awesome and Sister Parkinson is a mom away from home. They are great! Pictures from the apartment are below.

So my first day here we taught a lesson with Ted Otis, who is a way awesome biker dude that the missionaries have been teaching for a while. He is so great!  We are still working on him for baptism but he is progressing. He quit drinking and he is smoking less so that's good!

We also taught Peter Abbey who has been investigating the church for like 3 years. He was dropped by the missionaries but Elder Cordara felt like we should visit him. We talked about what was keeping him from being baptized and he said he just hadn't got an answer yet from God. We shared Moroni 10:3-5 and D&C 8:2-3 and 9:8-9 with him. I was able to share the scriptures and Elder Cordara asked him to be baptized and be said he would when he got an answer! October 10 is the date he set so we hope he can make it. 

We got to do a booth at Maple Grove days focusing on family history work. We had several hundred people stop by so it was great. We also got to talk to some pastors from other faiths and share our beliefs with them. It was so cool! And I got to take a picture with Iron Man, so yeah!

We have been able to have dinner with members every night! It's been great. The best dinner I have had was Carbana which is Mac n cheese with grilled chicken, bacon and egg mixed in. I had 3 plates full of that!  It was delicious! The members are great! We had dinner the first night with Jephtah Gatei and his wife. He is a convert to the church and is from Kenya. He is so awesome. His wife isn't a member but we are working on her haha. 

We are helping this lady we found tracting a lot with yard work! Her name is Luann and she lives just down the street from the Parkinsons. She loves rocks and especially rocks from Utah. So we hit it off talking about Utah!  I even talked her into letting me mow her lawn while Elder Cordara talked to her about the Book of Mormon. She is coming to the family history center with us tomorrow as well!

We have been knocking doors a lot in Champlin because we have pretty good success at least talking to people. So we went to this lady's house named Janna, who the Elders had met once and helped with her lawn mower. Her brother Dan answered the door and said she wasn't home. So we told Dan who we are and our message and gave him a Book of Mormon to read and he said he would and we could swing by this next week to talk to him again!

We had a really cool experience yesterday evening. We ride by this farmhouse every time on our way to Champlin and I felt like we should go knock their door. So we got on our bikes and rode to the house and the owner of the house was out front so we pulled up and were like "Hey we are missionaries from the LDS church..." And so on and he basically was like no go away I don't want to talk to y'all and he went inside. So I was like what the heck? But as we rode back home I had another prompting to talk to this lady and her son on the side of the road by the trail head. We talked to them for about a half hour about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and stuff. It was so cool!! They accepted a Book of Mormon and a Proclamation to the Family pamphlet. What a way to end a day!

I am so grateful I have the opportunity to serve the Lord and I love the people of Minnesota dearly already. It's amazing! I love all y'all back home so much and miss y'all but I know I am supposed to be here. Alex and Bryce, this is going to be the hardest thing you've done but it is so amazing if you just lose yourself in the work. Eminem said it best: "Lose yourself in the music, the moments, you want it, you better never let go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance, don't blow this opportunity cuz it's once in a life time." You'll both do great! I love y'all. Thanks to everyone for the emails, I love getting them. Thanks for your prayers and support! 

Much love, 

Elder Beach

Deer in the headlights the first day in the MMM.

Pretty nice digs living with the Parkinson's!

Elder Beach and Elder Cordara

Elder Beach with Iron Man at Maple Grove Days

Kitchen in Maple Grove.

Apartment in Maple Grove

Picking up the new bike!

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.