Septemer 7, 2010

Nate the Great is almost 13! WOW. Allie coming up too... :) Happy birthday Nathan Chad Beckett! You are the man. Hope you have a fantastic fun filled day!

Alright... first off I just wanted to share this scripture I found the other day that PUMPED ME UP! Are you ready? This is good.... Ok. It can be found in 2 Timothy 2:3. It says, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Ok, I will do that! Ha ha isn't that cool? I just loved the wording. Like Allie mentioned a while back, we are defenders of the faith! We are soldiers of Jesus Christ =) Nobody can or will triumph over Him - so watch out Satan. He's goin' down.

This was a good week (like always I suppose!), and one lesson I learned is that the Lord really is there and watching out for us. I love knowing that, and that as long as I am obedient and doing His will, He is there guiding and protecting us wherever we go. Obviously we shouldn't be stupid and place ourselves in danger, but I'll tell you what - I've definitely gone places as a missionary that I never would have gone before. Namely the Ghetto areas of Leesburg.

We were tracting there this week and we walked past a park. I had a really eye opening experience, and definitely am more thankful for education than I was before. We met this guy in the park sitting alone at a table, and we walked up and started talking to him. He was sitting there with a dictionary just copying words and definitions down into a dirty old notebook. We asked him what he was doing and he just said, "Studying." After talking to him for a minute, I could tell he wasn't very bright and had grown up in poverty for sure. All he really wanted was to get an education, and he knew he needed to learn to do that. He didn't really know what or how he needed to learn, but he was trying to become successful. It really made me think how much I take for granted - knowing the things I know and going to the schools I did. Especially learning the things that I learned even just in home! Education is one of the greatest blessings we have, so don't take it for granted :)

Another day when we were tracting close by, we noticed a cop drive past. We kept tracting and saw him stop a little ways ahead of us. He waited for about 20 minutes while we talked with a contact, and then we went up to talk to him and see what was up. He was really nice, and asked us if we knew what area we were in. He said it was a pretty dangerous area to be in, and that the day before there was a robbery that turned into a homicide. Just what you want to hear, yeah? He asked us how long we were going to be there, and we told him we'd be gone in about a half hour (that's when lunch was :). He said he'd stay there and keep an eye out for us until we finished. Nothing else happened, and it was nice to know that we are being watched out for. There was also a guy we ran into up the street after that who told us to let him know if anybody in the hood gave us trouble.

I had a funny dream last night! I dreamed that me and Nolan were riding in his white car and we were jumping it in a parking lot. It was way fun and a pretty big jump. It worked out perfectly too so the landing was smooth and all. Kendra Phelps was there watching. After a few jumps, the police showed up and got mad at us. We had fun jumping it for a bit though :) Takes me back to the fun times we used to have lol, although we never jumped his car.

Updates on Gators - Right now we are teaching C, who just got out of jail. She is a really nice lady who has some WOW problems, but I am confident she will progress and be baptized. Same with a girl named A in the ward. Her husband S is a less active member, and they have a young boy named P (3 years old). This was the B family that I think I told you about before. Anyway we called her this week and she told us she had talked to her boss and he wouldn't give her Sundays off to go to church, so she decided to quit! She quit her job so that her and her family can come to church! Is that awesome or what? They even went out and bought church clothes and should be here this coming Sunday. I am super excited for them, and I know that the Lord will bless them when they keep His commandments.
That is one thing I feel I have been blessed with an incredible amount since I have been out - a stronger faith and trust in God. It's amazing what you can do when you put your faith in God. We need Him, and there is no way we could do anything without Him! He has a hand in our lives, and helps us each and every day. It's important that we watch for Him in our lives daily, and then thank Him for that. That is something I have been working on doing, and it has made a huge difference in my attitude, spiritual sensitivity, and effectiveness as a misisonary. I would invite you all to do so, and you'll notice the sincerity of your prayers will increase and it will have an overall positive effect on you. Guaranteed!

Well, my time is almost up but I'm going to hurry and send some pics. Love you all! Have a great week and remember to always trust in God (see Psalms 18:1-2)

Love you forever and always (like Taylor Swift ;)
~Elder Andy Beckett