Transfers in Sumterville! (November 1st letter)

Hello family and friends! I miss and love you all. I guess to start off I'll just say that my companion Elder Rice is being transferred and I will now be with Elder Stock. I am excited to work with him, and especially to be here in the Sumterville Branch. It is a wonderful place with lots of great people! I will be Senior companion which will be a change, and I'll get to drive. Yahoo :)

Ok, this is going to be kind of random because it is just different thoughts I had to email you about that I wrote down in my planner throughout the week.

Thought 1: I realized that I forgot to tell you a pretty funny story. If I really didn't forget and already told you, I'm sorry lol. Anyway, I found out a good way to get your companion to stop snoring if he's keeping you up at night :) A couple weeks ago when bedtime came around, I went to bed and was laying there trying to fall asleep. I must have tried for 20-30 minutes but just wasn't that sleepy. Finally I got tired and was on the brink of going into a nice deep sleep when all of the sudden I hear a snore come from across the room. Elder Rice started to snore and with each breath snored louder and louder! Oh man I was pretty mad because I had just about fallen asleep when it started and now I was wide awake again. I sat there for about 5 minutes figuring I'd endure it and just be nice and

try to fall asleep, but it didn't work. Then I had an idea.

You know how right when you wake up you are kind of out of it and don't really know what's going on? You can't always tell what exactly is real life and what was in your dream, and you are still tired enough to go back to sleep. Well, anyway, my plan banked on that. I waited until he had a nice loud snore just so I could be mad enough to actually do it, and then right as he was exhaling (so it was quiet) I whacked the wall with my hand way loud! We have thin wood walls and so it made a really loud sound. Immediately I hurried and brought my arm down and pretended to be asleep. It worked perfectly :) He woke up, rolled over, and stopped snoring. I was then able to fall asleep before it started again. I have used it several times since, and so far it has a 100% success rate. Feel free to try it out if you ever need to ha ha.

Thought 2: Something really weird about Florida is that none of the men here think they need to wear shirts. EVERYONE is always walking around without their shirts off in public, regardless of how overweight or hairy or gross or whatever they are. It's pretty weird. Nobody even cares lol.

Thought 3: Awesome scriptures of the week! Yeah! Alright, so the main ones deal with LIGHT because one day at lunch I just was interested in that subject and decided to read up on it. Here are all my favorite scriptures that you can learn some very interesting things about light - what it is, how to get more, etc. 1 John 1:5-7; D&C 93:36-67; 88:11-13,40,49,67; Matt 5:16, 6:22; John 8:12; Romans 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:5; 1 Ne 17:13; Msh 16:9; Alma 32:35; 3 Ne. 18:29; D&C 50:24, 84:45-46; JSH 1:16-17

I also found an answer to a question I have wondered about personally. I always hear people say how they are "coming to know the Savior personally" and I always felt like I wasn't. I was trying to be good, do what I should, but I never quite understood how I could really get to know Him without Him actually being here with me. Well, this scripture helped me know that I am coming to know the Savior more and more, as each of us can - 1 John 2:3. I love that. As we keep His commandments we come to know Him. It also goes vice-versa; as we come to know him better we will keep His commandments!

Before I forget, P-day will be next Tuesday because Elder and Sister Zivic of the Seventy will be here speaking to us on that Monday. Just fyi :)

Yesterday in church I spoke along with Elder Rice, Sister S (P who was baptized about 2 months ago), and 2 ward missionaries. It went really well I thought. I knew I wanted to speak on the Savior, but I wasn't getting any impressions for a clear direction to take with my talk as I was preparing throughout the week. I kept studying and praying though, and finally just decided that maybe the Lord would just fill my mouth with what He wanted said when the time came. I didn't go completely unprepared, but I brought just a couple small notes on some thoughts I had been having. When I got up to speak, my mouth was filled :) Although I had a tiny paper, I spoke for quite a while and feel like I got across the message and testimony I was supposed to share. It was a neat experience and helped me out probably more than anyone else. It helped strengthen my testimony of D&C 84:85 and 100:5-8.

Well, I am loving being here and am excited to take over the Sumterville Area. One thing we are really going to focus on and go visit this transfer are part member families, less actives, former investigators, and potentials. Then of course there will be lots of tracting too. That's always a blast though because you never know what to expect!

OH, one more quick neat experience/learning moment for me. Thursday we were out tracting and it was like 94 and door after door after door was slammed in our face with people yelling and

just being really rude. I was getting sick of it and really wondered if I would reach the point sometime on my mission where I was just going to explode at someone. Well, I was thinking about how I can do this for 2 whole years and get yelled at and everything else every day, and came to a realization that night. There are lots of reasons I came on a mission, but the main one is because I love my Savior Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven. It is that simple, and that is enough to keep me going through all of the hard times. Friday I read a talk by Elder Holland to missionaries that mentioned how when we are getting scorned and ridiculed and rejected we are walking shoulder to shoulder with Jesus Christ. That is the closest we can come to knowing what He felt like because he was rejected too. It is such an honor and sacred privilege to be out here doing this, and I get to do it all day everyday! :D Anyway, I also found a neat quote that hit me the next mornign in comp study from PMG:

"The attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of your love toward your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect for the priesthood." Wow. Just reinforcement of what the Spirit had taught me the night before. I love being here, I love all of you, and I love Heavenly Father and J

esus Christ. Kia Kaha! :D

-Elder Andrew Beckett

PICS!

1 & 2 - I win! :D

3 - Parting district shot

4 & 5- the mustaches you sent mom! Thanks :D

Hmm. I thought I had more lol but apparently it was just more mustache pictures and chewed up mustache. There you go :) I'll send you one of Elder Stock soon!