Hey guys! Man I miss and love you all a ton. This week is going to be SO weird not being with all of you. It will still be good though. In fact, I have really felt my testimony grow probably more than any other Christmas in the past. It is also interesting to note that you really don't recognize how much you miss your family until you are away from them and only get to call them twice a year ha ha. I remember Dad always saying to me before the mission, "Andy, cherish the time you have with your brothers and sisters because you're going to miss it like crazy when you are out serving." Yep, Dad, you're right. I love and miss you all! =]
Hey Mom, random note - I have been reading "Our Search For Happiness" this past week, and I found a little sticky note you had hidden in it! Ha ha thanks! After 6 months out I finally found it :P It was a nice surprise that made my day. I have been having a blast reading the scriptures and guessing what Allie's clues meant in the 12 days of Christmas! Tons of fun :) I try to save it for the end of the day (if I can wait) so that I always have something to look forward to when I get home. I am amazed at how generous people are this time of year, especially to the missionaries! People have been giving us tons of food and some very nice gifts. The Blackhursts sent me a neat story I will be sharing with the families we visit this week, so I'm excited for that. I love a good Christmas story. The Ensign was also loaded with some really good ones.
Each day for the past little while I have been reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon as well as a conference talk. I want to promise anyone who does this that you will feel the Spirit a lot more each day as you study the words of the ancient prophets as well as the modern! It has been such a blessing to me, because there is so much to be learned from all of them. It is also very important to sincerely pray and ask for the help of the Holy Ghost before you read so that you can learn most effectively. Try it out and find out for yourself how much better your days will be!
This week we had zero investigators at church. We have been praying SO hard to get them there, following up with them throughout the week, setting up teaching appointments on Saturday so we can leave them feeling the Spirit and wanting strongly to come, getting them rides to church with members, calling them the morning of church (several times when they don't answer)... yet still nobody came :( 3 of our investigators had a reason to not come (I'll mention that in a second), but the other 2 just plain were lazy about it :/ You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get people to come to church! If only they knew how much it would bless their lives. The funny thing is, that we constantly promise blessings and they get all excited about it and say they'll come and then they just don't. Sleeping in is not a good reason for missing church, especially when we have called and called several times throughout the morning to try and wake them up.
Our other investigators who promised to come this week couldn't come because they were with their brother in the hospital. This is a family with a sister 24 years old, and 2 younger brothers who are 19 and 17. The 17 year old was with one of his friends (someone we had taught with them several times a couple weeks previous) Saturday night, and they got in a car accident. The friend named S passed away, and A was taken to the hospital. Thankfully he is ok and at home now, but they were at the hospital with them all night. It is so weird to think that S, who was 19 and we were teaching a couple weeks ago, passed away. That is the second person that I have met while on my mission who has also died while I'm still in the area. There was one in Leesburg (it was a member who was inactive that got in a wreck on a bullet bike), and now S here in Sumterville. It is neat to think though that Elder S and I were the last ones to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ on this side of the veil, and now he is being taught on the other by some awesome missionaries I'm sure! That will be cool when he accepts the gospel and someday we'll get to meet him and the other missionaries again and see how things are going. We have just been praying for S and his family, as well as A and his family, that they will be able to find the peace, hope, and comfort that they need in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We got a call Saturday morning from a sister in the ward who has been becoming active again; the same one who we helped to quit smoking a few weeks back. She has been doing pretty good by the way, but slipped up a few times. We just keep encouraging and praying for her. Anyway, she is living with her 2 year old son Michael in a rented house. She doesn't have any income except food stamps for M. M's dad's sister owns the house. This sister hasn't paid rent for a while because she has no income. She hasn't been kicked out because M's dad hasn't paid child support for a long time because he doesn't have a job. Anyway, that's not even all of the details, but you probably get the idea that it is a pretty bad situation. Well, she called us Saturday morning and asked if there was any way that we could get her some food. She was extremely hesitant, but we knew that if she was calling then that meant things were pretty bad. We told her not to worry, she'd have some food before the day was over.
To make a long story short, President F told us to get her some food and he'd reimburse us, and take it to her to hold her over for the weekend. We got her some basics and when we got there to drop it off, all of her cupboards were empty and the only food she had was a couple of grapefruits and some frozen vegetables. She kept saying how sorry she was for asking for our help, and thanked us again and again. I don't doubt that she has starved herself to keep feeding 2 year old M. She told us that usually her food stamps for M come by the 5th of the month, but they still hadn't come yet (it was the 18th). This coming Tuesday President F and the Relief Society President (well one of them anyway) is going to pick up a food order from the Bishop's Storehouse.
This really opened up my eyes to just how blessed I am; how blessed we all are. So many of the silly little things we constantly worry about don't even matter. We can either focus on the many things we don't have and be miserable and jealous, or focus on the many many blessings that we do have and find happiness and generosity in our lives. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives! It deals with things of eternal significance, and comes free to anyone who wants it. No matter how much pain or suffering we may have in this life, we can have eternal joy and happiness with our families, God, and Jesus Christ for eternity! Christmas time is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on that. I feel so blessed to have that in my life. I am so thankful for a living prophet to guide and direct us back to our Father. The way to happiness has been given to all of us, now all we need to do is follow it! It is simple. Not easy, but simple.
I can't wait to talk to you on the phone this Saturday! It will be a weird and a wonderful experience lol. I will call probably somewhere between 11 and 12 your time (in the morning) - which means it will be somewhere around 1 to 2 p.m. here. Hope that's not confusing ;) The gospel is true! I know it, and that's all that really matters. Now I just need to share and live it more fully. Woo hoo! What an awesome opportunity this life is. I love you all so much! Thanks for your testimonies and support and prayers. You. Are. The. BEST!
ttyl (Saturday ha ha :D)
love,
Elder Andrew John Beckett!
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