Temple Trip, Weirdest Lesson Ever, Service, and I found another sticky note :)

Hey family! Hope all is going well in Grantsville and Provo and wherever else you may go. Things are fantastic here! Guess what I found this morning as I opened "Our Heritage" to start reading it? I found another blue sticky note, just like Mom's that I found in "Our Search for Happiness!" This one was from Dad though, lol, and said "I miss you already even though you haven't left yet. I even miss the view of Deseret Peak out the bathroom window and it's still there!" Ha ha Dad I love and miss you. Anyway, thanks Mom and Dad for the sticky notes! They were super fun to find.

This week we got to go to the temple on Wednesday! It was super great. I always love going to the temple! Bro. P from our branch took us there; he is a temple sealer and goes there several times a week. He took us out to lunch after, and we stopped by the LDS bookstore to grab a couple of supplies. On the way to the bookstore there is a pond. There were a few geese in the pond, and some of them (4 actually) were on the sidewalk. I'm guessing 2 males and 2 females. They were between us and the bookstore, and as we were walking up Bro. P was like, "Those are the kind that will chase you... watch out!" Elder Stock and I were kind of thinking he was joking, so we figured we'd just walk real slow past them and we'd be fine. We were like ten feet away, and they starting hissing at us and flapping their wings and getting pretty ticked! Ha ha and then he started running (not waddling), like and all out goose-sprint towards us. So there Elder Stock and I were, running away from some geese in our suits and ties lol while Brother P was laughing from a little further away. It was pretty hilarious. I wanted to challenge the goose and see what it would've done if I just stood my ground and defended myself or something, but Bro. P told us before that we can get in huge trouble if we do anything to the geese. So basically we were wimps and just had to run away ;) It was fun though.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators this week, and it was the weirdest, most awkward lesson of my life ha ha! We had an appointment at her house set up for the evening, but when we got there apparently she hadn't told her dad. He is pretty old, and wasn't feeling well. We asked if we could just talk to her (she's in her upper 20's and has a couple of kids) in the kitchen, but he told us he just wanted us to come back another time. It was cold outside, and we'd met outside before, but she had recently had a new baby and so that wasn't going to work. Well, we really needed to teach her and had driven all the way out to her house just for that lesson, and so we were really trying hard to figure out how we could make it work.

Our investigator had a suggestion..."Hey, maybe we could have the lesson in your car?" Lol. Yep. That's what we ended up doing. We pulled the car right up in front of her door next to her house (the dirt road goes right past the front door), and turned on the heat so her baby would be warm. She sat in the back seat, with her baby next to her, and Elder Stock and I sat in the front seats turned around the whole time. And guess what the lesson was? The Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. Ha ha it's pretty funny looking back on it now, and it actually turned out to be a good lesson despite the weird circumstances. Anyway, there's a funny story for you :)

We also had a good service project one day, with an investigator named S. She lives alone, and her house is kind of a mess. Her yard is too. I guess her children used to live with her, and then when they left they just left everything in a huge mess. She keeps asking them to come back and help her clean up, and all they ever do is say, "We're working on it." Well, we went and cleaned off her porch and cleaned up her yard a bit and filled up 7 trash bags. When we were done she teared up and was super thankful. I was so glad we did that, because she started talking to us about how sometimes she just feels like nobody cares about her and gets super discouraged with everything. We told her the Lord loves her and that we care about her, and to call us anytime she needs to talk or needs help. It was easy to tell that she was embarrassed of her yard, and when we left she was really proud. It made me feel good to be able to serve someone's grandmother - since I am away from my grandparents and can't love and serve them right now. It is so important to serve our family, and just do small things like checking up on them each week! It makes a huge difference and can make their whole week better.

Last night we had 2 good lessons with Brother D. We also had 3 good lessons with him on Friday. They were all with different investigators. Brother D is the man. He has such a strong, humble testimony, and is so willing to help and serve! He loves coming out with us and calls to check up on our investigators that he has been helping with. He is one of the most positive people I have ever met as well. The work is going good here, and the Lord is really blessing us to see miracles! My time is short and I still want to send a couple pics, so I will hopefully get some sent before I run out of time. Anyway, I love you all so much! Have a great week, say your prayers, read the Book of Mormon daily, and you will be happy =] I love you!

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett