Good News.

Dad! Happy Birthday! Aaaah! I didn't get my letter mailed off to you, but it is coming. Please forgive me.

Hey! I have some good news. The world didn't end yesterday. Although maybe it's bad news... because if it did then I wasn't "raptured" up. Great. Ha ha jk =] Were people making a big deal about that out west though? There were some people here talking about it; none of the people we met really believed it was going to end, but they said something about the group of people that thought it would. And someone mentioned something about a website put up by non-christians for pets of those who were going to be raptured. The deal was apparently that the christians could pay $10 to the website to have the non-christians take care of their pets after they were raptured. What a great idea lol; I wonder if anybody did it...

I went on an exchange this week with an Elder in my district, Elder Fielding, who is serving in Bunnell. He is from Cove, UT and is awesome! We had a lot of fun. District meeting was a lot of fun this week too, we were practicing teaching simply and clearly and so we had some teaching, some observing, and some being the investigators. We also had a couple bags of the big marshmallows. When a person would "machine-gun principle" someone (basically just throw out a bunch of information at them rather than teaching simply or clearly), then the observers would make them put a marshmallow in their mouth. We got some good pictures and it was a lot of fun; definitely one to be remembered. :)

Great news! Our investigator J got his answer and he wants to be baptized! He decided for July 17th, right before his birthday. Bummer, I probably won't still be here then, but the harvest is the Lord's anyway. At least I get to thrust in my sickle right? Right now we are helping J overcome smoking cigars and drinking coffee. He will be able to do it though; J is an awesome guy! We tracted into him and now he is coming to church each week and sings in the ward choir before church - which, speaking of, apparently I will now be accompanying the musical number this coming week in ward conference. Lovely ha ha; I didn't find out until yesterday, and it's an interesting arrangement of "Nearer, My God to Thee." Thankfully it's just the music in the hymnbook so I'm fine, but now I just have to remember the order of the verses and when we're skipping the chorus and all sorts of that stuff. It should be fun! The Lord will help though; I'm not worried.

Leo came to church again! He is doing great. He has slowed down his smoking and drinking, but he needs to stop completely. He is getting there; please keep him in your prayers. B also came to church again, he is doing awesome. We went over to his house to do service for him this week, went with him on a temple tour, and taught him a lesson another day. B is super prepared! I think the only reason he is waiting to be baptized is because he has heart surgery this Thursday (please pray for him too) and they are changing his pacemaker. He wants to get that all taken care of before anything else. He will be ready though after that. One thing with B and Grandpa is that they can't stand to let you help them or do anything for them without getting you back somehow... B took us to lunch later that day and then while we were there he pulls out two bags for both me and Elder Larsen, and we each got two awesome new ties!

M, one of our investigators, came to church as well yesterday. It was a pleasant surprise; we weren't sure if she was still interested in learning more about the gospel or not, but apparently she is! We are going to be teaching her this week.

Saturday at the church we had a finance-fair type thing with a bunch of different classes and booths set up for the community. We were asked to have a missionary booth set up to teach about the church. It was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed working with a lot of the ward members here; there are some amazing people! The Bs, N, Bro. Ba, the bishopric, and so many other awesome people/families. The ward has it's struggles, but there are some wonderful people here.

Well, my time is up, but know that things are going well. Transfer calls are this Saturday; I'll let you know if anything happens this coming Monday. The weather is getting hotter here, mosquitoes are biting, and life is great =) Time has been flying. I can't believe Elder Brown is about to die. Wow. He's kind of freaking out ha ha (who wouldn't be though...). Not in a bad way, he is still super focused and diligent, but sometimes at lunch or in the mornings or something I'll see him just be walking around and then start to trip out! Crazy sauce aaah....Also, I'm still working on your tape =] Love you all!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

Zone Conference!

Hay Ya'll! It has been another fantastic week in Daytona Beach! Woo hoo! I have learned a lot and we've had a lot of fun. BUT, first of all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! On Saturday =] I hope it is awesome and you get to relax! Also, happy year mark Nolan (last week:P)! We have had a really good week; the Lord has definitely blessed us.

Zone conference was this week; I learned a ton! The main two themes seemed to be 1) Obedience and 2) Planning. They are definitely two keys to doubling baptisms here in the Florida Orlando Mission. That is what the Brethren have asked us to do in our mission, and so of course that means the Lord will provide a way to do that! It was great to receive that training though, I learned a lot about listening to the Spirit as we teach and contact people. We also learned of a great backpacking scripture ;) Go ahead and read Deuteronomy 23:12-14 with backpacking in mind.

The Lord blessed us so much! We had a bunch of investigators come to church =] We had Joe (he is so cool! We are going there Friday for a lesson and he's ordering pizza and drinks ha ha. This past week he ordered in sandwiches for us. He is such a good guy though, and ready for the gospel! He came and sang in ward choir before church, and plans to come back every week! We have invited him several times to be baptized, and he will, but he just isn't sure when he will. We're working on that :P),

F: (our nice 7th-day Adventist friend who has been coming for a while now. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, but he's fighting it lol. It's quite funny to see. He will get there, whether it's this transfer or next),

B: (amazing Bill! I love Bill. He is one of Grandpa's best friends, and one of the most influential people I've met here. He and Grandpa and Bill's bro-in-law are Masons and pretty high up ones too. Like the highest you can go. They gave us all signed recommendation/application things for when we get back if we ever want to join. Bill also knows the church is true; we had an incredible lesson with him this last week where he bore his testimony of the BOM, recognized and said, "It's almost like I've been prepared for this my whole life," and is in Ether in the BOM and re-reading it from the beginning once he finishes),

L: (Leo is a man we met on the street. He has been struggling for a while with alcohol and smoking and several other drugs in the past. He is in his 50's, currently jobless, and feels like hope is lost. Little does he know what God has in store for him! I see such hope and goodness in Leo. He used to be doing great, he has 2 college degrees and then for some reason things just went downhill. I'm not sure if it was divorce or death or what, but he has been pretty down. Anyway, I have really enjoyed teaching Leo because I have learned so much about loving as the Savior would love, despite looks, clothes, habits, friends, living conditions, whatever. I feel like I have been blessed to be able to see at least a tiny part of the potential that our Father sees in all of us. We were so proud of Leo for coming because he was super nervous about coming. After weeks of encouragement, yesterday was his first attendance!), and then 3 other people who we haven't actually started teaching yet, but we know and have met. It was a great day =]

I found a cool scripture in perspective to us and investigators - 1 Nephi 1:11-12. Kind of a neat thought.

Thanks so much for calling Grandpa and the Bs! That was so fun to hear about that.

Stink; I'm out of time, but I will be adding to my tape for you today =] I love love love you all so much! The church is true. I love the Book of Mormon. It really is the BoM. Ha. Have a marvelous week and keep on smiling!

love,

Elder Andrew John Beckett

I love you Mom! And Dad, Mindy, Allie, Nate, & Seth =]

Hey guys! It was sure awesome to talk to you yesterday! Thanks for all the uplifting words you shared; I'm glad to hear that my family is still doing wonderful. I love you all so much! My joy is full ha ha. I still can't believe how fast that phone call always goes by... oh man.

Oh, Elder Lancaster Joel Brown goes home at the end of this transfer. 3 weeks from Wednesday he will be in Utah. SO weird...! Anyway, he is the man. I am seriously so thankful that not only was I able to be trained by him, but now live with him for his last 2 transfers! It has been so much fun and I've continued to learn a ton from him. He is one of those missionaries that I just look up to in everything. He sure has helped me out a lot on the mission, and I was his only trainee! Kind of cool =]

Grandpa is always watching out for us, calling to check on us, taking us out to eat, and everything. We are seriously considered grandsons to him. Today for Elder Brown's birthday, he surprised us and we all went to eat lunch at Red Lobster. It was so good! Yummy!

Well, the church is definitely true. I'm lovin' it! Serving a mission is the best. I have now been out for 11 months today! Weird... ha ha. Sorry this email is short, but we talked about pretty much everything I can think of on the phone yesterday. Hmm... HEY just one more post-mother's day shout out: I love you Mom! Thanks for all you do for me, our family, and everyone around you! You are truly a wonderful person and lift and radiate light everywhere you go. I can't wait to see you in a year and a month!

Oh, I just remembered one cool experience we had. Remember that "anti" guy that I called up on the phone? Well we went to meet with him to see if anything would come of it, and we actually ended up having an awesome lesson! We asked him first about his faith in God and Jesus Christ and where that came from, and we figured out how he had been worked on by the Spirit in the past. Then the Lord inspired us to relate that to our testimonies, and how he can know if what we were sharing is true. We left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon to read, and so we'll see what comes of it. Probably one of my favorite things to see is the Spirit working on people. It always amazes me!

I love you all! Tty next week =]

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett

Mother's Day! Woot!

Hey Faaaamileee.!.

I love ya! I am super excited for Mother's Day... I get to talk to you! Sweet. I will probably call somewhere between 4-6 o'clock your time. so 6-8 o'clock here. Every week is a good week, but this one wasn't quite like last. I think like 1/12 appointments didn't bail on us. We learned really well just how important good backup plans are :) Unfortunately, B is going to need some more time before he is baptized. He is still super cool though, and we are going to keep teaching him and helping him along until he feels ready!

Hey Dad... (or someone else ha ha) could you please look online for a good deal on a small bike tool? That would be really useful; I've just been bumming off of other missionaries'. Just like a little multi tool with some allen wrenches and screwdrivers, plus anything else you think I might need. I have a patch kit and all of that stuff; cleaner and lube for my chain, but it would be helpful to have just a tiny backcountry bike tool. I figure I will be in trouble if I get to an area/companionship where the other missionary does what I do and neither of us have one.

Wow, so much stuff happens I feel like I never know what to share. I'll tell you one cool story about prayer. We were biking home one night and met a guy named (18 years old). He said he was really interested in "learning more about the Kingdom of God" and said we could come back tomorrow, so we did. When we got there, he wasn't home and his Mom said he left like 5 minutes before that. Darn it. We figured we'd ride around the area for a bit and look for him. We said a prayer, asking that the Lord would bless us to be able to find him, or that he'd find us, and then headed out to look. We biked around the block for a bit, talked to some people, and then figured he was gone so we should get to tracting. As we were locking up our bikes, we turn around and he is like 20 feet away walking up to talk to us! Coincidence huh? Ha ha I think not. We sat down, had a short lesson with him (he had to go shortly), and got a return appointment for another day. Interestingly, he told us about how he always flips to a random page in the bible to read each day, and that day he read something about not turning away the servants of the Lord. He said he figured he'd better listen to us. We testified that God sent us to help him, and that God had some important things to teach him. We will see how it all turns out next week :)

Another experience taught me the importance of the Holy Ghost, and how we really aren't anything without His help (hmm... I never know whether it is appropriate to use "His" or "its." Any input? I always feel like it should be "His"). We had an appointment with this awesome family - the Ws. We ran into them on the street, and have been teaching them. They are a young couple who has been married for a week, and they have a baby named Tevin. Their sister also lives with them; she has terminal cancer. Anyway, we had an appointment but they said it would have to be later because they were busy. Well, two hours later when we decided to go over there, we found out why the Lord had us wait. We knock on their door and they invite us in, and lo and behold there sit 2 JW's on their couch, teaching their "lesson." Well, long story short we let them give their spiel, they didn't quite click with the Williams, and finally T was like, "Well, we want to hear what the Mormon missionaries have to say now." Check yeah! We had a prayer (which the JW's never join in with you btw), and started teaching. Then our good friends "had to leave..." we invited them to stay and continue to learn, but they decided to go. YES! Ha ha I mean... darn. Then the W, without us even bringing it up or hinting at it or anything told us that there is a much better feeling in their home when we are there teaching than when the other people were there. YES! They recognized the Spirit. We pointed that out to them, read Moroni 10:3-5, and talked about that. Anyway, that was really cool.

They were really excited to come to church, but didn't end up being able to come :/ Next week though! While we were trying to find them a ride throughout the week, we spent a long time calling everyone that we could find in our phone. It was crazy... the ward mission leader sent out an email to everyone; the bishop as well, but nobody volunteered to help out. Finally at the last second on Saturday night, we found someone willing to do it. But, while we were searching, I was going through the contacts on the phone and found one that said, "Anti." I was like huh? What is this number? Who is this person? So I called it up and asked for J... heh go figure. Turns out it's a "missionary" from some evangelical church place in Daytona Beach that pretty much just teaches anti. What a joke lol. I talked to the guy for a bit, probably in his twenties, and just bore my testimony. He kept trying to say all of these ridiculous things, like how he believes the Book of Mormon was inspired by the devil. I laughed and asked if he "really thought the Book of Mormon, which testifies all throughout it of Jesus Christ and how to come closer to Him and our Heavenly Father, was inspired by the devil?" He thought so. He kept trying to dissuade me or cause doubt or whatever and eventually was like, "So what are you going to do if you come before the Judgment Bar of God and find out that everything you believe was false and it was a lie?" I was tired of his pointless questions so I just said, "Hey, what do you believe you need to do to be saved?" He said, "Well, accept Jesus Christ as the Lord, repent of your sins, and..."

So I replied, "Well, by your standards, every single faithful Latter-day Saint will be saved and go to heaven then. So, at the judgment bar of God, I will be just fine. However, if this really is the Lord's true church, then I will still be fine and going to heaven." Lol he was really stumped and didn't quite no where to go with that. I think I heard that argument once from another missionary, and it definitely works. Not that arguing is the way to go... but when someone won't be quiet and you have to go, that's a good way to finish up the conversation and bear your testimony. Really all it comes down to is each of us gaining that winess from the Holy Ghost. Once we have a witness from God that the Church is true, then nobody can take it away! And then we can testify with power to our brothers and sisters, and encourage and invite them to find out for themselves.

Something I have learned is that we can all learn something from everyone, if we listen to what the Holy Ghost is trying to teach us. I learned something profound from a guy we talked to who just came out of a pub. He said he found God when he realized it's not about him, but about what God wants. God is the one in control of everything. So true! Especially in missionary work. I love you all so much and pray for you regularly. I am doing great and enjoying life. It is starting to get really hot here. Take care, and talk to you soon! =]