Happy Father's Day!

Hey Familia! Happy Father's Day =] Dad, I really do love you. I just couldn't bear sending off an unfinished tape... It will be finished and sent in the mail today though (well, the mail probably won't send it off until tomorrow, but yeah). I figured you'd rather have me finish the tape than send it off with some unfinished spots... who knows. Anyway, I didn't forget about you and you have been in my thoughts and prayers all week long!

It has been a fun week and a lot of good happened. I am constantly just in awe at how good the Lord is to all of us (Moroni 10:3). I am loving this ward so much already =] Elder Johnson is the man too, we have so much fun together. We are starting to get into the groove of teaching together in unity. The start of each companionship is always a little bumpy until you adjust to each other :) Service works miracles.

One of the families in the ward are the Ks; they are polynesian. Mom, do you know anyone on Oahu in the Kaimuki Ward? Any K, V, or K? I told them that you served a mission there and Bro. K told me some people & family that he has over there.

This week we experienced a couple of double-meal nights. Sometimes we have investigators or less-active/part-member families that want to feed us, but we already have a full meal calendar. So when they offer to feed us, we just accept it a little later (dinners are to be done by 6 unless with an investigator or part-member) and have 2 =] It works out great. I'll tell you what, that is one thing I have learned how to do on my mission - eat. And then eat some more. Hopefully it will help me grow into a big strong MAN by the time I see you guys again ;)

So, just like he always does... as soon as investigators start making the most progress towards baptism, Satan starts throwing out the most opposition. D and B are kind of in a hard spot right now - they are struggling a little bit financially, D hurt his neck, and B just got a job where she works 7 days a week. Bummer :( We are still keeping close contact though and offering to help them in every way they can. We definitely aren't giving up; it's just going to take a little longer than we initially thought for them to be baptized (especially now with the new job situation and all).

We have another solid (our most solid) investigator named M S. He is so cool! He is a friend of a member named Thomas. M has been driving 50 mins each week to come to our church with his friend. Anyway, he is the one that we set a baptism date with last week for July 2nd. Well, the only problem is that he lives in the other area, so really the missionaries there should be teaching him, and he should start going to that ward. We had a great lesson with him yesterday after church and got that worked out. Hopefully we will be able to attend his baptism though! Just to give you an idea of how elect he is - Saturday night he called us (yeah, HE called US) and asked us what he can do to prepare for his baptism. So cool! He is such a great guy (20 years old), humble, and recognizes the influence of the Holy Ghost in his life. It is so cool to be able to work with people and see the effects that the Spirit has on them as they act in faith.

We had the wonderful opportunity this past Thursday to go and do temple service! We get to do that once a month as a zone. Actually though Elder Johnson and I get to do it twice a month; the zone splits in half and does it on 2 separate weeks =] It was so cool though to go and be able to help out with keeping the Lord's house and grounds looking nice! Some of the things we do are plant flowers, mulch trees, blow off the walkways, and clean the fountain. It's a lot of fun, and after we have a little lunch thing.

Well, I'm glad to hear that you survived Ragnar Mindy! Way to go! I'm also glad to know that you all made it safely back from Yellowstone. You were in my prayers even more than usual this past week :) I sure love you all. I know that this is the only true and living church on the earth. We receive revelation from God through a prophet, Thomas S. Monson. What a wonderful blessing :) We don't have to prove that it is true either! It is our responsibility however to invite everyone to learn for themselves. The pure of heart and sincere seekers of truth will hear the voice of the Lord and recognize it. Sometimes it seems that missionaries try to prove to everyone that the BOM is true, but that isn't how the Lord works. We must humble ourselves before Him and ask if it is true. Then we will receive an answer. I have received my answer, time and time again, and will continue to do so as I participate in Moroni's invitation. I love the Lord so much! He is so good to us. I love all of you as well =] Take care now, and CTR always!

-Elder Andrew John Beckett

p.s. Mom I think we probably could go on hikes or something for P-day, but with putting in numbers, calls, emailing, shopping, cleaning, etc. it seems like we'd only have an hour or two to hike (including driving time). Plus we have a very limited amount of miles we can drive each month... but that's ok. The Lord blesses us and we still are loving life!

p.p.s. The ward boundaries are going to be changed this coming week... so we might lose some of the members we've just met :/ sad! Our new church on Reams Rd. Should be a lot closer though.