Week 1 = Fun

Hey everyone! What a crazy and awesome week it has been. Wow, I just put in numbers for my first time and it took foreverrrrrr. We do have the largest zone in the mission I found out. Anyway... Things are going great and we are getting adjusted to our new area!

Our ward is awesome! And super missionary minded. We already have a bunch of referrals, have met with/called/texted our Ward Mission Leader a bunch and know him really well (Bro. T W), and everyone is super nice to us and excited that we are here! Church yesterday was fantastic. We brought our member-meal calendar to church (I guess the Sisters would just give it to the ward meal-coordinator and she'd pass it around) and after giving it to our meal coordinator we had maybe 3 empty days without meals for the month of June! That was sweet. We have members that are bringing their non-member friends to church, and the members here aren't afraid to talk to their friends and family about the gospel! It is super cool.

Bro. W, our ward mission leader, is just pumped! He reminds me of Bro. B in the sense that he just fulfills his calling to the max! He really knows how to get the Lord's work accomplished, and is ready to go. He has been such a huge blessing and help to us this week as we have been adjusting and getting to know what is going on here.

There is a Men's Wearhouse in our area, and I think I'll probably buy a new pair of pants or two (half-way is a good time right?) These 3 I have used every day for a year have been awesome, and I'll keep using them until they are run down. But they are getting a little faded. I've sewed new buttons on each of them, sewed a hole in the side, and done some other minor repairs. You'd be proud of me Mom ;) I even sewed my shirt pocket when it ripped (that took forever... ugh ha ha). Anyway, I just thought I'd check - do you know of any specials they have coming up, or any discount coupons you can print out online or anything?

Elder Johnson is doing great, he is the man! He is so funny; this transfer is going to be a blast. He is super excited about the work too. One thing I have already come to love about him is his desire to work out! We get up at 6 each morning and he is always just pumped to get ripped. And it is working (for him lol). I think I might have mentioned it last week, but he gave me a little electronic picture frame thing that can hold a memory card in it. I would love if you guys could load a bunch of pics that you have of you guys that you think would be good and maybe send a memory card for it? Then I could have it playing on my new electronic picture frame thing =]

So right now we are just working on getting things rolling in this area; there is so much potential here! We didn't have any investigators when we arrived, so we are finding a lot right now. We have one solid lady we are going to meet with this week named M. M walked into church on her own two weeks ago, and was back again this past Sunday! She is Brazilian and really nice. The B family are fellowshipping her, and their recently RM son T has another friend he has been bringing to church and fellowshipping. Plus there are many other members working with people around them. It is so exciting to see a little bit of the potential that missionary work has in the church, once we get all of the members on board. It is SO much more effective to have members refer their friends than to just knock doors all day. Not to mention that I like teaching a lot more than finding =]

I went to my first ZLC (Zone Leader Council) this week, and it was awesome! Super inspirational. It's neat to see how the mission is doing as a whole, and the different mission trends. That is one thing I am enjoying a lot. It is also really nice to kind of share the load as a zone leader. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a district leader, but a lot of times it felt like you were just on your own. The Zone Leaders were there to help and support of course, but essentially you are the one responsible for your district. Now there are 2 of us responsible for the zone, so it spreads the load a little more.

I am loving learning more about the gospel each day. I love feeling the Spirit and being taught from on high. The Lord is so good to me, and to all of us; we just need to recognize it. I love a quote that I read in the Ensign for this month - "Bloom where you're planted." We can't choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we react! We are agents, not objects. I love the gospel, and I love each of you. Mom, Dad, Mindy, Allie, Nate, and Seth - you are all in my prayers each and every day! I hope you are doing well. Sorry things have been so crazy and I haven't been able to hand-write letters for quite a while. I hope the emails will suffice for the droughts of letters in between the times I do well. And the tapes =] I'm still not quite done yet, but I'm planning on taping a little bit today. We are also going to play some basketball with our zone, so I am excited to get to know them better. I knew a couple of the missionaries here, but mostly it has been just getting to know new people (which is great :). Have a great week, I love you all!

-Elder Andrew John Beckett

p.s. Aaah, ha ha apparently my year mark is this week. Yikes.

p.p.s. Tell Elder Brown he is the man for me! And let me know how that goes =] WAIT isn't your trip this coming week to Yellowstone? Schnikes! Have a blast and be so safe! I love you guys!