Look, We are NOT Soliciting

Hey Mom! Dad! Mindy! Allie! Nate! Seth! Love ya'll =]

I hope you are all doing great =] That is so weird that Isaac and Brian are back already! Aaah man 2 years really does fly by. I am excited to hear that they are doing well. We had a great week this week; we got to do temple service and had Zone Conference! It was lots of fun. For temple service we all showed up (all 37 of us) because they were originally planning on having us do a big project outside planting tons of flowers, mulching, etc, but then it started raining. So instead, we got to go into the shop and clean it extra good from top to bottom! The shop is the building in the back of the temple grounds where they keep all of the equipment and machines used to keep everything looking beautiful. I always love doing temple service; you can just feel that you really are working at the Lord's house.

Zone Conference went awesome! I love the missionaries in this mission. We were with the Hunter's Creek zone, and so I got to see Elder McClatchy again. Conducting went well, I learned a lot about how to do that. There are so many things in the church behind what all happens that I never even thought of them... conducting being one of them. I am gaining more and more respect for all of the church leaders and all the work that goes into everything. I was thinking about that the other day - just how blessed I was to be in the ward I was, with the youth and leaders that we had. It was so much fun and those were the times where my testimony really grew and was strengthened! As I was reading about Allie on her trek, I reflected on when I got to go on the trek, and I can still remember the amazing spirit that was felt there. The church is truly a miracle.

Mom, just fyi, I bought some garments with my debit card this past week. Is everything still ok with that? Thank you so much for taking care of all that.

So yesterday at church L, J, and J came as well as G! It was so great. Man, G is a stud ha ha I love that guy. I gain more and more respect for him the better I get to know him. We were meeting with him this week, and brought up the YSA ward (he's 18, so technically that's where he should be going; we were planning on passing him off to the YSA Sisters) to invite him to go there so he can be with YSA's. Well, turns out he'd rather come to our ward. And for a good reason :) Every Sunday morning is like set family time in his home. G gets up, makes breakfast for his whole family, and then they enjoy it together. How cool is that?!? I was thinking, "Wow, he's like Mindy or Allie! Except a guy. Which is extra rare to be that good." So, we've brought it up several times to him to go to the YSA ward, but he plans on just attending with us. Which I am fine with ha ha :P He is getting baptized on the 27th =] Lol but he really is solid as can be - the lessons in Gospel principles and Elders quorum have been Eternal Marriage, Tithing, and the Law of Chastity. And we hadn't had the opportunity to talk with him about any of those things yet. But he loves church and wants to keep coming back =]

Here is the cool miracle about how L, J and J came - we had kind of lost contact for a while; we knew they were going through some hard times and we felt like we were almost more of a burden than a help. So we gave them some space for a while. Their good friends in the ward kept supporting and helping them of course in the meantime. Well, Elder Jensen and I were out doing some finding the other night, and we just happened to be walking up the street as they drove by. They stopped, reversed, and drove up to us to say hi. We were all excited, asked how they were doing and all that, and she was like, "Yeah, we're planning on coming to church tomorrow." WOOHOO! We tried to keep our excitement contained, but inside we were both just happy as can be. I had been praying specifically that day that we would be able to find a new family that would come to church with us tomorrow. The Lord provided; they hadn't been to church before! We will be meeting with them this week.

Another interesting thing about church yesterday - there was a camera crew there from Salt Lake! They were interviewing the G twins (K & H) and A K for the new For the Strength of Youth DVD. It was cool to see!

Oh, if you are wondering about the subject of the email, we were tracting this gated community (pretty much everywhere you go here has "no soliciting" signs, even if it's not a gated community), and we had these 2 people just yell at us. If only they knew... Anyway, from what I've heard soliciting by Florida law is considered to be 1) selling something 2) asking for donations, or 3) leaving something behind (which we only do if they want us to). So, we are not solicitors. We've had cops called on us time after time, and missionary after missionary is told by them (as the stories go.. ha ha) that we aren't soliciting. Anyway, I was wondering Mom or Dad, if you knew anything about Florida law, or had any friends that did that could clarify? What can or can't we get in trouble for? Obviously we don't want to just walk around ticking people off, but sometimes people try to tell us to leave when they really have no authority to do that. What advice do you have about that? I say fear God and not man... ha ha but at the same time we believe in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. Anyway, if you have any input that would be appreciated.

Well, my time is up, but I wish you all the best! THank you so much Mom for taking the time to write me even though you had a crazy late night and everything! Have a great week and good luck with moving out Mindy! I'm glad your 1/2 marathon went well - I was praying for you each day. Have you heard about that job? OH! And thanks Allie and Mindy for the postcards! I loved them =] Good luck with your test Allie! You'll do awesome! I will keep you in my prayers =] I love you!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

p.s. I got a wedding invite from Lancaster =] What a stud! Ha ha