Elder Beckett: The Lord Brings Us Low to Lift Us Higher

Hey! I love you all family! Happy Birthday tomorrow Allie Lorraine! Spesh =] I was thinking about it yesterday and I can't even believe that you are 16 already! Aaah. Wow. I was thinking about the youth here in the Lake Reams ward, and those who are yours and Nate's ages, and it sort of hit me just how grown up you guys are getting. Crazy lol. I guess life does go on back home even though it doesn't really seem like it while being away.

This has been another great week! P will be getting baptized this coming Sunday, the 18th. He is such a stud. Him and G are awesome. P is 17 and from Rio, Brazil. He is good friends with the B family. We have been meeting with him for a little while now, and he is so excited to get baptized! He gets a huge smile on his face everytime we talk about it. We get to meet with him tonight to finish going over some things with him. By the way, I have met so many cool people from Brazil since being here; it makes me want to learn Portuguese someday. And spanish, because hey, that will be extremely useful in the coming years.

Man, this morning I was reading in the book of Moses about lots of different things. There is so much written in the scriptures; little details that I didn't even catch before. And there is still so much left to learn.. just little things I'll read in the wording jump out at me sometimes. They are like little treasures :) Anyway, it was really sad what I was reading about Cain and Abel. It made me so sad to read about the poor choices Cain made, and how all because of pride he allowed the devil to continue to lead him away, step by step, until he was eventually cursed by God. I was thinking about how much I love my brothers, and how I need to repent when I get back and show that to them so much more. Nate & Seth, you guys are the best. I love you. I'm here to help you any way that I can, so let me know if you ever need anything! =]

Hmm, how random. Well, hey Dad, I have a scripture for ya - 1 Nephi 5:20 ;) That's us, your sons, and you! Thanks for teaching us. Also, congrats on being in Texas! I enjoyed your description of it ha ha. How is the weather? Is it humid there? Still blazing hot? It's starting to cool off a tiny, tiny bit here, but it's about to get to be where it's SUPER nice all day; just perfect. You would love the Florida winters. I also really enjoyed learning more about what you do! What do you like about it? What are the hard parts? What does it consist of on a day-to-day basis?

Mindy, congrats on your new job! That's such a blessing. Wow, you will definitely have to help me figure out a job I can do when I get back. You seem to be a pro (with the Lord helping you of course ;). I have been praying a lot for you about your job. How is school going? I hope really good =] Have you ever been to J-dawgs? I hear it's delicious. Do you still run every day? Or go to the gym there? We get to use the gym here and it is nice. I'm trying to run/do abs every other day and lift weights in between. I started a tape for you and everyone a while back, but haven't had time to finish it yet. I will be working on it today though!

This week we had leadership training, which was awesome! I learned so much. I had some neat experiences with just feeling Heavenly Father's love. I'll share one quick story... We were asked to help out with a role-play for inviting our investigators to church. Well, Elder Jensen and I were up there in front of all of the leadership of the mission, and we did our best. They stopped us, and one Sister just picked us apart. I mean it wasn't even like, "Hey, you guys are doing really good at this, but maybe you could improve at this..." it was pretty much just getting after us... ouch. I really didn't know how to react, but we just nodded our heads and started the practice again. We did nearly the same thing, but apparently this time it was somewhat better. We sat down. I was pretty frustrated inside, for several reasons. I think my pride was hurt, and I felt like it was an unfair situation. They wanted us to focus on teaching one part, so we did, then they got mad at us (structively critiqued us - I wouldn't say it was destructive, but not really constructive either heh) because we weren't teaching another that they hadn't mentioned they wanted us to... yada yada. Anyway, I was just like thinking to myself, "Yeah, we get the point that we can work on those areas, but I don't think that's how the Savior necessarily would've gone about that one.." Anyway. I was just praying that day and night and asking Heavenly Father why things happened that way (there was also another experience that day that was similar), and I think I learned that I need to just know that Heavenly Father loves me. No matter what other people say or critique or whatever else, this is His work, and if we have His spirit then things will work out alright. Strangely enough, although it seemed like it would've done damage, those experiences built my self-confidence and helped me come out of my shell more. I am a naturally shy person.

Elder McClatchy and Sister Allen and I all got to eat lunch together and it was just wonderful. I love them so much.

The training was an awesome experience though; we learned tons about helping people make and keep commitments. Well, my time is up, but I love you all! Hope you have a great week and a very happy birthday Allie! I love you all =]

love,

Elder Beckett