Bumby! Aaah! I am being transferred. Wowza ha ha, didn't see that one coming. I am sad to leave Viera; I was only here for 2 transfers :( I have prayed about transfers, and I know that President was inspired. SO I am actually really excited to go to Bumby. Here's what I know about Bumby - it's somewhat ghetto I guess you could say? Thug story. Like T- Swizzle! Ha, I wish. I will be a district leader there and be in a car-share! My companion will be Elder Charbadze from Russia! He is a great missionary, and I was his zone leader in O-South. President said the ward has been struggling with some things and he told me to "go work your magic!" I think he means the Lord's magic ;) I hope to be a profitable servant and give it my all until my dying day! There's actually nothing more fun than going to a struggling area/district and trying to help them out. It will be a lot of fun. I think I will learn to improve my prayers some more! It is kind of weird to be going back to being a district leader; I'll have to get back into the swing of things. President always says, "I'm promotoning you to be a district leader!" when he sends his zone leaders to be district leaders. That's usually what he seems to do when you have a couple tr
ansfers left.
I am sad to be leaving Elder Call :( He is so funny and such a great missionary! I have really learned a lot from him. I know he will continue to lead the zone onward and upward with the Lord's help! Sister Allen got transferred out of the ward too; she is going to Buena Vista, which is the YSA ward that shares a building with Lake Reams! She will love it there =] How funny is that - they have both of us speak, and then the next week we get transferred out.
Thank you so much for the birthday notes and treats(both G-ville Becketts, Mindy, and all the others)! That was so fun to get. I will be set on candy the rest of the mission =] I loved just hearing how all of you are doing, and those tapes I recently received were just great. What a blessing to know the Lord is w
atching over our family. I sure love you all =] Thanks Mindy for those nice little specific things; it was fun to reminisce (sp?) on some of those times! Good times for sure. I loved hearing from Justin and your friends too!
I had a great birthday, you'll never guess what happened. Basically the Lord threw me a way cool birthday party, and there were friends from Viera and Lake Reams that came! Although not all of them knew it was my birthday - which is just fine; I'd rather have it that way because it's not about me. Ok, but what happened was Friday at Deseret Ranch was the church rodeo! They have it each year, and long story short we got to go =] President only selected a couple of areas. And there were tons of people from Lake Reams! The As, Ss, Gs, Js, and more. It was a treat for sure! Sister A was so nice, she said she wanted to get in contact with you Mom and tell you that I did a good job serving there. I forgot to give her your email though, sorry :s It was amazing at the rodeo; we got to sit in between a part-member family we have been working with (remind me to tell you the berrybella story after the mission, just use that keyword) and Burton! Get ready for a miracle story/news.
First off, B is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday, the 24th, and has asked that I baptize him! I am so honored. I love their family soooo much. We have been working with him, and he has been struggling with some word of wisdom problems. Well, last night we had a great lesson with them. We made it clear to him that with his baptism on Saturday, he can't afford to mess up this week, or it will have to be pushed back. We asked him to give the closing prayer and ask for Heavenly Father's help. He did, and it was such a wonderful prayer. He was so sincere, and just plead with the Lord for help and told Him he wanted to draw nearer to Him. Well, after the prayer (B had made it clear before that he was going to smoke one more that night, and then the next day he was done), I felt strongly that I needed to invite B to not even smoke that last one. I told him that Satan will just continue lying to him, continually dragging it out and telling him he can just have one more - right up to his baptism day. I looked him in the eye, and with all the love and courage and strength I could have I invited him to get them now and give them up. I wanted to see him get rid of them before we left! However, I was riding a fine line and the Holy Ghost helped me realize that at the same time I need to respect his agency - this was his choice aft
er all. He looked down and said he'd stop tomorrow. We hugged him, encouraged him, and promised him he could do it with the Lord's help. The Atonement is real. We left, and I just had a prayer in my heart for him because I was really starting to worry and wonder if he was truly repentant when it came to the Word of Wisdom. I know he wants to be baptized, this man has gone from being atheist to believing in G
od and attending church each week.
Well, as we are pulling in to our apartment complex, we get a call from K (his wife). She happily tells us that after we left, B was kind of thinking about the visit. He said, "You know, Elder Beckett was right. I just need to give them up now." He went and got his cigarettes and gave them to his family and told them to get rid of them! YES! It was such a miracle.
I know that God is real and loves His children! This is the best work ever =] I love you all so much and pray for you daily! Please pray for the people of Bumby (especially the ward leaders) to be ready for the gospel and to continue to progress! Thanks =] Have a great week!
love, Elder Andrew Beckett
p.s. I am sending some of my stuff home today, you should get another package.
p.p.s. Dad, Mosquito abatement with Mind sounds great, trek
sounds great, reunion sounds great, and campout sounds g
reat! I am fine with whatever =] I just want to be with you guys. Love ya!
"Tell Elder McClatchy I love him!"
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