This past Wednesday was my final zone conference. It was a wonderful experience! We learned a lot aboutmormon.org and using the Book of Mormon. I love those tools so much! They are such a blessing to us as members, and especially as we seek to share the gospel with others. Has anyone in the family made amormon.org profile yet? Please do if you haven't. The church is asking the members to do so to help the work go forward. They are putting a big emphasis on that for the missionaries; President Hall is giving us 2 hrs/week to be on mormon.org and familiarize ourselves with the website and videos. He has also asked each of us to put up a profile. It is amazing how the Church just keeps adapting and going forward with the technology of the times! There are a few "trial missions" right now where they are testing out having iPads. That would be such a huge help... to share scriptures, talks, videos, have the ward roster & area book, maps, etc. WOW, I hope they get them here soon. I probably won't ever see them in the mission, but it will be a huge help to those who come after. Zone conference focused a lot on that.
Part of zone conference is the departing testimonies - the missionaries that will leave between this zone conference and the next - get to share their testimony. That is always one of my favorite parts of zone conference. I couldn't believe it, but finally it was my turn! I thought this day would never come. It is so weird... Anyway I had been thinking a lot about what I wanted to say. That morning on the way there I flipped open my hymn book and read the words to one of my favorite hymns - # 113, Our Savior's Love. It is a beautiful hymn. I read through it and was just pondering about how thankful I am to Him and to Heavenly Father for the wonderful experience it has been serving a mission thus far. I have learned and grown so much.
Fast forward to zone conference again. Right before the departing testimonies, they had a musical number. I still didn't really know what I was going to say, and I was pretty nervous. I had a million thoughts going through my head. Well, the musical number began, and these Elders sang one of the most amazing numbers I've ever heard. It was an a capella (sp?) version of Our Savior's Love. I couldn't even believe it. I know that it was a tender mercy, letting me know that Heavenly Father loves and cares about me, and that I could just be calm and feel the Spirit. I immediately felt a calm peace and relaxed. I thought about those words and what they mean to me, how I have come to know their truthfulness throughout the past few years. I was the first one asked to bear my testimony, and I don't even remember what I said, but I felt good. I know that "the peace of God...passeth all understanding."
I love my companion Elder Munhoz. I am learning so much from him, and even more from the Spirit as I'm doing my best to help and serve him. I have learned a lot about trusting the Holy Ghost and letting Him do His part. I think so often I just feel like I have to enforce that things happen, that principles are learned, that we are obedient. I have learned more about respecting agency, and helping others through prayer and encouragement. We aren't perfect, but that's ok! We can help others around us most simply just by loving them no matter what.
Elder Munhoz is a fantastic missionary! He just doesn't slow down :) The other day we were out biking and it started to rain. It started to POUR. We could hardly see fifteen feet in front of us. Needless to say we were soaked very quickly. It was the first time he'd experienced this, and we had so much fun! People were looking at us like we are crazy (and we are) as we biked down the street in our white shirts and ties soaked to the bone. We were biking up the sidewalk and I was in front at a particular moment. There was a lake in the road. I look back at Elder Munhoz to see how he was faring. Well, this black truck had just passed me. The street we were riding next to had two lanes going each direction. The truck was in the center lane, but switched to the outer lane and accelerated as he approached Elder Munhoz. I watched as a wave, literally, was created from the truck! It was taller than Elder Munhoz, and I saw him see it coming and just put his head down. I couldn't see my companion for a second there lol, that's how much water there was! He came out of the wave and just smiled and gave a triumphant shout. I was laughing my head off! It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. If we weren't already soaked that would have been super mean of that person, but since we were wet anyway we just had a good laugh =] And tried not to think about how dirty all that street water was... heh.
I know that this gospel is true, that it blesses and changes lives! I am thankful to be a disciple of Christ and be able to share it with others. I am thankful that all of us have the opportunity to do that the rest of our lives. I love each of you and wish you the best! Have a great week!
love,
Elder Beckett
p.s. Give Elder Blackhurst a big hug from Elder Beckett and tell him I love him!
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