HaPpY WiNtEr!

Hello family! I love you all. This has been a really good week and the Lord has blessed us tons! We were able to set 5 baptismal dates, teach tons of lessons, and have 2 investigators at church. You wouldn't believe the effort it took to get them there. But they were there! Woo hoo. We also found some really cool people to teach. I think I am finally getting the hang of things and starting to find the balance between finding and teaching. I am loving it here. Oh, and other good news - we passed our apartment inspection :D They aren't quite like the Wyview ones, but they still get after you about some things if they aren't pretty clean.

I love the people to death, they are really awesome members. They are helping the branch grow a lot too. I am learning to love people of all different sorts =] I have met some of the coolest/funniest/down-to-earth members I have ever known. Brother B. is a prime example. He and Sister B. are hilarious. They are always teasing each other and laughing and smiling and they are country folk and proud of it. I love the Brays. Their kids are awesome too.

I'll tell you quickly a funny story that happened - Tuesday night we decided to stop by a former investigator's house to deliver an invitation to the Branch Christmas Party. I knocked on the door (it was night and cold so we were wearing our jackets), and their dog inside the trailer started barking like crazy. I figured they heard me knock, and definitely heard the dog, and so we just stood there waiting for someone to open the door. Finally the man came to the door, and he had his shirt off. He was looking down and it was like it happens in the movies or something - he looked up and saw my feet then kept looking up at me and just screamed. I guess I've lost the missionary glow.. ha ha jk. I said, "Hey! Don't worry, it's just me - Elder Beckett!" and he calmed down." Then he acted like it never happened after that, so luckily no bad effects from the experience lol. It was pretty funny and unexpected though that he just opened the door and screamed.

I've been learning the importance of hard work, coupled with enduring to the end. Several times this week we will go out tracting and knock door after door with nothing coming of it. Just at the point when it's time to go home and you are worn out and think it's been useless - the very last house you knock on turns out to be a new investigator. It's funny how the Lord works :) I think a lot of times we need to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and endure and then it's right at the end that He blesses us.

Can I just say that I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK? Yes I can! There is nothing more challenging, satisfying, rewarding, or just plain awesome that I have experienced yet in life. Each day is full of incredible experiences. If anyone around you is debating/wondering if they should serve a mission or not, just do it. You will never regret it. I can't believe how fast time goes by out here either :s Each night as I lay down to go to sleep I feel like I just barely did this ten seconds ago. The days go by way too quickly, so I am giving it my all to make every second worth it. Thank you for you loving prayers and support, because I really couldn't do it without them. I feel the strength and blessings from Heavenly Father to me in your behalf.

I know that the Church is true! How important it is to find out for ourselves the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. And then simply share it! I will help the missionaries out WAY more when I'm back than I did before my mission. That is an awesome way to prepare for your mission - go out with the missionaries a lot. Like once a week if possible. Even if it's just tracting, that's one of the most helpful things you can do. Well, time's up, but keep being awesome everyone! I don't know why I have been so blessed with the great family and friends that I have, but I'm sure not complaining :) I really feel like I couldn't be more blessed. Have a great week!

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett

I LOVE Christmas!

Hey family! WOAH! James is coming to the best mission in the world? YEAH! WOO HOO! Ha ha no way. That is so cool and I am so so SO excited! I'm going to be praying hard that we can be companions. I was thinking about that a while back and how great that would be. Yeah! Man, I love James. I can't wait to see him =] Do you know if he was called as an English speaking missionary or Portuguese?

I hope your week was as wonderful as mine! The Lord has blessed me so much. First of all, I wanted to say sorry about mentioning anything about those cd's. That was stupid of me and I feel bad. I am SO thankful to have received them and I absolutely love all the songs there! It is a wonderful mix and I love them. :) I don't think I really need anything for Christmas, so go ahead and focus your giving efforts on others around you who are less fortunate please! I have so much and have no complaints. Life couldn't be better.

It's so interesting to see - so far my mission has been a pattern of ups and downs. Whenever I have been up for a while I can just know that a downtime or trial is going to be coming. However, I think I'm going to be able to handle them much better from now on! Destinee told me about something President Collings told her. He said that he has learned to enjoy the down times in his life because he knows that tremendous blessings are on their way after! He also cautioned that those are the times when we need to double up our effort to be righteous, but we can take comfort and hope in the fact that better things are coming. Isn't that a great thought? It is very true, too. Joseph Smith said (I've told you before but I love the quote lol), "Sometimes the Lord must bring us low so that he can then lift us higher." It went something along those lines. Oh, cool fact - apparently you can buy that dvd now. I guess it comes in the Doctrine and Covenants study dvd.

Mom, that was truly a miracle with the primary program! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I shared that with Elder Stock and we were both amazed. You, as well as all of the primary children, have some amazing faith. Thanks for your wonderful examples.

How is Coach Allen doing? He is in my prayers. How was Aunt Lor's wedding? Congrats by the way Aunt Lor! :)

This past week as part of my personal study I read the December Ensign. Wow, I would encourage you to read it when you have some quiet time to yourself. It really helped me realize how much I have and how blessed I am. There are so many wonderful stories in there. I especially loved the 3 stories about the 3 generations of a family. A grandfather, his son, and his grandson, and how they helped others around them have a Merry Christmas.

It is definitely weird being here in Florida during this season, but the spirit of the Christmas Season is very apparent. This past week it was up to 85 one day (we were sweating and hot lol), and then around 60 the next. This morning it was cold - 42. That's not really cold, but it was more so than normal. It will be weird coming back to Utah weather :) It is kind of funny though because Elder Stock and I will be walking around just fine without jackets or anything and we see people all bundled up tight in coats and jackets and they are like, "Aren't you guys FREEZING?!?" But really, it's not cold at all compared to back home.

I learned that it is important not to do drugs or alcohol (well, rather, that concept was just reinforced). We were talking to a lady this week who was drunk as a skunk. Yes, I made up that term, but it fits. Either drunk or high.. anyway she and her boyfriend were sitting at their computer listening to "Miss American Pie" thinking about the good old days I guess. We were talking to her and said, "It's pretty cold out huh?" And she was like, "Yeah. Yeah! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah!" And then she fell backwards a couple steps. I felt bad, but at the same time it was really funny.

Hey Dad, random note - I am your son! Ha ha you'll never guess how I found out this week. I was taking off my shoes after a long day... and decided to smell my shoe. Well, the good news is that it didn't stink! In fact, it smelled just like your shoes did when you used to have me and Mindy take them off after a long day of hard work :) It was kind of fun to remember that and think that I'm like you! Cool huh?

Alright, so on a more serious note, last night was one of the best nights of my mission ever. We were able to attend the Christmas devotional at the Eustis stake center. One fun part of it was that I got to see many of the Leesburg ward members that I knew! Before it started, the stake had an amazing program called "Sing Noel" where the youth and ysa's of the stake put together this awesome Christmas singing program. It was so good! The audience sang a few of the songs with them, and then at the end we were all singing a few hymns before the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. The Spirit was incredibly powerful, one of the strongest I've felt before! I was thinking about so many wonderful things as we sang together, and felt a little bit of home as I was thinking about years past and being together with all of you. There is definitely a power that comes with worshiping through song and music. My favorite part was when we sang "O Holy Night" together. I know that's Dad's favorite Christmas song, and it's mine as well. It was so wonderful to be singing about the Savior and thinking about all He has done for me, and for all of us. It was one of those moments where the things of the world seem to completely fade out and you really get a glimpse of just how true the gospel is. It was incredibly refreshing, and song was such a great way to express my feelings for the Savior. I would encourage you to read the lyrics to "O Holy Night" and sing it as a family. I especially love the verse that says something like, "Christ is the Lord! Oh praise His name forever!"

And then, to top it all off, was the wonderful Christmas devotional. That was absolutely amazing. President Monson is the Lord's Prophet, that's for sure! Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf are surely inspired as well. I loved the hymn that talked about what we will give as our gift to the Savior (tum-a tum-tum... that one). I have been thinking about that a lot, and I have a pretty good idea of what I will give Him over this next year. Isn't Christmas a wonderful time? It draws us to the Savior, and it's such a great time of reflection, gratitude, forgiveness, rejoicing, and renewed commitment. I loved what President Monson said, "Our degree of happiness corresponds to the degre we have turned our hearts and minds to the Savior." That is so true. We don't need worldy posessions to be happy. All we really need is Jesus Christ. The gospel is free to everyone! How wonderful is our God for making it that way. As Latter-day Saints we have been blessed with the truth. What better gift can we give to those around us than to go and share the gospel with them? I am excited to get back to work this week and share this wonderful message with everyone we meet. Being a full-time missionary is such an honor and blessing to me, and I will forever be thankful to the Lord for this opportunity. I have really learned a lot (and am still learning each day) how much I love you. You are one huge evidence of God's love for me. Why was I blessed with such a wonderful family who loves and cares for one another? I really don't know. All I know is that I want to help as many people as I possibly can to come unto Christ so they can experience what I have in my personal and family life. I love you all so much! Know you are constantly in my thoughts and prayers. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you, or if you receive any promptings or advice or anything like that for me :) I need to learn all that I can. I love you!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

Samuel the Lamanite--Round 2

Hello family! I love and miss you like crazy (as usual). This was a tough week, and I really felt the devil trying to get me down and discourage me. After the trials come the blessings though right? If I just keep enduring and doing my best then everything will be ok. It was kind of a crazy week, and we met some real jerks. It's kind of hard - I constantly feel like everyone (not you, just people of the world) hates me. They don't even treat us like people... it's sad. I've found a little trick that helps a little sometime though :) If I bring up my family as we are talking to them or say something about my little brothers or sisters then they sometimes see that I'm actually a human being. It's great.

Apparently I still sleep talk. Elder Stock (it's "Stock" not "Stocks" lol ;) tells me every couple of nights that I was talking again. Apparently I can also lie in my sleep (both ways ha ha). He woke up to me teaching a lesson one night. He said something to me and then I was like, "Oh, sorry, I was teaching a lesson. I didn't mean to wake you up." He asked me if I was really awake and I was like, "Yeah! Of course I am." I wasn't really awake, and I have no recollection of that. I told him next time to record what I say and start asking me crazy questions or something. At least I'm not sleep walking or yo-yo-ing or anything like that (remember that time? :P)

Oh, hey! Thanks for the package. The cd's are great, although I do already have the Day of Celebration & Motab songs. But thanks a bunch! I love the Christmas CD. If you send another one could you please include Relient K's "Oh Holy Night?" I love that version. I also love that talk and am looking forward to reading the Conference Ensign! The subscription will be awesome as well! Woo hoo! :) Thanks to Rick & Janell Phelps also for a wonderful Thanksgiving package! It was stuffed full of deliciousness and a nice note. My companion and I have been enjoying great snacks all week.

Alright, so you are probably wondering about the subject of this email... heh. Well, please don't call the mission president, police, or anyone over here to do anything. It has all been taken care of. Pres. Hall told me that if he were me he probably wouldn't mention it to you guys, but he didn't tell me not to. So, since you are my family that I trust, please don't call anyone or worry or anything like that. The Lord protects His missionaries, and I definitely felt that this past week.

Here is my journal entry for November 23:

"Elder Stock and I were out tracting this morning on a road less than a mile from our house, and we got to the last house on the road. It was kind of a country road, and as we were getting closer to the house a man stepped outside. We were about 30 feet from his house. This man was in his 60's, and he was pointing a shotgun straight at us. What the? He asked us what we wanted and we told him we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ. He asked us if we were the ones who left literature on his porch. I told him, "No, that's not us. We don't do that." Then he said, "Well you need to get the *#!! off my property. And I don't mean walk. You better run!" All this time he was pointing his gun right at us, head level.

I told him, "Alright, we are leaving. Have a nice day!" and started turning to leave. As we were leaving I was like, "Are you sure we can't do anything for you?" Lol I think it was mostly out of habit (we always offer service to everyone even if they reject us), and partially because I couldn't believe that this was happening and that this guy was serious.

Well, he said, "Yeah, you can do something... RUN!" and he cocked his gun and started walking towards us. So we keep running to get off his property, and he SHOOTS his gun! We kept booking it until we were a good distance away. Now I have officially looked a loaded gun in the face as well as been shot at. I don't think he was aiming at us because we weren't peppered or anything, but it still wasn't very fun."

Interestingly, the Spirit told us we needed to leave when he said to leave, but I didn't ever feel like I was in danger or going to get hurt. It definitely made me think though. I'll tell you what, it really makes you evaluate your testimony and whether you believe this message is true or not when something like that happens. Good news, the Church is true. Yep, it is! So, that is why I am a missionary in the Lord's service. I am doing the most important thing that I could be doing right now. I am willing to give everything to the Lord. I sure have a bunch of weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings, but the Lord knows. He just asks for my best effort and will make up the rest if I give Him that. I am thankful to know though, that the Lord DOES protect and watch out for us. Btw, good luck to that guy - we stirred up quite a bit of dust off our feet as we were running away. He probably would have been better off if he chose to have us walk instead :)

Thanksgiving was great; we were able to go to the T's house for lunch and the B's house for dinner. The food was delicious. We weren't able to go to the Thanksgiving service with JE because her friend's mom was in the hospital and she was helping her out. That was a bummer. Especially because she hasn't answered our calls since then and so we don't know what the deal is.

A, P, and W. have been avoiding us it seems. We have called them time and time again and left messages, but no answer or reply. We have stopped by their house, but everytime we have they aren't home. We are giving them the benefit of the doubt though and not giving up on them. They weren't at church last week because they were sick, and this week could have been just because they were out of town. We hope.

Sister G is still not coming to church.. :( She invited us over for lunch after church and we had a great lesson with their family. We had the kids teach her the Plan of Salvation, and we just helped out when needed and kept the lesson moving in the right direction. It was a wonderful lesson and the Spirit was there.

We are also teaching L. and M.S., Brother JB (branch Mission leader - he's the man :) sister and brother-in-law. We will be teaching them lesson 3 tonight at the B's and having dinner. We are really excited. They have been reading the Book of Mormon, and M. seems to be gaining a testimony. We are going to invite them to the Christmas Devotional on Sunday. Another wonderful opportunity they have here is a "temple tour" where you can go to a little devotional they do every week in Orlando. They pretty much teach all of the lessons in it and explain the importance of temples. I have been to one once since I've been out, and that was my first night here. It is an awesome thing and the Spirit is always really strong! Hopefully we'll be able to get them there.

Well family, I want you to know that I sure love you. It is really hard being away from you for so long, and not being able to call or see you whenever I want. It is hard when the devil discourages me and gets me depressed. But, you know what? There is a reason I am away from you guys and learning to deal with my weaknesses and the devil and getting doors slammed and shot at and people yelling at you. The reason is because what we have is of eternal value and significance. The importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ far outweighs any earthly matter. It is much more important than my personal wants and needs; this deals with the salvation of mankind. How wonderful is our Father and His Son! They love us so much.

It is weird being a missionary - I read a poem about that this week called "Highs and Lows" or something like that. Basically it talks about how you've never felt so close to Heavenly Father, yet never so far. You've never been so happy, yet never so sad. You've never had so many trials, but never learned so much. It contrasts many different things like that. Let me tell you, it's true lol. Missions are hard. It is such a wonderful thing though. I really am learning a lot and growing into who the Lord would have me be. It is nothing that I am accomplishing for myself, except for the fact that I'm doing my best to be obedient. All that I am is because of God. He blesses all of us with every good thing in our lives. We always need to remember that. I loved President Monson's talk on gratitude - he talks a lot about that.

Well, my time is short. I love you all! Please don't worry about me, I am doing better than ever. The Lord is blessing and watching out for me. I pray every day that He is doing the same for you. Keep your chins up and never let the devil get you down! Just like in the pre-existence we can overcome him by our "testimonies of Jesus." He is our Savior and Redeemer. He lives! Keep the faith, kia kaha!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

Old People (November 22 letter)

Hey family and friends! I love you all. What a great week it has been, although I can't believe how real Satan is. Everytime our investigators really start to progress and commit to following Christ, the devil starts working into their lives like crazy. That's where mighty prayer comes in! We have this little quote I like in our district - "Pray hard and make it happen!" When we give our very best effort in doing the work, then we can pray hard and ask for the Lord's help. He will fill in for the rest. We can know that we've done everything we can to help our investigators, and then He fills in the rest. See D&C 35:13-14; I think it has something to do with that. It is a really good scripture even if it doesn't lol.

Hey could you possibly send me a copy of "What I want my son to know before he leaves on his mission" from the May 1996 Ensign (p. 41)? That would be awesome. I can't remember where I heard it, but it sounded like a good talk for me to read. I am glad to hear that Benji is doing ok, I have been praying for him a lot. That is a crazy story. Wow. How many people will be able to say they got stabbed on their missions? And lived? Crazy.

This week we had a wonderful lesson with Sister G and the whole G family. We taught the Restoration and then watched Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration (yes, the one they show only on temple square - I got hooked up with a copy :). The Spirit was so strong! I love that movie. Plus it's way cool to see Magarin. We talked with their family afterwards about how they felt during the movie, and Sister G definitely felt the Spirit. We talked about how she felt when she received a priesthood blessing. She knows that these things are true; she told us how she felt and knows it was the Holy Ghost testifying to her. We invited her to join her husband and children and to be baptized. She didn't accept :( We asked her what would be keeping her from being baptized, and her concern is that she has been Catholic her whole life and her family is too and she doesn't want to disappoint them. We talked to her about that for a bit, about how it's more important to follow God than man, and Bro. G talked for a while about how he wanted to be an eternal family and be sealed in the temple. It was so cool! She is really stubborn though and said, "I just need time." We aren't going to push her at all, we're just going to love and help their family along, and pray like crazy. I know that in time she will want to be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Please continue to pray that her heart will be softened.

A, P, and W had bronchitis this week so they weren't able to come to church and we werent' able to teach them a lesson. We will be following up with and teaching them soon though. They are super awesome :) We are also teaching a Jewish man named E who is super smart and speaks like 4 languages and that's going alright. We just found a family to teach with 7 kids, but only like 3 of them speak English lol. I SO wish I knew Spanish :/ That's alright, we're going to be bringing along a spanish speaking exchange from the branch to help.

Yesterday in church I re-learned an important lesson that I had already learned in Leesburg. Funny enough I learned it in the same place that I learned it in Leesburg - P.E.C. We were reviewing the Progress Record, and I was telling about an investigator who we had committed to church named Alfonso. He is in his 50's and the only work he has is 3 days a week from about 2 in the morning to 7. He moves irrigation for some company. Anyway, I was telling them how it was looking iffy about him coming to church, and this is about what I said: "We are hoping to have him here, but with him being older and working that late there's probably a good chance he won't follow through." Bad word choice. The whole ward council looked at his age on the Progress record and when they saw it said 50's they were like, "What, 50 is old? No, no, that is definitely not old. What are you trying to say?" I was like shoot! My bad. I don't really think that's old heh heh... it was pretty funny. Anyway, during the sacrament meeting talks both of the speakers made comments about how even though the Elder thinks they are old... or even though the Elder thinks the prophet is old... and they were looking right at me! Lol I couldn't believe it. I specifically was referred to in Sacrament Meeting 3 separate times for that one slip I made. Total count of people bringing that up in sacrament meeting and classes: 8. Wow, ha ha. At least I won't make that mistake again :) Apparently 50 isn't old.

I am coming to love this branch more and more the longer I stay! There are such wonderful people here and it is awesome to really get to know everyone good. You can't really do that with a ward unless you are there for a really long time. It is much easier to do in a branch. I think everyone is really close because they have to be to keep the church going! Rather than having the work spread out over a whole ward, it is only a few people. It is awesome to be able to be a part of that and feel like I am helping them out by being a missionary here.

Thanks so much for all you do for me. You really are all a huge support. Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy and that life before the mission was just a dream. I feel like a completely different person lol. On the flipside, I also have never been able to see things so clearly before; things like they really are (for the most part). I really feel like I have a more eternal perspective on things than I did before I left. Being a missionary is such a wonderful experience; it is something that you really couldn't have happen in any other way. There is so much concentrated growth and learning - spiritually, emotionally, and other ways too. It really does bring more happiness than anythign else I have experienced. Well, I have to hurry and write President an email but I love you all! Take care of yourselves :)

love, Elder Andrew Beckett

p.s. I attached some pics. The first two are just two kind of cool ones I thought ha ha. The next is a funny sign. The last is an awesome sunset (pics never do justice) :) LOVE YOU! =]

p.p.s the last pic didn't work; I'll send it later. love ya!

Dominating Satan is what we like to do! (November 15's letter)

Hey family! This has been such a wonderful week, and the time is really just flying by. I can't believe it is week three of the transfer already, and that before the end of this transfer 1/4 of my mission will be gone :/ I don't even know what to think. It has been so good so far though and I can't wait to see what comes! I have never been happier in my life than I am right now; it is so wonderful :)

Ok, first of all, here is something weird. Remember how I told you about when I was at BYU, and would walk home at night, every time I did that like 3 street lights would go out the MOMENT I walked under them? Yeah, it was really weird. Anyway, that still happens here when I drive under street lights. That's going to be one of my first questions when we get to the other side - why did the street lights always go out when I walked under them? Pretty random weird thing. Anyway, just thought you should know in case I die or something. That way if you ever see street lights going out around you, you can know that you are going to die soon too.

Alright... so are you ready to hear about the awesome week that the Lord blessed us with? Here goes:

Actually, although the whole week was good, I am just going to highlight the top three events. First up was a sweet lesson we had with our mission leader, JB. He is such a great guy. He has been a member of the Church for about 20 years I think. He invited his sister and her husband over to his house for dinner and a lesson. We taught the Restoration and talked about the Book of Mormon and lots of different gospel subjects. Brother B participated a bunch, and was constantly bearing his testimony, and told his conversion story as well (which I had never heard before). The Spirit was so strong, it was neat. Brother B (all of the Bs really) are a super neat family and great people. They love to joke and have fun and they are just all around good people. That was the first cool story.

Next up was with a less-active member, AW. Elder Stock and I met with her a couple times this week to help her stop smoking. She has been smoking since she was 13 years old, and as of today she has been a nonsmoker for 4 days :) The Lord has really blessed and helped her overcome this addicting habit. She is doing great, and was at church this week with her 2 year old son M. The Branch is really reaching out and doing a great job fellowshipping her. It is such a blessing to be able to see the light of the gospel come into her life and replace the darkness that has been there for years! She was baptized in 1995 but then fell away and has been less active since then. Now she is coming to church and doing her very best to help her son have a good life. She reads the book of Mormon so much it is awesome! We brought her one about a weeek ago and as of yesterday she is in Alma. She always is telling us how she never puts it down because it makes her feel better when she reads and she can't smoke if she is holding the Book of Mormon. She's learning to find strength in the Lord :)

Awesome story number 3: A is one of our investigators as of last Sunday. We found her while looking at a potential investigator list we had in our Map Book. All the info we had was "J, H, A" and a phone number. I called them up not knowing what to expect, and a lady answered. I was like, "Hi, is H there?" The lady (who was A) said, "That's my daughter. Who is this?" Lol, come to find out, H is 5 years old. Anyway, I ended up talking to A for a bit and then asked her if we could come over and talk to her family. She accepted! That was the first amazing thing lol. That doesn't happen very often, btw.

Well, we went over Sunday night (last week) and taught her the Restoration and committed her to come to church yesterday. She was really excited to come and experience church, and we left feeling super happy and thankful to the Lord for preparing her. About halfway through the week we got a voicemail from her. She said that she had called her mom up in Maryland and told her she was coming to the Mormon church on Sunday. Her mom kind of flipped and told her not to go there, saying she needed to go to a baptist church. A thanked us for our time, and told us sorry but she won't be coming to church or anything anymore. WHAAAAAT? No! When this happens it just stinks. You have no idea how mad we were at Satan. It is crazy how fast he attacks our investigators when we commit them to doing something good and following God. It's pretty much guaranteed to happen.

Last Saturday we went over to visit with her, and we figured we'd just stop by and talk to her, hopefully being able to resolve her concerns. We prayed really hard before we went up to talk to her, and the Lord heard our prayers! We found out her mom didn't want her to come because we have more than one wife. False, heh. We had a really good talk with her, taught her to pray (she said the closing prayer), and she was set and excited to come to church the next day. Yesterday morning comes and 9:50 rolls around and she's still not there. Not that everyone is on time to church of course, but we were just antsy because we were so excited that she was coming. We gave her a call, but she didn't answer. 9:59 comes and she still isn't there yet. By this point we were kind of wondering if she was really going to come. We went outside and knelt down to say a prayer to help her get there. We waited until a couple minutes after ten, and still nothing :( The meeting was starting so we hurried in to sit down.

I was feeling really bummed because we had been working really hard to get our investigators to church, and she was the one who seemed most promising! Anyway, halfway through the Sacrament, the doors open and guess who walks in! A! Woo hoo! I didn't even know what to think I was so excited! It was kind of almost awkward because we were trying to find her a seat and quietly welcome her and be super reverent and not disrupt the sacrament. Talk about a stressful missionary moment, where you are trying to help them have a good first impression of church and everything... Anyway she also brought her daughter H (5), Two neices P and W (15 & 10) and nephew J (6) It was such a good day! Our primary was full :) They ended up loving church and stayed all three hours! It was such a tender mercy from the Lord to know that he hears and answers our prayers. After church we went over to her house with Brother B and taught her the Plan of Salvation.

Before we started teaching we felt like we should invite her to be baptized. We did, using the Lord's Invite, and she excitedly accepted! W was outside too at the time and said something about never being baptized and then A was like, "You could probably be baptized too!" So we invited her as well and she accepted! Then A was like, "Hey Boo! Get out here!" (yelling into the house; Boo is what they call P). Boo came out and A asked her if she wanted to be baptized too. It was SO COOL! Ha ha we were so excited. We taught them all about baptism and why we are baptized, and now A, P, and W will be baptized on Dec. 11th. Isn't that great? :D We are stoked. Please keep them in your prayers - pray to have their faith strengthened, and to keep the adversary from them. That would be great. Please also continue to pray for WG; we had an appointment with them last week but that didn't go through and we had to reschedule. We will be teaching them this Wednesday and watching Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration! I am super excited.

Things are going great here, and I feel so blessed to be on a mission. Thanks to everyone for your love and support. This is truly the greatest experience of my life, and there is nothing I would rather be doing than serving the Lord in the Florida Orlando Mission! I know this is where He needs me, and this is where I will be able to grow and learn the most. I know the Lord is very aware of each one of us in our lives, and is there to help us if we only ask. I love you all so much! Take care, and always hold to the rod. Hold tight, knuckle-white as they'd say in seminary :) Talk to you next week!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

Hi, hello, this is Elder Beckett! (November 9 letter)

Wasup fam?!? - (E. Phelps' quote yeah!)

This last week has been great! Yesterday was Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Zivic of the Seventy. He is such a good man and we could just feel his love for the gospel in everything he said and did. He also has a great sense of humor and was really funny. We learned a LOT of really great ways that we can improve on our missionary work here in the FOM.

Hey, I was wondering.. could you possibly subscribe me to the Ensign while I am out here? I would love that, and then I could make sure I get a copy each month. We don't always get a copy to read so I would really like that if it's possible. I'm not sure if it would be better to have the address be to the mission office and just have them forward it, or if you would have it sent to my current address and just continually update it. I don't know. That would be cool though :)

I saw my second coyote here a few nights ago! We were actually in Leesburg again visiting some members (again because the first time I saw one was also at night in Leesburg) and as we were leaving down the road we saw one right in the road and he stopped and looked at us and I turned on the brights and we got to watch him for a bit. He was like 20 feet away and then ran off. It was weird to see them in the city though; there were houses all around and roads and it wasn't country at all.

Also, last monday night I ate gator for the first time. It was actually pretty good; fairly chewy but I kind of liked it. It was fried - that was the only way the served it at this restaurant. (spelling? Ugh that looks way weird. Maybe it's right idk.). The B's took us out for Elder Rice's last meal here.

Good news! I finished the New Testament last week and will finish the Book of Mormon this week! Then I get to start over! I love that book so much. I don't know if it is bad to be biased, but I am. I love the Book of Mormon. It truly brings me closer to Jesus Christ every time I read it. There is something deep inside me that just feels so good when I read the words of the ancient prophets because I KNOW they are true. I have no doubt that they are speaking truth, and it feels so good to learn more about Jesus Christ through reading the Book of Mormon.

So here is an update on the work out here in Sumterville:

C and A J have been dropped. The only reason they wanted to meet with us again was for the Church's money. J E has dropped off the face of the planet.. she won't answer our calls and hasn't been home when we have stopped by to check on her. I still have hope for her though and we will keep stopping by. Basically the solid investigators we had all had to be dropped in a week :/ That's ok though! We found 15 new investigators last week. We have really been focusing on part-member families and following up with former investigators. I feel that is what the Lord wants us to do in this area to be most effective right now. Please continue to pray for W G that her heart will soften and she will want to join her family in coming to church and learning more about the gospel.

Here is something cool I wanted to learn more about today as I was reading in the book of Moroni - how cool is it that we are sons and daughters of God! Of course we are all spirit sons and daughters of God, but from what I read in these scriptures I'll share it appears that we all need to work to really become sons and daughters of God. We need to be like Him if we are going to truly be His children. Check these out:

John 1:12, Romans 8:14, 2 Cor. 6:17-18, Gal. 4:4-7, Phillippians 2:11-16, Hebrews 12:6-7, 1 John 3:1-2; Msh 5:7-9, 27:25; Ether 3:14, Moroni 7:19, 26; D&C 25:1, 34:3, 76:50-70; Moses 6:64-68, 7:1, 8:13.

I was thinking about this and how we have divine potential. Specifically I was remembering that story about the king who was exposed to all sorts of terrible things for months to try and destroy him morally but he never gave in. When they asked him why he said something like, "I cannot, for I was born to be a King!" We are all born to be kings and queens, and satan is constantly trying to get us to forget that - to give less than our very best effort. Never slack off or give in and we can reach our full potential! Always remember even when it feels like it you are NOT alone.

Well, my time is spent but I will talk to you again next week! I love you all and keep being the wonderful people that you are!

-Elder Andrew Beckett

PICS!

1.Elder Stock and I w/ sister Davis (Dad, I am the one on the far right ;)

2.An example of how people here speak (throwing in "r's" wherever) - I love it ha ha

3.Elder Zach Schow and I (Grantsville woot!)

4. Our District sleepover before Zone conference! It was a party. Elder Creer wasn't in the picture. Elder Thomas is in there from Montpelier ID btw; he is in glasses and a blue shirt. He's a stud.

5. Elder Tolman and I

love you all!

Transfers in Sumterville! (November 1st letter)

Hello family and friends! I miss and love you all. I guess to start off I'll just say that my companion Elder Rice is being transferred and I will now be with Elder Stock. I am excited to work with him, and especially to be here in the Sumterville Branch. It is a wonderful place with lots of great people! I will be Senior companion which will be a change, and I'll get to drive. Yahoo :)

Ok, this is going to be kind of random because it is just different thoughts I had to email you about that I wrote down in my planner throughout the week.

Thought 1: I realized that I forgot to tell you a pretty funny story. If I really didn't forget and already told you, I'm sorry lol. Anyway, I found out a good way to get your companion to stop snoring if he's keeping you up at night :) A couple weeks ago when bedtime came around, I went to bed and was laying there trying to fall asleep. I must have tried for 20-30 minutes but just wasn't that sleepy. Finally I got tired and was on the brink of going into a nice deep sleep when all of the sudden I hear a snore come from across the room. Elder Rice started to snore and with each breath snored louder and louder! Oh man I was pretty mad because I had just about fallen asleep when it started and now I was wide awake again. I sat there for about 5 minutes figuring I'd endure it and just be nice and

try to fall asleep, but it didn't work. Then I had an idea.

You know how right when you wake up you are kind of out of it and don't really know what's going on? You can't always tell what exactly is real life and what was in your dream, and you are still tired enough to go back to sleep. Well, anyway, my plan banked on that. I waited until he had a nice loud snore just so I could be mad enough to actually do it, and then right as he was exhaling (so it was quiet) I whacked the wall with my hand way loud! We have thin wood walls and so it made a really loud sound. Immediately I hurried and brought my arm down and pretended to be asleep. It worked perfectly :) He woke up, rolled over, and stopped snoring. I was then able to fall asleep before it started again. I have used it several times since, and so far it has a 100% success rate. Feel free to try it out if you ever need to ha ha.

Thought 2: Something really weird about Florida is that none of the men here think they need to wear shirts. EVERYONE is always walking around without their shirts off in public, regardless of how overweight or hairy or gross or whatever they are. It's pretty weird. Nobody even cares lol.

Thought 3: Awesome scriptures of the week! Yeah! Alright, so the main ones deal with LIGHT because one day at lunch I just was interested in that subject and decided to read up on it. Here are all my favorite scriptures that you can learn some very interesting things about light - what it is, how to get more, etc. 1 John 1:5-7; D&C 93:36-67; 88:11-13,40,49,67; Matt 5:16, 6:22; John 8:12; Romans 13:12; 1 Thes. 5:5; 1 Ne 17:13; Msh 16:9; Alma 32:35; 3 Ne. 18:29; D&C 50:24, 84:45-46; JSH 1:16-17

I also found an answer to a question I have wondered about personally. I always hear people say how they are "coming to know the Savior personally" and I always felt like I wasn't. I was trying to be good, do what I should, but I never quite understood how I could really get to know Him without Him actually being here with me. Well, this scripture helped me know that I am coming to know the Savior more and more, as each of us can - 1 John 2:3. I love that. As we keep His commandments we come to know Him. It also goes vice-versa; as we come to know him better we will keep His commandments!

Before I forget, P-day will be next Tuesday because Elder and Sister Zivic of the Seventy will be here speaking to us on that Monday. Just fyi :)

Yesterday in church I spoke along with Elder Rice, Sister S (P who was baptized about 2 months ago), and 2 ward missionaries. It went really well I thought. I knew I wanted to speak on the Savior, but I wasn't getting any impressions for a clear direction to take with my talk as I was preparing throughout the week. I kept studying and praying though, and finally just decided that maybe the Lord would just fill my mouth with what He wanted said when the time came. I didn't go completely unprepared, but I brought just a couple small notes on some thoughts I had been having. When I got up to speak, my mouth was filled :) Although I had a tiny paper, I spoke for quite a while and feel like I got across the message and testimony I was supposed to share. It was a neat experience and helped me out probably more than anyone else. It helped strengthen my testimony of D&C 84:85 and 100:5-8.

Well, I am loving being here and am excited to take over the Sumterville Area. One thing we are really going to focus on and go visit this transfer are part member families, less actives, former investigators, and potentials. Then of course there will be lots of tracting too. That's always a blast though because you never know what to expect!

OH, one more quick neat experience/learning moment for me. Thursday we were out tracting and it was like 94 and door after door after door was slammed in our face with people yelling and

just being really rude. I was getting sick of it and really wondered if I would reach the point sometime on my mission where I was just going to explode at someone. Well, I was thinking about how I can do this for 2 whole years and get yelled at and everything else every day, and came to a realization that night. There are lots of reasons I came on a mission, but the main one is because I love my Savior Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven. It is that simple, and that is enough to keep me going through all of the hard times. Friday I read a talk by Elder Holland to missionaries that mentioned how when we are getting scorned and ridiculed and rejected we are walking shoulder to shoulder with Jesus Christ. That is the closest we can come to knowing what He felt like because he was rejected too. It is such an honor and sacred privilege to be out here doing this, and I get to do it all day everyday! :D Anyway, I also found a neat quote that hit me the next mornign in comp study from PMG:

"The attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of your love toward your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect for the priesthood." Wow. Just reinforcement of what the Spirit had taught me the night before. I love being here, I love all of you, and I love Heavenly Father and J

esus Christ. Kia Kaha! :D

-Elder Andrew Beckett

PICS!

1 & 2 - I win! :D

3 - Parting district shot

4 & 5- the mustaches you sent mom! Thanks :D

Hmm. I thought I had more lol but apparently it was just more mustache pictures and chewed up mustache. There you go :) I'll send you one of Elder Stock soon!