Lake Reams' First Baptism!

First off, Happy Birthday to my Mother that I love so much! =]

Hey family! It was a fantastic week because... G got baptized! It was amazing. The ward was super supportive, G loved it and was really happy, and it was just all-around great. So much fun. Hopefully you got the pictures I just sent; if not it sounds like you got some from Sis. H (Jake's mom). Things went really good though, it all went smooth, and Jake baptized him. Bro. W got to confirm him the next day in church and that went awesome too.

This past week was great, but we struggled with finding new investigators. We had a good amount of appointments set up with potentials, but for one reason or another they all just fell through. That was kind of a bummer. P is doing fantastic, and he will be baptized on the 10th of September. We are super excited about that, and he is too. Plus he will have some of his nonmember family there to support him, so we will be praying that we can share the gospel with them too soon enough.

We had the opportunity to teach P & N this past week, and it went great! The Spirit was there so strong. Unfortunately they weren't able to make it to the baptism or church, and we aren't sure why yet. Please keep them in your prayers. One thing they seem to be struggling with is receiving an answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true. We went over and had an amazing lesson with Bro. B, and that is all we talked about the whole time. I know that they felt it too! Now it's just a matter of helping them recognize it, and continuing to act in faith. They are really good people, and I have no doubt that they will join the church someday. We're just praying it will be while we are here, because we really feel like they are some of the specific people we were meant to find while in this area.

I finished the Book of Mormon on the same day that G got baptized! I sure am thankful for the Book of Mormon. I know that it is the word of God, and it is such a pure, sacred, beautiful record. I started it over again the next day. This time as I read it I got a new blue copy (the kind we give out), and I am marking in red every reference to Jesus Christ, and marking in green the passages that I find the Atonement in. Elder Bednar invited us to do that when he came and visited the mission a while ago. I'm just a little late getting around to it... heh (I just wanted to finish first you know?). Anyway, I'm only still in the very beginning, but it is plain to see that it truly is another testament of the Savior! I would highly recommend trying that sometime with a new copy.

I have discovered that I am finally coming to love people in general :) I think I'm finally starting to get a little bit of charity in my life for those around me. I know I have struggled with that in my mission; it's hard feeling love towards someone who yells at you or slams a door in your face. But, as we were sharing messages this past week, one in particular called "In the Spirit of Thanksgiving" (it's a Mormon message - you should watch it), I just felt a huge outpouring of love for people! We are all different, we all have our little quirks and beliefs and talents and weaknesses, but we are truly all children of God. I know that is true, and I am thankful to be here serving the Lord and His children. I also love what Elder Oaks says about thanking the Lord in all things; particular when he mentions Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof" - I'm not gonna say though, so you'd better just look it up and watch it ;) Also, watch for his laugh, I love that part. I know that the Apostles are truly special witnesses of the name of Jesus Christ. Their words are so powerful! We need to constantly be reviewing what was taught in General Conference, and having it be a part of our daily lives. The living prophet is even more vital to us than the past prophets (there were a couple talks on that in recent GC's). That's something that I need to repent of - becoming more familiar with the specific things President Monson has been teaching us.

I want to share my testimony with you that I know that as we follow the prophets, we will be led to know our Savior Jesus Christ. This gospel is the only way to true happiness! Satan is filling the world with lies, and it breaks my heart. Please do all you can to spread the redeeming and joyful message of the gospel! I love what President Uchtdorf talked about in his recent talk, "Waiting on the Road to Damascus" - how we don't need to expect some great experience to become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rather, our testimony and knowledge of the Savior will come more in small pieces, almost as the pieces of a puzzle, which when we look back in the end, we will realize that He has been right beside us all along the way. I love you, my family, so much. I love you who aren't of my family as well :) But thank you all for your examples and goodness! As I reflect each day on what has shaped me to be who I am today, my heart fills with gratitude and joy to think of your valiant examples to me. The Spirit often brings to my mind memories that I didn't know I had, small things that help me appreciate life and why we are here. I think I am finding a lot more about my purpose. I know I couldn't have made it this far without each of you. Take care, and know that I love you! :)

Elder Andrew Beckett

p.s. Thanks Mindy for a letter a while back that you sent, perhaps it was a paper from BYU last year, but I never thanked you for reminding me of that example of the stick-man and his mind, heart, and feet. I use that all the time and think of you ;) Anyway, just thought I'd say thanks because I'd forgotten about it until you reminded me! Love ya!

G is Getting Baptized =]

Hey family! Happy Birthday tomorrow Mindy! Wow... 19 years old?!? Aaaah. Hopefully I got your age right and you aren't actually 18... I mean come on, in Seth's case it WAS only a year.. ;) It's probably just because you seem so mature that I thought you were 11 Seth. Anyway. It has been a great week, for many different reasons. Well, first off, G is getting baptized this Saturday! Woot! I am so excited for him. He is solid. It has been such an inspiring and miraculous experience to be able to work with him. Also, B from Daytona Beach (Grandpa's best friend) was baptized yesterday =] How awesome is that?!? I'll tell you more about that in a bit though.

So this past week has been great; we were able to set 3 new baptismal dates. Tuesday we were on transfers and I stayed here with Elders Sharp & Day from our zone. We didn't have any real teaching appointments, so our day was mostly doing a lot of finding. Well, I had been praying for a miracle and that morning we found a lady that said we could come back that night. Her name is N. We went back that night, taught them the Restoration, and it went picture-perfect. It was amazing! The Spirit was there, we asked inspired questions, and the Spirit was the one doing the teaching. N and her husband talked way more than we did, but we guided the discussion through questions from heaven. It was so awesome to see the light come on in them! We invited them to be baptized on Sep. 17, and they said that if they come to know it is true then they will. We are going back to teach them tomorrow. I am super excited! One of the main reasons they were interested in learning more about our message is to help their sons out. I promised them that even though their sons weren't interested now (they were invited to the lesson but chose not to come), if they (P & N) were to learn about it first themselves and apply these things, then it will eventually change their sons as well. It was truly a miracle though to be able to find and teach them in the same day! We were going to go back on Sat to help P with a service project, but he ended up getting it all done before we had scheduled to come over so he called and canceled. That's ok, we'll find something else to help him with.

We also had a great lesson with P and the B family! They are such an amazing family; super missionary minded! It has been great working with them. This whole ward is chuck full of member missionaries! Anyway, we taught P the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he comitted to be baptized on Sep. 10. At church we talked to him again and he said his family is planning on coming, and he has some cousins that may be interested in learning more. Way cool!

Transfers are tomorrow, and I will be staying here for another 6 weeks! I am so thankful, and hopefully I have even longer than that. I love it here in the Lake Reams ward and am learning so much. It is cool to be working with a brand new ward; we get to kind of set up the missionary program here. I am also way excited to still be working with Elder Jensen! He is a great missionary and this last transfer has flown by way too fast.

Thank you so much for the tape Dad! I loved listening to it =] I'm working on a tape to send to you guys right now. Hopefully it won't get lost in Hurricane Irene or whatever =]

This week I learned a lot about putting the Lord's will first. I had asked and received special permission from President Hall to go up to B's baptism. He told me it was fine if I go, but that I should pray about it and see if that's where the Lord wants me. Well, I prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more. I figured that of course I was going, it would be great! Why wouldn't He want me there? However, as the week progressed, I just didn't feel quite comfortable about it. I didn't know why, I just felt like I didn't need to be there and the Lord wanted me here. Well, it was really really hard, but I stayed and worked here in our area instead. We didn't have any miraculous appointments, find any amazing people, or anything like that. In fact, the plans that we did have for Saturday all fell through. However, I know that for some reason, the Lord wanted me to stay here. I was able to call B and tell him congratulations, but he didn't answer so I just left a message. But the lesson that I learned was that sometimes we don't know how or why we should follow promptings, but we need to do it. I may never know why I felt like I was supposed to be here, but at least I know I did what I felt I should do. And sometimes that's hardest when we really want otherwise, but the Holy Ghost quietly, gently, but firmly lets us know what the Lord wants. I am thankful for revelation.

G and P were able to make it to church yesterday and it went well. They are pretty solid! We are super excited to be working here and the baptisms should start rolling now. It seems like it takes a few months once an area has been "dead" (like the last 2 I've whitewashed) when you get there, but then good things start happening. I'm just waiting to see if I get to see the fruits of our labors start coming around next transfer as well or not ha ha. Whatever the Lord wants =] Well, I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and faith. You are all the BEST!

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett

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

Grantsville, UT is in the Hymn book

Hey everybody! I love ya'll =] Hope life is fantastic! It is here. Things have been crazy, but crazy good! Too blessed to be stressed, as one of our good friends in the ward here put it ha ha. It has been a good week. Some areas have been slower, yet it has also been one of those break-through weeks of my mission. So many things happen in a week when you are a missionary, that it feels like it was a month we are actually talking about. Yet, when it comes to how fast it went by, it seems like I was writing you my last email just yesterday! Time sure is flying.

First of all, G is doing amazing! He has been reading, praying, and has comitted to be baptized on August 27th. He has been such a blessing from the Lord. However, I almost feel like the Lord is testing us... he is 18 so we are going to have to refer him to the YSA Sisters. Bummer :( That's alright though, the harvest really is the Lord's. Funny how that works though - JUST when we find the most elect person I've met out here, we have to give him up. Kind of ironic. I'm just so happy for him though! He knows it is true. Solid =] His family goes to another church, yet he feels that this is truly from God. Alright! I am always so amazed at the faith our investigators have... a lot of times I feel like maybe that's why I was so blessed to be born into a family that already had the gospel - I don't know if I would have the faith that it takes for investigators to accept the restored gospel. It is so humbling to see them come unto Christ and learn for themselves through the Holy Ghost that these things are true.

Ok.. and also M came to church yesterday with the H family! He is so cool! M is 14 years old, and has been good friends with the H's for a while. He has been to church quite a few times back in the WIndermere ward, but this is the first time he has come to Lake Reams. We saw him, greeted him, and asked him if we could meet with him for a minute after church (to set up an appointment and have a short lesson). Well, after church was just hectic and we were running around trying to get appointments set up and everything, and it turns out that M had to leave. We felt SO bad because he was planning on meeting us, and then we couldn't find him, and then he was gone. We prayed and asked for Heavenly Father to forgive us, and to give us another chance, and we had the thought to call his friend A. We did, and he was over at his house until about 7 that night, so we got to go teach him! We had such a powerful lesson, and he knows that it is all TRUE! He knows it, and recognized it. He believes this to be the Lord's church on the earth today. We talked to him about what may be holding him back from being baptized, and the only thing is his mom. She wants him to make sure he knows what he is doing, and he said for him that probably means he will have to wait until he is 18. We talked to him about miracles, and invited him to set a goal to work towards (Sep 3rd). We promised him that if he prays and does everything that he can, then the Lord would provide a way (if it is His will). He said the closing prayer, pleading with the Lord that the Lord would give him a miracle and let him be baptized. Please please please pray for M's mom to have her heart softened and be open to the gospel! We are going to see a miracle =]

We also had the B's friend, P, at church! He is a pretty solid guy too. We are trying to really help him gain his own testimony. We were able to meet with him this past Monday evening and had a great lesson. He felt the Spirit, and understood everything well. He committed to be baptized if he finds out this is true. We are excited to continue to work with him this week.

We have still been keeping in contact with the Cs and J & L, but Satan has really been working hard on them :( We feel like they don't understand the importance of this message, and we've been praying hard and fasting to know how we can help them know. Perhaps it just isn't their time; we can't drag people into the gospel. That is something we have been working on; trusting that the Lord does have people prepared to hear the gospel now, and then going to find them.

So, apparently there is some crazy underground organization that is called the Luminatti or something? Have you heard of it? I don't know, we have had some investigators who are all worked up about it and the new world order. It's interesting how the devil has his organizations to combat the Lord's way. Anyway, I don't know if you know or have heard much about that? But it would be interesting if you could fill me in any.

COol fact! In the hymn book, there is a tune named Grantsville (#35), and a tune named Utah (#33). So basically we are in the hymnbook. How did I find that? I do not know lol. I was just randomly flipping through the back of the hymnbook during companionship study and learned that. Hey, I hope the trenches are going great! You are too nice to be so appreciative :) It felt good when I did that, so if nothing else I got some good exercise and practice! Let me know how putting in the sprinkler system and everything goes.

Sam Paul! You are the man! Ha ha that's so cool... Eagle Scout, Elder ordination, and heading off to BYU! WOot! You are going to have so stinking much fun. Enjoy your time there! What classes are you taking, and where are you living and all that? Do you know your roomates? I'm going to need your address man! That's super cool. I can't believe that Sam is already in college now. I still feel like I just graduated high school yesterday.. and Blake Johnson here is Sam's age, going to BYU in just a bit as well. And now Mindy is a big tough sophomore. Ha ha crazy sauce aaaaaaah.

That's so sad about the Archers moving! Aah man, please tell them I love them and will miss them a lot. They have helped me out so much, and were one of my very favorite people to visit in the ward. I will always cherish the memories I have of going into their home on Sunday afternoons, giving them the sacrament and sharing some of the things we learned at church. I hope the young men in the ward really appreciate the opportunities they have to serve and exercise the priesthood like that; you really don't understand how much of a blessing that was to do that until you are gone and moved out.

Congrats to Shineah! I wish you a long, happy, married life =] That is awesome! And what was her new last name again? You'll have to send me the announcement so I can see! Mindy - don't get any ideas with all of these people getting married so recently. Also, good luck with your moonlight marathon friday! You will continue to be in my prayers each day & night!

Well, I hope I haven't bored you all to sleep. I have been typing like a maniac today. I love typing. It is fun. Anyway, the church is true :) I know it! There is power that comes from doing the "small things" - going to church each week, reading the Book of Mormon & praying each day, loving & serving your family, etc. They will lead us to our Heavenly Father. I love you all so much, and hope you have a great week! Thanks for everything =]

love, Elder Beckett

p.s. We also had ZLC (zone leader council) and I got to go on exchanges with Elder Gregsen (the AP) this week. It was so awesome and I learned so much! I love Elder Gregsen. I'll have to tell you more about him another time, but who knows, we may be rooming together at the Y after the mission. Maybe along with James, David, Nolan, and whoever else wants to ha ha. I've still got forever though until that comes thankfully =] Love ya!

p.p.s. Please pray for me to do a good job conducting zone conference this week =] I know that sounds dumb, but I've never been much of a public speaker ha ha. Love ya!

What kind of a guy are you?

Hey fam! Ha ha Allie's quote has been running through my head all week long. I think on the next tape that you send, you should record that Allie! I told Elder Jensen about how you would always say that and now we ask each other in that cute nasally voice, "What kind of a missionary are you??" Ha ha. I see potential for a zone theme... ;)

This has been a fantastic week! The Lord has blessed us so much with some awesome people. We have also received some great referrals! Monday was a blast too; we got to go play racquetball (sp?) with J, C, and their dad C at the YMCA for P-day. It was a lot of fun and I kind of started to get the hang of it. I kept putting a lot of top-spin on the ball though ha ha, it was apparent that I miss tennis. I bet Nate and Seth are just champs by now aren't you guys?

We met and taught this golden beyond golden guy this week nam

ed G! We were walking around an apartment complex doing some finding, and stopped and talked to him. He was like, "I've been looking for the mormon church and I want to become a mormon. I just haven't been able to find it around here." Heh, well we can help you with that my good friend. It was neat to see though how he is an amazing person and recognized and acted upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost in his life. He is from Peru originally, and has an LDS girlfriend up in Maryland, as well as some LDS friends in the Clermont area. His friends had given him a copy of the Book of Mormon, and he had began to read on his own. He is so solid! We taught him Tuesday, set a baptismal date for August 20th (which is probably actually going to be the 21st or so), and then went back again on Friday with J H (the bishop's son) to teach him again. Both G and J play soccer so we thought he'd be awesome fellowship for him. Our next lesson (Fri) went so good too! He had

read and understood the whole Restoration pamphlet. He had read from the BOM and said his prayers every night. We were sitting there in awe, just almost wondering if it was some

kind of joke. But, I know, and am coming to know more each day, that this is what an elect person is like.

I think one of the hardest things I have had on my mission, and am

still learning to overcome, is to leave behind the "nice, but not quite ready" people for the truly elect. I feel such a love for everyone that I feel like I never want to give up on them, but there are people right now, like G, that the Lord has prepared to be taught and baptized. I think I am finally starting to understand that concept. As hard as it is, that is something Elder Jensen and I are going to focus on more is finding the elect. Please pray that we will be led to them, or that they will be led to us and recognize us as the servants of the Lord.

Yesterday at church was kind of a bummer day... it was an AMAZING meeting all centered on missionary work, but all of our investigators bailed :( The C weren't able to come, G wasn't able to come (we knew that he wouldn't be able to this Sunday beforehand though, and he'll be there), and nobody else. That's ok though, we are going to redouble our efforts and this week will be better.

This area is very affluent, and we have been praying a lot to figure out ways to be more effective. One area we are going to start focusing on more is member-missionary work. Any ideas on what you have seen to be effective in helping members do their missionary work? We have some very missionary-minded members, and now it's just a matter of harvesting those that the Lord has prepared at this time. Please pray for us to be able to find the elect.

Just fyi, the "perfect storm" is over. Whew. That was SO many numbers... Anyway.

I can't believe that the summer is almost over! Aaah and then everyone will be back to school and Mindy @ BYU and everything. I loved hearing about how you enjoyed Sunday as a family! Oh man I miss that. I am looking forward to spending next summer's sundays with the fam :) Well, I love you all so much! Mom, I hope that this letter was a little bit longer than last weeks ;) I will be writing some of you a letter today (I meant to last week, but then some mishaps came up and our racketball ride wasn't able to bring us back until right close to 6). I will repent! Love you all so much! =]

-Elder Beckett

p.s. Another quick miracle - We were stopping by the H family (an awesome missionary family in the ward) and talking to them about some of their friends they have that they are working on sharing the gospel with. They told us about a friend M who has been to church and everything and wants to be baptized, but his mom won't let him. Well, right as we are sitting there, someone knocks at the door. It's M and his mom! Ha ha they came in, talked to Bro H a bit in Spanish, and he found out that M was grounded or something. W

ell his momtold him that she wants him to take the lessons and take to us so it can help him out! =] So basically maybe he was inspired to get in trouble and become grounded all for that very moment, so that now he can be taught the gospel =] The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed! Ha ha I love you!

Elder Beckett and some investigators.
Orlando Temple!
Elder Beckett and "Grandpa"
Grandpa took the guys out for lunch!

The Spirit is the true teacher!

Hey familia! My time is short today, but I'll tell you some of the great news for the week:

- L, J, and C C came to church! I think C (the Dad) had to work. He was here last time though.

-B's friend G came to church

-We set a baptismal date with S!

-Leadership conference was fantastic =] I learned so much! The training was crazy.. it kinda fell apart :S that's alright though lol, I learned a lot. It was hard because they didn't give us a time limit, and then at the last second President had us just train on 2 certain parts of it, etc. Anyway, I learned a lot about giving trainings =] And it was awesome to see Destin-er-Sister Allen and Elder McClatchy there! Fun stuff. Plus there were a lot of other mission friends I got to meet up with and talk to. It's crazy to see things progressing in the mission and everyone "getting old" ha ha. Nearly my whole district when I was in Sumterville was there, it was great!

Elder Jensen is awesome, we are having a blast. I am loving teaching with him and being his companion! We are really working on teaching by the Spirit and asking inspired questions. Mom - congrats on your pioneer day lesson! Sounds like that was really neat for the kids. I wish I could've been there! Allie and Seth - I love LOVED those letters! They were just saturated with your wonderful personalities! It was so much fun and made my whole week to read them. I love it! And those pics you sent, Mindy, in the email were awesome! I love my family. Way to go Al-bal the photographer! I can't wait to see all of your artistic accomplishments when I get back. Anyway sorry it's so short, but I gotta go. I love you all so much! Please pray that J & L will be able to make it to church this week, and that the Cwill come as a family! And pray for S that her family will be alright (they got in a car accident). I love you so much! Have a great week!

love,

Elder Beckett

Andrew's Desk... (I sent him the peace sign moose sticker on his planner!!)
Missionary Boys!
Pretty sunset and pretty home!
Storybook clouds. =]
Andrew and Sister Worwood
Missionary BUDDIES! 3 of them are from Tooele County!

Elder Jensen is here!

Hey fam! I love you =]

Elder Jensen from Las Vegas, NV is my new comp. He is the man! We are having so much fun together and working great already. We get along really well, teach well together, and are on the same page. He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters, but he is the youngest. He is a great guy, and loves BYU as well =] He reminds me a lot of Uncle Darin (I forget how he spells it.. :/) with his smile, laugh, voice, and positive attitude! I am really excited to be working with him and see what the Lord has in store. Plus, we should be together for a while which is nice. This area is getting going and it's great to see!

We had a good week, we saw some miracles for sure. One night the Lord led us to stop by and visit a member. They are a less active family, and she is a single mom with 2 sons (18 & 15). The 15 year old was the only one home when we stopped by about 8:15 or so, and so we talked to him for a minute. He told us about what has been going on, and it sounded like he had had a hard day, breaking his mom's computer and all. Well, he invited us in to get a drink and so we could share a short message with him. We sat down and were watching the Mormon Message "Hope Ya Know, I'm Having a Hard Time." Well, his mom walks in right at the end and we introduce ourselves and ask her how she is doing. She looks really stressed and like she just has a big burden and says, "To be honest, I've had a terrible day." Well, we invited her to watch this message with us. As we watched it again with her there this time, the Spirit really touched her. She had tears running down her face and just was sobbing while we watched it. She knew, and I knew, that the Lord had specifically sent us there to show His love for His daughter and her family; to reach out and help them come back. She pretty much bore her testimony after it was over, letting us know that it wasn't by chance that we stopped by that night, at that time, and she said she knew that the Lord's way is the only way to happiness. It was a huge testimony-builder for me to know that this IS the Lord's work, and He is truly guiding it. It was also wonderful to see just how in our greatest times of need, the Lord sends us help to strengthen and lift us.

We also were able to have a great lesson with the C family! Please continue to pray for them; especially that they will be able to make it to church as a family this coming week. J and his dad came yesterday which was great. The Mom and daughter had a Colombian celebration thing they went to, but they will be there this coming week. They are amazing =] We are going to invite them to be baptized this week on a specific date, so please pray that they will accept!

It is pretty crazy trying to keep everything straight with all of the missionaries in the zone. Call-ins take up like the whole night. Numbers are even crazier now; not to mention that on the 31st is "the perfect storm" as they call it lol. That's where we collect the weekly numbers, plus the stake correlations. Crazy. We are loving it.

Please pray for Elder Jensen and I to be able to give the training the Lord would have us give at Leadership Conference this week. All of the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers, and trainees are going to be there. It will be huge. I am excited though! Sister Allen and Elder McClatchy will be there so it will be great to see them! Hopefully we can get a picture or something. I still haven't met Sister Allen yet, but I will this week.

Well, I sure love my family! I am thankful for your love and support. You are all in my prayers. Until next week,

Elder Andrew Beckett

p.s. Apparently the H's (the bishop & his family in Lake Reams, our ward, know the Browns (Lancaster's family). Cool ha ha!) Love ya!