Transfers

Hey! SO good to talk to you all yesterday! Sorry I feel like I was so scatterbrained and all, I should've prepared better. I loved just hearing your voices though and your laughs. I sure love my family! Mom, I was especially thankful and glad to hear your voice. Thanks for all you do and are.

So, I am being transferred! I am going to the Cocoa zone to be a zone leader there. I will be in Viera. Elder Jensen went there when he left here, and now I am replacing him and he is going somewhere else to train! Craziness. I will be with his last companion, Elder Schmutz from Bountiful, UT. I will tell you more about him and send you a pic when I get there :) Guess what else is crazy? Not only will I be in the same zone as Sis. Allen, but the same ward! Ha ha how funny is that? Both in UT and in FL now. There will be Elders and Sisters in the ward. She will be whitewash training! Should be fun. I will miss Elder Mullen lots, I have learned so much from him and he is a great missionary. I am excited for you to meet him someday.

I am sorry but my time is short, I've got to go pack, finish sending out Christmas cards, and then we have some appointments and goodbyes. I love you all so much! Thanks for your love, support, and patience with me. I know that I am nothing without God, but with God nothing is impossible. That has been one of my favorite scriptures this Christmas season. I think it is Luke 1:37? I'm not sure. Anyway, I love my family!

P.s. Dad, is there any way you could find a cheap tom-tom car gps charger online and have it sent to me? My last one broke :( If not that's ok too. I know that Christ lives, that He loves us, and is there to be our strength and example each and every day. I am so thankful for Him and for what He has done for me. The Atonement is real. I love my family so much, and I know that we will be an eternal family!

love, '

Elder Andrew Beckett

p.s. Seth, no, it hasn't snowed yet. And I love all my companions! =] Of course there are the hard times, but I have learned some very important lessons from each and every one of them, and that is exactly what I needed to learn at that time. Being a missionary is the best! Just you wait :)

Merrry Christmas! Round 2 =]

Hello!

Merry Christmas! I'm super excited to talk on the phone with you this Sunday! It will probably be somewhere between 2-4 Florida time, so 12-2 your time, right? If that doesn't work, then... I'll find out when I call I guess ha ha and just have to try back later in the day or something. But you said that should be good, right Mom?

I had a great idea this week. Well, it was probably inspiration. Here it is... Why don't they have someone come out with an audio version of Preach My Gospel? I think that would be the bomb. I'm going to copyright this idea (c) There! Done. But I would love that, and it would really help missionaries out. There are many different ways to learn. I was just thinking about General Conference how we watch it, read it, and now we can listen to it (I bought the cds, Merry Christmas to me ;). It really helps to have it more than one way. With Preach My Gospel we read and study it, live and experience it, watch the dvds, and I think they should come out with audio cds. So Dad or anyone, if you know someone high up in the missionary department who could make that happen, please let them know Elder Beckett would buy one. It would be super effective just to have playing even in the background, or to listen to when driving in the car, or at lunch, or whenever. That would be cool.

Hey, any statements you know of on if herbal tea is ok? Everyone says herbal tea is fine, but I don't know what the exact standpoint of the church is. The WoW pamphlet says no coffee or tea, so I was just curious what you thought and knew. Hey, I saw the Lawtons at church! Brother (Elder?) Lawton's brother came to our ward! How funny is that? I met him and his wife, kind of cool huh?

Thanks so much for the package! I am loving (and will love) it! I opened it and started reading some stuff, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to wait until Christmas or not. But then I stopped because I figured it out :) But Mom, don't worry, it's totally fine that nothing was wrapped! I love it ha ha, and I don't mind even the tiniest bit so don't think twice about it. That is something I am not too worried about ;) I admit though I couldn't wait, so I ate some of the fruit snacks right away, and some of the other stuff, and I looked at the pictures. But I saved the tape and the letters =] You guys all look so good by the way! Wow, what an amazing family I have. Holy cow Nate, you look like you are growing up a lot! I can't believe it. Maybe it was just photo-shop or something, but you look older/bigger/taller! Everyone looks a little different, but so far I'd say that Nate and Allie have changed the most from the looks of it. Now Allie you are just this beautiful tall model girl! Ha ha I love it. Not that you weren't tall or beautiful or anything before, but even moreso now. And Seth, you too are slowly losing your baby face and growing into a young man, handsome as ever :) What a great family. Mom, Dad, and Mindy you too look healthy and happy! Although your looks haven't quite seemed to change as much as the younger ones. Hopefully I have changed at least a little bit, for the better. I've gained some chub on my face since I left :P I look at the pics I have of us @ the MTC dropping me off, and pics of me now, and I look quite different ha ha. That's ok though, I'll run it off eventually ;)

This week was such a wonderful week. I love the R family so much! They are just amazing.. they have so much faith and are so loving. I got to go over there this past Tuesday on exchanges with Elder Grimm (the man) and we taught most of their family the Word of Wisdom (Bro R & A were at work). It went well, and they committed to live the word of wisdom. None of them really had any problems with it, but Sis R was drinking coffee every morning. But, she said she'd do it! So we went back the next night for dinner with them, followed up, and she hadn't drank any coffee that day! She said she had a bad headache that morning and took some tylenol, but she's doing great! Dinner was amazing, she cooked us some delicious spanish food. Bro R was there, so we retaught the word of wisdom again. He was the real coffee-drinker in the family, and so we weren't quite sure how he would take it. Well, we taught it, and then invited him to obey the word of wisdom. He looked down, thought for a minute, and then humbly said, "I will do it." What faith! I love this family, they are showing the Lord their faith and being blessed for it so much. As of yesterday, neither of them have drank any coffee since committing to, and their headaches are nearly gone. Also in that lesson we talked about missionary work and missions, and L and M were like, "We want to serve missions!" They are super excited to be baptized and serve missions and all of that stuff! And we talked to A about it, and he thought about it for a bit and then said, "Yeah, I'd like to serve a mission." After the lesson Bro R asked me what his sons would need to serve missions :) So I explained all of that to him and he smiled and said ok. I am so thankful for this wonderful family, they are one of the huge miracles I have been blessed to see on my mission. I know they will become an eternal family someday! They are just soaking up the gospel of Jesus Christ, and being blessed so much for it. It is beautiful to see and picture just how this will affect their family, life, education, career, everything! The restored gospel adds so many wonderful blessings to our lives that wouldn't be there otherwise. Oh, and L, M, and A were scheduled to be baptized on Christmas Eve/ Christmas, but now it's looking like we'll hold off because it would just be more exciting to baptize the whole family at the same time. And Bro R should be able to start coming to church at the beginning of the year, so it should be in January. We've taught them pretty much everything, so now it's just a matter of continuing to love them, get members more involved, and help them along the way! It's kind of a step of faith, because I may be getting transferred 2 days after Christmas. We'll see. But whatever happens, I am thankful to know that wonderful family, and have learned so much from them.

Well, that's all for now. I'll talk to you on Sunday! I love you!

love, Elder Beckett

Christmas Party in Saudi Arabia!

Hey Fam! What another great week in Lake Reams, the land of milk and honey. Ha ha Bro. B would always say stuff about "the land o' milk an' honey!" I love and miss that family. So, tender mercy of the week - I've told you how they do a temple grounds tour here, which is something we love taking investigators to. We went to one on Saturday with A & L R. They are so awesome. J H took us all and it was great. Elder Potter, one of my good mission friends out here (he replaced me in Sumterville) was also there. He is serving in our zone right now. Well, we are there, and guess who comes around the corner? L & M! We were so happy to see them =] They were so happy and looked great! They had come up with the Sumterville missionaries for a temple tour. Here is the best part... M was like, "Are you going to be around still towards the end of February? L & I will be getting sealed, and we'd love for you and Elder Stock to be there!" Oh man, I was so happy and said I will most definitely be there. They are doing so good.

The R family is doing incredible. E (mom), L, and M were able to come to church. The rest had work, but they are all solid and loving the gospel :) We had a lesson with them after church, and L was just like, "I'm ready to be baptized! I was born ready. I want to be baptized right now!" This kid is hungry for the gospel. They are such a happy, just good family. They have had their struggles, but they are humble because of it. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met! I can't wait for you to meet them some day. The only thing that is killing me about it all is that I'll probably be transferred before their whole family can be baptized :( That's always so hard... seeing people progress and grow, being able to teach them, and then you get moved and don't get to see them "finish" the process. That's alright though, the Lord's will be done. I am just hoping that I get to finish the mission here in Lake Reams ;) This place is great, and the members are just on fire. I just try not to think about transfers or anything, and that way I can give my best all day everyday, regardless of when or where I may or may not get moved to.

Hey, do you know if it's bad to put raw eggs in a shake? Protein is no longer allowed in the FOM, and I've been having a protein shake a lot of times in the morning for breakfast in my smoothie. It really thickens it up and sweetens it just right. I had like the perfect recipe... you put in milk, orange juice, protein, a banana, strawberries, blueberries, carrot sticks, walnuts, almonds, and peanut butter! It tasted great, was loaded with goodness, and was filling. But now I've gotta find a replacement. Not that I'm looking to put in raw eggs, but some missionaries do. Who knows, maybe I'll try it sometime lol. Is it harmful though with salmonella and all?

Thanks Seth & Scouts for the letters and pics! That was lots of fun to get :) There are a lot of scouts in the ward! And lots of people I didn't know. I will have to get to know everyone again when I get back. Hey, it's funny that you mentioned that about the caroling, because just this morning I was thinking about the Mouritsens Christmas caroling! I was wondering if they still came by. You can't beat that =] Fun times in Deseret Peak! Tell them they are the best and just make Christmas awesome with their singing :)

Mindy, I hope your talk went well! I would love a copy :) I still have the last one you gave and sent to me! Thanks =] I will keep you in my prayers for finals week. Dad - you asked about how I got my contacts without a prescription? Well, I bought them from the black market. They sell a lot of useful things there. Ha ha kidding, the prescription they gave me is for two years! So that made it nice; I just picked some up from Target here. There are many many many diverse jobs here that people in the ward hold, but I don't know of an optometrist.

So, Thursday night we were out and met these exchange students from Saudi Arabia! They are super cool, and we invited them and their host to the Ward Christmas party on Friday night (the next day) They came and had a great time! They are really really nice too. They loved it and had out their Iphones videoing the performances and stuff =] The next day they invited us back for dinner at their house and that was good! we didn't really get to teach them, and we have to be careful because of the rules with Islam, but they love practicing English and we are going to try and get them involved in some different YSA activities here.

Well, life is so good I am incredibly thankful. The Lord is so good to His children. I am happy and somewhat healthy ;) and my testimony is stronger than ever. I know that the Lord blesses us as we follow him faithfully and put our trust in him. I am learning a lot about miracles and having faith in the Lord from Elder Mullen! He is such a wonderful companion and I am so thankful for him. I am excited to introduce you to him someday. Thanks for all you do, I love you all!

-Elder Beckett

Welcome to December

Happy December! What a great month to reflect on the Savior and His life and Atonement. I am loving it already =] It is fun to just see and feel the change in people's attitudes and countenances this time of year.

It is still nice and warm here in Florida! A couple of nights it has gotten a little "cold" ha ha... Florida cold anyway. Elder Mullen let me use his sweater (he had 2) which was nice, but I think I'm going to buy one today if I see one on sale. It's kind of different here than I would've thought... it does get cold in the winter! Especially when the wind blows.

This week was the Festival of the Nativity, which was great! It is a festival the Stake puts on where they invite all sorts of people from the community to bring in their different nativity sets and paintings and things. Then they also have a little Christmas program and different arts and crafts for the kids, a room where you can dress up in the nativity clothing and get a picture, and just fun things like that. It was a great activity and a lot of non-members were there. It went Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night; which concluded with the First Presidency devotional. Wasn't that great? I hope we somehow have access to those video clips as missionaries. Hopefully we can get them on dvd or something, or get permission to just use them on the internet in lessons. What a blessing :)

Hey, for Christmas I don't think I really have some specific needs... not that I can think of anyway. I think it would be more practical for me to just buy pants and a sweater here where I can try it on and all. I would love some printed pics of the family though, those are always fun =] How about I take a rain check on that and if I need anything I'll let you know ;) Maybe you can just save that until I get back and need some new clothes or something ha ha. I'm actually trying to get rid of "stuff" right now, so that I just have the bare minimum of what I actually need. Otherwise it gets too crazy trying to bring it all around. Oh, btw, I bought some more contacts to last me for a few months.

The work is really picking up here =] The members are getting so involved! There were some great testimonies borne yesterday by lots of people.

So this past week we met a girl named N, who came to church last week with a friend. She is probably about 16, and is a great girl! She has been going throuth some hard times right now in her life, and the Lord is just blessing her with the gospel to help her at the perfect moment. We had a wonderful lesson with her at the Fs' home, and the Spirit was so strong. She came to church again yesterday and loved it, and is thinking about joining the church.

Unfortunately M & L weren't able to make it, none of the R, and neither T & K. They are all still solid though, and excited to learn more. Just one thing or another kept them from coming :( They will be back though! Plus our ward Christmas party is this Friday, so we are hoping to get a good turnout there.

Man oh man I am really having a hard time focusing right now because the place we are emailing (the family history center) is sooooo loud... other missionaries & watching things on mormon.org, etc. Normally we'd go to the library or something but E. Mullen doesn't have a library card yet and so we can't unless he wants to pay $5. Lame.

I have this bad habit of accidentally bumping the car horn. We were at McDonald's this past week when the most recent incident occured. We were in the drive-through line, and it was a rather loud, somewhat drawn-out and mean sounding honk. They guy in front of us sat up pretty quick and looked in his mirrors to see what was up. I just started laughing... and waved and said, "Sorry, that was an accident!" It was funny though lol.

Well, I really can't think much, it's still pretty loud :/ I'm sorry. Just know I'm doing great at writing in my journal right now, so all the good stuff and faith-building experiences that the Spirit brings to remembrance will be in there. I just can't quite focus here unfortunately. I will share them though someday =] Love you all! And can't wait to talk to you for 40 mins soon!

love, Elder Beckett

p.s. how ironic.. everyone just left and it's quiet now that my time is gone... ha ha such is life :P

p.p.s. Mindy you are great and will do awesome at your talk! Let me know how it goes :) Hmm you can just talk about patience and charity, and how you learned all about them and developed them growing up with me ;)

p.p.p.s. Thank you so much for the answers to those questions mom & dad! At least the ones you've answered :) I loved it!

PICTURES! :D

Mirroracles!

Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys! As Mom would say... ha ha ;) Love ya Mom! This was a great Thanksgiving and we were so blessed! The members are so good to us; we got to go to lunch (which was a dinner) with the Ks, and then dinner with the Ms! Sooo many people offered us a dinner.

Can I just say that I love the members here? They are awesome! Every single one of them. They are so converted to the gospel and love this work. I really love working with the priests in the ward, and have made it a goal to really get them involved and coming out with us. I wish I would've known before the mission; I went out with the missionaries once. And I had no idea what was going on, or what my role with them was as a member. So I just bore my testimony and it was a lot of fun :) BUT anyway I think you should encourage the priests in the ward to proactively call the missionaries there and get a time to go out with them on exchanges. Often. That is one of the very best ways you can prepare for a mission, is just by doing missionary work. Read the Book of Mormon, read Preach My Gospel, and do missionary work with the missionaries there. It's an all around win-win situation =] One of my favorite things about working with the priests is just seeing them get all fired up for when they go on their missions. Something clicks in them and they just light up! They start talking to their friends, and losing the fear of rejection if someone says no. And we always have fun while at the same time meeting so many great people to share the gospel with! I love the members. It is only with the members' help that the real growth the Lord has told us we are capable of (with His help) will take place. It is taking place. Supposedly the Orlando, FL area is one of the hotspots for the church that is expected to just explode over the next several years. It is great to see and hopefully play a part in laying the foundation for that.

So this week at church we had 3 of the R boys! They are such a great family. Right now we have dates with those 3 for Dec 24! We are hoping to baptize their family on Christmas Eve, the Lord willing. How special would that be? Then they could be confirmed Christmas day :) The A family, who came last week, are still solid and we are going to meet with them this week. They are such a neat family as well. And then the 3rd amazing family we are working with is M & L! They are great. They weren't able to come to church yesterday because of their business. We were able to meet with them a couple times though this week, one of them where we helped put a table together and then read from the Book of Mormon together as a family at the newly assembled table. After that M, the head of the household, gave the closing prayer and did amazing! I love them so much. I love all of these people. They are becoming like family to me. I will be really excited for you guys to get to meet them all someday =]

Well, my time is almost up, but things are going great. Elder Mullen is such a blessing to be working with. He is a great guy and loves the work. He is exactly obedient, and very positive. I love it =] I am learning so much from him, one thing being to expect miracles daily. This is the Lord's work, you know ;)

A couple quick questions - Well, quick for me to ask =] I've just been thinking a lot about you Mom & Dad lately (and the siblings too =]) But I just want to know more about you! So these are some questions I have:

*What would you say are some of the gifts (as Elder Waddell talked about in Gen. Conf.) that you received from the Lord for serving your mission? How are they helping you in your lives today?

*How did you enjoy the MTC? What did you learn there?

*What did you do for schooling (college), and how did you decide what you wanted to do? Where all did you end up going, and for how long? What classes did you take and enjoy and would recommend?

*What is the whole story of you and Dad meeting and how did all of that play out?

*What can I do for you and the rest of the family to better love and serve you?

*What did you find/are you finding effective in member missionary work?

Ok, sorry =] I could go on. These are a great start though! I would love to just learn more about you, I feel like I really took for granted having such wonderful parents/family before the mission. I hope when I get back I don't overload you with questions and talking to you. So, in an effort to lessen that, I figured I'd start asking some of the questions now =] I love you!

I know the church is true =] God is so good and loving and merciful to us. He is in the details, as Sis. McNeill taught us in her homecoming talk. I love you all, keep on keeping on!

Elder Beckett + Lake Reams 4 EVR ;)

Hey Fam! Wow, this has seriously been such a miraculous week. SO many little miracles ha ha. It is great. I can't describe adequately the gratitude I have to the Lord for His goodness and mercy in my own life and all around us. Each day it's like we are just waiting on our toes with big smiles on our faces wondering, "What miracles will the Lord work today?"

I'll tell you one neat story real quick that happened this past fast Sunday, when Elder Jensen was still here. As you know, I was almost sure that I was going to be transferred. And, since it was the last testimony meeting before I was surely going to leave, I was thinking I'd better kind of give my farewell testimony to the ward. Well, fast and testimony meeting started, but I just wasn't feeling it. I had no idea why. I wanted to, and it made sense that I should, but I didn't feel like it. So, I sat there and waited, figuring it would come in a little bit; surely before the end of the meeting. Well, Elder Jensen got up and bore his testimony. Great... now I probably really wasn't going to; I didn't want the missionaries to take over the meeting and take away from the members. I never felt like I should that whole meeting, even though going into it I was planning on it. I was kind of confused and bummed out, feeling like I would be transferred and that was the last impression that I didn't leave on the ward. I prayed that night, and just told the Lord what I was feeling, and almost like I was a little disappointed in myself or something. Well, it didn't click until we found out who was actually getting transferred, Elder Jensen, and then it all made sense. Isn't it amazing how the Lord works through the feelings of the Spirit that we have? Even though things don't always make sense to us at the time, as we follow the Spirit I know we will be blessed and that things will work out for the best.

My new companion is Elder Michael James Mullen from Provo, UT. His dad is actually a stake president right now for a BYU stake. Elder Mullen is great! I love him a lot already and we have been so blessed by the Lord. We have found some great families this week, and the members have been helping us out SO much. The members are really starting to get on board here!

M, T & K & fam, and I all came to church yesterday =) It was like the perfect Sacrament meeting! Pres. & Sis. Hall spoke, and there was an incredible musical number. The Spirit was SO strong! I spoke too :) The members really reached out and befriended our friends, it was great. Wow, I almost feel like so much happened this past week that I can't fit it in this email. But, I'll tell what I can!

We have been making it a point to ask everyone for referrals. We knocked on a door we felt we needed to in an apartment complex. They weren't interested, but he said his friend might be in another building. We stopped by and talked to them, and the Mom came out to talk to us. She said we could come back. We came back, and ended up teaching those who were there, the father and his 2 sons. This is a family of 7 from Peru. Well, long story short, the R family we found out knows G! And also the father coaches soccer with a member of the bishopric here; and their sons play on the same team! We are going back this week to teach them :) What a great miracle.

Another miracle - we were able to teach T & K, an awesome family from England, at the church and take them on a church tour. Sister A & Sister S (they are sisters who know K) were there and it just went perfect! And same thing at church and all. The Lord is blessing us like crazy.

M is doing great, he is such an amazing guy. He just wants to do what is right for his family, and is leading out in learning about the church. We had the opportunity to do some service with him this week, and teach him more as well. He understands the BOM really well.

Well, I'd better go, but things are great! I'm doing awesome. Do you have any ideas/needs that I could help the family with for Christmas? I have been racking my brain and have no idea what to do :S What would be meaningful for you guys? We stopped by a Disney store here, but everything was like $10+ :/ Anyway let me know if there is anything specific you want or need, otherwise I'll just keep thinking and come up w/ something =] Mom you asked about me? I'm doing great, my blue pants are pretty faded. Maybe if you could just make sure I have some money on my card and I can get some cheap blue pants at a Ross or something here. That would be great! Oh, and Dad my car charger cord for the GPS broke :( I'm not even sure how.. I just looked at it one day and the end was munched up. If you could find a good deal on that.. but otherwise I don't need anything. Just prayers, letters, and some pics maybe :P I love you guys! Have a great week!

love, Elder Beckett