The Cumorah Cake Strikes Again!

God is so good! He lives and loves us all. This is His work, and I am so thankful to be a part of it! This week has been tough. Super tough. Not only in our area either; we felt like the adversary has been making a serious attack on the whole zone. Of course he's always attacking, but it was like he doubled up his efforts this week. There was lots of discouragement from different things, and it seemed like lots of investigators dropped us. It's kind of weird how you notice the waves of spiritual attacks he seems to wage more than ever before.

Hey, quick question, I was looking at a paper I had in my scriptures and it says I was baptized on May 1 and confirmed May 2. Is that right? Maybe it's just been too long, but if I remember correctly it all happened on the same day? I don't know. Also my other question that maybe you could shed more light on - what exactly is the process by which new Apostles and Seventys are called? And the new President of the Church? We seem to have been asked that a lot recently, and I tell what I know, but I want to make sure that what I'm saying is actually true lol. We don't really have a whole lot to go off of (that I'm aware of) in the missionary library, other than what it says in Acts about Matthias being called.

Anyway, back to Satan attacking... of course after we fall and feel down and start to wonder what is going on the Lord always lifts His children and reveals His arm in their behalf! I have this quote on the back of my planner from an Ensign article on Joseph in Liberty Jail - "In the cold, lonely hours, Joseph says let us do all we can and do it cheerfully. And then we can justifiably turn to the Lord, wait upon His mercy, and see His arm revealed in our behalf." That is true. Even though the week seemed in somewhat of a downward spiral the Lord pulled us right out of it and worked some miracles!

[Super condensed version]: Friday we decided to make a Cumorah cake for the Ps. We went over to drop it off, and told them not to open it and cut it until everyone could be there. Lisa was super thankful and excited, and we left. We had an appointment with them yesterday, and something had just clicked for them! I know I use that phrase a lot, but I don't really know how else to describe it. Obviously it was the Spirit that facilitated this growth and understanding! It was so cool though, they had this great desire to read the Book of Mormon and had been reading the rest of the week! We were planning on teaching the Restoration, and we started asking them some questions and then E just started telling us how it all made sense now. He comprehended the apostasy and restoration like it takes most members of the church years to be able to explain! I haven't ever seen anything like it. He pretty much taught and testified the whole lesson of what we were going to teach :). The Holy Ghost is the true teacher, and that was probably the most extreme example I've seen yet of someone being taught the doctrines of the Restoration. It was incredible. Then they told us some of the "behind the scenes" miracles that had happened along with the cake. Friday afternoon we had an appointment with a potential. The appointment fell through, and we were disappointed, but we just decided to drop the cake off at that time instead. So we went over, and apparently right before then Lisa had been on the phone with a friend who wasn't being the best influence and she was about to make a wrong choice. Well, we showed up and she just knew that Heavenly Father was aware of her, and wanted what was best, and was encouraging her to make a good choice. The timing couldn't have been more plain to her. That night as they were gathered as a family for pizza and family game night, she told Eric about it and he wasn't too amazed or anything; probably just coincidence right? Well, for some reason right when he got home from work that night he felt like he should read the Book of Mormon. So he went straight to his room and read for a bit before changing and coming out. They cut the Cumorah Cake and find the mini Book of Mormon that we wrote the scriptures on, and Dean (8) excitedly shares that he realizes it was just like Joseph Smith and the plates! That was impressive, 8 years old? The Spirit is teaching him too. Reminds me of Alma 32:23 (I think that's the reference... maybe 25? About little children). Anyway they read the scriptures and it "just happens" to be something that Eric had just read! And he was like, "No way!" And then he knew exactly what was going on, and explained things about it to his family, and it was just incredible. They can't deny that these things are true =]

Wow, ok, so that is just one of the miracles we have been blessed to see this week. The amazing S family has also been seeing miracles! They are uniting, and B is being such a great example and father to the family. The Spirit has touched his heart too, as well as the rest of the family! They came to church yesterday (B was sick, and M had work I think), and they just loved it. We met with B, K, and B last night and it was wonderful. We went over the Sabbath day and the baptismal interview questions and they were down with it all! They just happily accepted everything and said we will do it! As we finished the baptismal q's, the last line says, "Are you ready to make this covenant and strive to be faithful to it?" B shouted out, "I am SO ready!" I love this family so much. K and B will be baptized this Sunday, and B and M should follow soon enough. What a miracle to see a man, who his whole life was atheist, to find faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ! And to see him find that faith through experiencing the blessings that come from it is beautiful. I know that He truly is the healer of our souls, and our families. I love Him.

These really are the best days of my life. I am so happy right now. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. God is our loving Heavenly Father. Think of it! What a precious truth. I am so thankful to know that, and to understand what that means. I know that as we keep the commandments of God and make covenants with Him, we can receive more fully in our lives the blessings of the Atonement! He is hoping and waiting to bless us, we just need to do what He asks. I love you all so much, and know that we will be an eternal family =] Thank you for who you are, I look up to each of you more than you know! I love you!

love,

Elder Beckett

p.s. Unfortunately A dropped us. We have him down though, so he will come around at some point in the future :) They say it usually takes about 7 times coming in contact with the church before someone receives conversion.

p.p.s. Wow, hmm sorry about that whole deferment issue! Man, I can't even believe that. I want to say that I did defer, but seeing as to how there is no evidence of that I must not have. Or at least must not have done it correctly. Thank you so much for taking care of that, and yes, please let me know what and when I need to take care of scholarship essays or choosing classes or whatever it may be. I believe I can get permission from President to write those on a P-day if I need to, or to get on to work out schedules or whatever. If you have any recommendations for classes or a schedule or anything like that please let me know. One I do want to take (aside from all the awesome religious classes... can't wait) is I think they have like a math refresher that covers Calc 1 & 2, specifically for RM's? I think so. They did when I was there. That's one I'd like to get into, I'm possibly thinking of doing something with math. Who knows =) Also, Jared McBride would be a great roomate! I'm down :)

p.p.p.s. Dad, I didn't have the Gps model w/ me, I thought Mom said she found it? That's ok, I'll check and let you know. Thanks for your emails and letters, I love them!

Elder Pearce, Elder Beckett, and Elder Schmutz
"I want to be like you Dad!"
CUTE!
Jamie Merrill (A MLB player!)
Bishop's Fam!
The "R" Family!

Random Notes 'n Miracles

Good morning! Life's great as always =] Sounds like you guys are doing pretty well too!

Church was wonderful yesterday, the Lord has been blessing this ward so much. The whole S family came to church together and loved it! B and K are possibly getting baptized this Saturday, but things may get pushed back a week or two if the whole family would like to do it together. They are such a miracle family and have been awesome to get to see progress and have the light of the gospel fill their home. The dad, B, has really made progress this week and just had a complete change of heart. Now he is learning and reading the Book of Mormon, and leading out in helping his family! It is incredible to see the transformation that is coming upon them. I will never forget the picture I had in my mind as I saw the S family walking out the church doors, together as a family after church. They were all smiling, laughing, and B & K (Mom & Dad) just held hands as they walked out to their car. It was so... picturesque! Is that the right word? Idk. It was great though, and made me just think of the day when they will be sealed as a family, and walking out of the temple together. I am so thankful to have been able to get here right in the middle of them being taught, they have been such a blessing and inspiration. Oh, something else that was way fun and helped them open up a lot more was what we call the "Cumorah Cake." This was the coolest idea ever that some missionaries told us about! What you do is bake a cake, and have it be kind of round shaped. Then you cut out a square in the middle of the cake (once it's cooled). In the square you take a Hershey's chocolate bar and break it up and make a "stone" box in the middle. You make a mini Book of Mormon out of the pass-along card pictures, and even make some mini pages to put inside. We wrote some scripture references and quoted some scriptures in there. Then you put it inside, put on the lid, and frost the cake so that they can't even tell anything is different. We then took a Testimony of Joseph Smith pamphlet and highlighted all the references to the plates and the Hill Cumorah, and gave it to them with the cake. It was so much fun, and they loved it!

V M, a part-member whose whole family has been members except for him for years, is doing great =] Something clicked for him too, and it is his time. He is preparing to be baptized on Feb 18. He came to church and enjoyed it, and is really starting to click and open up more with the different members. Unfortunately A wasn't able to make it this week, he has slowed down a little. The devil has been jumping all over him, please keep him in your prayers and pray that he will be able to recognize the Holy Ghost as he has been learning more about the restored gospel. We aren't giving up on him just yet :) We also have another amazing family the Lord has been blessing us with, the P, who have been meeting with missionaries for months now. They have some great member friends, and even went to the Hill Cumorah! I think I already told you that. Anyway, they are progressing but moving kind of slow.

Ok, random notes real quick, then I wanted to share a faith-promoting experience :) Ever heard of Aldi's? We have one here and it is like the greatest thing ever. It is a grocery store chain that has done everything they possibly can to cut costs. And so you get great food for really cheap! That's where we shop. Anyway, just wanted to say that if they have those in UT you should check it out. At Wal-mart I found this new contact solution disinfecting stuff with hydrogen peroxide that I decided to give a try. You put it in this weird case and it cleans them with bubbles from a platinum reactor thing! It's really cool. Anyway, it makes your contacts feel almost brand new again. I love it. Hey, does Aunt Karrie still have access to that teeth whitener stuff? Could I buy some from her or something? I'm thinking it would be great to just whiten up my teeth right before I see you guys again, you know? ;) If not that's ok. Or should I just grab some stuff from Walmart? Also do you know what the cause/solution is for those dots you get on your arms? At least I do. I don't know if it's because of my shirts or garments or what, but yeah. Ok, well, here's the experience (I shared it with Pres. Hall too, so luckily it's already all typed up :):

I'd like to share a neat experience I had this morning. I learned a lot about how revelation through prayer and the Book of Mormon works. I was thinking last night about how I could help lift the zone, maybe give them some encouragement and get everyone off of focusing so much on the numbers. We have had several areas who are getting way too caught up in the numbers, either to impress or getting discouraged because their numbers aren't saying anything. It's getting them distracted from our purpose. Well, after praying the thought that came to my mind was to be thankful. I wrote it down and then fell into bed.
This morning as I began my studies, I felt like I needed to read in the Book of Mormon. I did, and read Alma 37. As I was reading I couldn't seem to focus too well because my thoughts were on the R family, a family I had been blessed to be able to find and teach back in Lake Reams. They are scheduled to be baptized as a family this Sunday, at 9 am. I wish more than anything that I could be there. However, as I've prayed and thought and tried to figure out how to make it work, I feel like I shouldn't go or try to go because we have things we need to take care of here. Especially on a Sunday morning. So really I was just kind of feeling sad and asking the Lord why they couldn't have just been baptized while I was there, or why we couldn't have found them just a little sooner so they could be prepared before I left. Well, I got the impression that I just needed to be thankful. I still hadn't realized the theme that the Lord was trying to teach me, but I decided to start preparing for companionship study and what we were going to be going over there. For part of it we were going to review our Leadership Training notes, so I opened up my study journal and there on the first page was a talk I had been asked to give. The title? "Being Thankful"
I read through my talk outline, and it was in that moment that the Spirit brought together everything that I had been taught the previous night and that morning, the message the Lord was trying to get across to me. I felt peace and happiness as I reflected on the many blessings the Lord has given me. I remembered that when we are thankful we can deal with all of our problems and stress in a positive way. We can have more of an eternal perspective. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, as He does all of His children. He cares about each one of us so much that He places us in the exact circumstances and situations that we need to be in to best help us. I know that He has all wisdom and all power, and knows me better than I know myself. We just need to trust in Him (Mosiah 4:9)! I was thinking about my personal study and how it went, and I started feeling selfish because I was wondering what I had learned to help our investigators. That's when I realized that I had experienced, so as to understand, revelation through prayer and the Book of Mormon. So many times as I have been reading the Book of Mormon prayerfully, I will have thoughts come to my mind and feelings to my heart that are solutions to the "problems" I am facing. However small and insignificant my situation may be, my Heavenly Father cares enough to answer my questions and help and guide me. It isn't even always what I read in the Book of Mormon, but what happens and what I learn as I am doing that.

Thanks for all of your prayers, they really help and lift me up! I especially felt them this week in Leadership Training as we gave our training and as I accompanied the meeting. It went well :) Thanks. I sure love you all, and will try to send some pictures now! Have a great week =] And Mindy, be careful snowboarding! You should... ski... ;) Even ask President Hall ha ha. We are going to go skiing someday. Love you all!

Elder Beckett

p.s. Thanks for the letter mom & newspaper article! Loved it :)

Miracles =]

Hey! First off:

I don't know if I told you, but for Christmas from Pres. & Sis. Hall we got these really neat pictures in a frame. It is a picture of a workhorse, chained up to a load, with its head down just moving forward. That has been one of the themes in the mission - we are not show horses, not race horses, not ponys (to the Sisters ;), but we are workhorses! We just keep going day after day and serve the Lord with everything we've got! So in the hard times we can just look at the picture and remember who we are. You should google the picture; it's pretty inspiring. I guess it was taken of a blind horse that worked in the mines its whole life or something like that? I'm not sure, I heard that from another missionary. Either way though, the message is pretty neat. I love President & Sis. Hall so much, I have really learned a lot from them. They will probably always be like my 2nd mom and dad ha ha ;) I can't wait for you to meet them!

2nd: What is the facts behind anti-persperant deoderant? Is it ok? Is it bad for you? Some missionaries only use deoderant because they say it's bad for you or something. Do you know?

3rd: This coming week is leadership training, and Elder Schmutz & I have been asked to give a training on helping our missionaries help our investigators understand the role of the Holy Ghost in their conversion. Please keep us in your prayers so that we can get across the things that the Lord would have us say!

4th: I am fine with whatever! I think all of those guys would be great roomates. Does Nolan still want to join in the mix too? I trust you to do whatever is great Mom =] You have my permission to do what you feel is best. But yes, I would love to room with those guys.

Well, now that those random thoughts are out of the way... tell everyone getting married congrats! And that I'm sorry I can't make it to their weddings and stuff.. but not really.. because it's their fault... ha ha. We have been working with some really great people who are progressing towards baptism. The S family is closest right now, they were going to be baptized this week but will be next week instead so that more of the family can be there to witness. We have had some wonderful experiences with them where the Spirit has just been so strong! It is amazing though how when a family is super close to being baptized, Satan jumps all over them. We always try to give them the best heads up we can, but they don't always realize how serious we are. K (Sis S) has! We were talking to her and she was telling us how random people have just started inviting her to their churches this week.. her family started asking questions about what she's doing with this church, and then someone gave her some anti about the church. She is so solid though :) She is like, "I know what the Church is, and what I want to do. It doesn't matter what anyone says or tells me. I have experienced it for myself." YES! When someone gains a true witness from the Holy Ghost, they can't deny it no matter what other kinds of witnesses are against it. There is a neat quote in the gospel principles manual I read this week about how the Spirit leaves indelible impressions upon our souls that are hard to erase. You'll have to read it. It's towards the start of the book. B, the 12 (soon to be 13) year old son is such a good kid. He wants to be a missionary, and was telling his family all about it! Oh man I love this family. That is something that makes me happier than even a baptism - someone being baptized who then wants to be a missionary. The gospel is that gift that continues to give throughout eternity, and that is how you know when someone truly receives it - is if they then continue to share it with those around them.

We were also blessed to find a great man named A. We were able to contact him right before we went into a member's house for dinner. We got a return appointment with him for the next day, and went back and taught him more about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He was pretty interested. We scheduled another return appointment for Saturday, went back with the member and had a great lesson, and then he came to church on Sunday! The member fellowshipped him and took him around to all 3 hours and answered his questions. He enjoyed church, and it sounded like he is planning on coming back again. He is just a good guy, you can tell. I really had my testimony of getting members involved strengthened through that experience. Member-friends is the new key word in the FOM. That's what it's all about! If we really love our investigators and want to help them progress, and want to experience real growth in the church, then we need to get them member-friends as soon as possible. We kind of organize the teaching and growing process for them, but it's the members who answer questions when we aren't there, be their friends, and just have fun with them! The members here are so great and really just reach out to the people.

Yesterday was a miracle day at church. Thank you so much for your prayers and fasting! The S (K, M, and B) came, A, and then 2 LA's we have been working with! It was way cool, because during our weekly planning session we were praying about who to work with. We picked a name, called her up on the phone, and she was just like, "Yeah, I've actually been thinking about coming back to church; it was one of my new-year's resolutions!" And so she came yesterday with her 11 year old son, and met with the bishop and is on track to coming back :) We will be working with her husband hopefully soon; he is a non-member. Another lady we have been working with who hasn't been to church in years came too! What faith these people have, I am so thankful for their examples and willingness to change and be better. When we follow the commandments of God we are allowing Him to bless us.

Aw man, my time is up, but I love you all so much! Thanks for everything :) I listened to your tape (finally) and I loved it! You guys are so funny. Oh man. I will reply asap, and am picking up my pic cd to mail home soon. I know I haven't sent pics in a while... sorry! Love you so much! =]

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett

Cocoa!

Happy New Year! Once again, holidays are so different as a missionary. You just wake up, exercise (I guess since it was a Sunday though no exercise), and go about the Lord's work like every day! It is the best thing ever :) I hope you had a happy new year! We had a miracle happen that evening. I will share that in a minute.

New Years Eve Eve we were up until about 12:12 a.m. Not being disobedient, but because some missionaries didn't answer their phone. So while we were waiting for that to play out we had our own little new years eve party ;) Whenever missionaries don't answer their phone, we have to have some others go check on them to make sure they are ok. So we had some go check on them, but the closest ones who would answer their phones to go check had only bikes this week, so they had to go bike to the other missionaries with the car, wake them up, go make sure the other missionaries are in and safe, and then head back. By the time that was all wrapped up it was about midnight. Half the zone was involved it seemed like ha ha, Cocoa zone only has two districts and nearly everyone in one district was up helping/being checked on, plus Sister Allen got roped into it too because nobody knew where the apartment was but her (the Sisters just got transferred out of that area, so she used to live there). Thankfully they were ok though and had just left their phone in the car.

Cocoa is great! The members here are wonderful, as in every area that I've served in so far. We have some amazing investigators, and I am so thankful to have been able to just jump in right now in the work in this area. The ward is super excited to have Elders and Sisters! It will be fun to see the missionary work really get rolling here. Sunday the Bishop asked Sister Melville, Sister Allen, and I to speak/bear our testimonies since we were new in the ward. It was a neat meeting because a bunch of the young adults in the ward who were back from schooling for a little bit also were asked to share their testimonies. Everyone laughed when Sister Allen mentioned that we were from the same hometown, and the same home ward to be exact. What are the odds ha ha? Everyone just keeps saying how crazy that is. It's pretty funny to think about :)

Elder Bailey David Schmutz is my companion! He is from Bountiful, UT and knows the fowers. There are lots of Elders who know who Nick is in the mission (Elders Bohn, Willey, Packard, and Montgomery) because they are from Bountiful. Elder Schmutz is so awesome. He is really positive and smiles a lot and just loves the people! He is easy going, but not lazy. He is a hard worker and dedicated to serving the Lord. I am really excited to see the miracles that the Lord will bring about here in the coming transfers; it already seems like He has set up so much potential here, and people are coming out of the woodwork left and right!

We had dinner with the Lintons in the ward, and it turns out they are related to Mrs. Linton the librarian and Amy and Angela Linton back in Grantsville. Such a small world! They are such nice people though and we had a great time. Their son Tanner is at BYU right now and is in a jazz choir; he was asked to speak and gave a great testimony. Something I learned to remember was that we are "here to bless, not impress." So often as missionaries we get nervous because we feel like we have to be picture perfect and get on everyone's good side in order to get the work rolling, and so you can worry sometimes about how to do that. Really though, when we just remember that we are here to help and love the people any way that we can, then it just happens naturally. If we are worried about impressing then we forget are true purpose and are thinking about ourselves too much. It's not about me, I'm here to serve, forget myself, and play my heart out in this final inning as Elder Holland said in his conference talk. So, I was thankful Tanner mentioned that in his talk. Brother Linton taught gospel principles on Sunday and it was an amazing lesson... our investigators were in tears and the Spirit was so strong!

So we are working with a family named the S (I love S! Ha ha remember the Sumterville S? How could anyone forget them :). Random fun fact - When I served in Sumterville we lived in a town called Bushnell. Taught the S while I was in Bushnell. Well, Sister S started investigating because of Sister B in our ward, an awesome missionary who teaches a zumba class and always leaves a spiritual thought and uplifts everyone. Kind of funny huh?

Anyway, the S have been learning, and Sister S and her son B are planning to be baptized on the 14th. Their daughter Maria is also learning and enjoying it, but she's not quite ready yet. Thus far the dad has been great with them learning about it, but he is an atheist and doesn't really want anything to do with it himself. Everytime the missionaries had come over before he pretty much would just leave. They had one neat experience where they were going through a hard time, and right then Elder Schmutz & Elder Jensen knocked on the door! He was pretty astounded and kind of took it as a sign.

Well, Sunday night was amazing. We went over, got inside, and you could just tell things were tense. Bro S had just left the house because he'd barely found out we were coming (we were trying to catch him there to invite him to sit in on the lesson). As we sat down, you could just tell the family was pretty shaken up and had been going through some really hard things that day. We talked with them and just listened, letting them tell us how they were feeling. After a few minutes the door opened, and B (Bro S) walked in! We were all kind of surprised. We started talking to him, just really focusing on him and what he is feeling. He sat down, and we continued to talk and to teach. We asked him if he wanted to join us for the lesson but he said no, he wasn't going to be able to. So instead we just started teaching him without him knowing it :) And teach him the Spirit did! His mind and heart are starting to be softened, and he is slowly coming to understand why the gospel is so important for his family. We had a member, Bro S, with us, and he bore such powerful testimony. B really related to him, and took a lot from it. We concluded by showing "Hope Ya Know, I'm Having a Hard Time" (mormon messages version). After that we had a kneeling prayer and invited B to call on someone to offer it. He asked K (Sis S) to say it, and she did. The Spirit was so strong there, and she said such a beautiful prayer. After the prayer B said that he was thankful to the Savior too, and walked over and just embraced his wife. It was SO neat to see... after the adversary had been fighting and railing on this family that day right before we got there, there is nothing like the peace of the Savior that is felt through the Holy Ghost. I am so thankful to have been able to see and feel that, and especially that their kids who are 18 and 12 could see that and how it was the gospel of Jesus Christ that brought that peace into their homes. I love their family so much. It is amazing how the Lord lets us feel His love for them, even though I have only been here a week now.

Well, my time is up, but that is what I wanted to share with you quickly. I love the Lord so much, and I know that as we do our very best to serve Him, He works miracles in our lives. I am thankful for the growth and learning that He is blessing me with on the mission. It is the best thing I have ever done. I love you all so much, I am thankful for you, and I pray for you daily, multiple times. Thanks for everything, I loved the letters and packages! I got the pics Mindy, and the notes, and the awesome BYU tape =] I will most certainly be putting that to good use! Love you all!

love,

Elder Andrew Beckett

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