Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas time in the Mission


Beck Family!

 So how in the world is it already christams time? Christmas is super different as a missionary, you get into a whole different type of christmas spirit. You get a lot more focused on what it is all about, and not what is in the nexst package that mom is going to send. By the way, i have loved all of the packages, they have all been excelent. I ilike the jerky, the fudge, espescially the carmel corn. All of it, it has done me well. Since it has been in walmart i have been buying a carton of egg nog every week. I am like super poor, and i dont really ahve the funds for the egg nog, so im near starving the rest of the week, but the egg nog is so good and worth it. I ahve gone through 5 cartons so far, and i bought myself another one today. Good stuff. And im not really starving, not with all the goodies you send me. Things have been going really good here, we have been doing lots of good work. we have been teaching a lot lately, and that is good, because teaching missionaries are happy missionaries. I hope you all enjoy the presents, i tried my best with the limited time and funds available to a missionary. And mom, i promise you that i got you someting. But it is out of my control when it gets there. Please, i did not forget you, i just wanted something really special, and it has taken longer than i anticipated. This week i got 2 flat tires, one up front and one in the back. That is no fun, i still need to fix those. Whittier just destroys bikes, all of the hills are incredible and it just wears out bikes super fast. but its all good, im just having to learn bike repairs and maintanence really fast. Beign a district leader is really cool. I get to go on 24 hour exchanges with every elder in the district and those are always fun. I get to work other areas and be with new people, so that keeps things fresh. Well Beck family, thank you for everything you have done, and for all the Christmas spirit. Keep the real reason for Christmas alive.

Love ya'll.

 

Beck out,
Elder Beck
rainbow cool in Cali


Dallin and his comp in Whitter
try and find him

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Baby it's cold here...Dallin is now a wimp!


Beck Family!

 It has been another great week. It warmed up a little bit, it was crazy cold here for a couple days. One day it even dropped below 50. I thought i was going to die. But i didnt. But i thought i would. I have become such a wimp now to the cold. Im not hard core at all. I suck. SO i opened the sweater as soon as ai got it. That is much appreciated, thank you. This last week we had a great week. We were able to have lots of lessons, which is crazy hard up here in whittier. And we set a baptismal date with an investigator we met within 3 days of talking to him in the street. That was really cool. We are teaching lots of cool people right now, we have done a lot of good finding. This area was notorious for not having any investigators, so it makes us feel really good that we were able to find all of these knew people, about 10 in the last few weeks. Good things are happening.  Our district overall is killing it, we have had 4 baptisms this month so far, and have a few more planned before the month is over. As a district leader i get to give a district training every single week in district meeting, and i have gotten much more comfortable at doing that. i think i even like it a little bit, giving 1 hour long trainings. It makes me study a lot, and that is a good thing. yesterday we had Elder Acosta visit our ward. He is a 70, and he was freakin legit. He spoke the most perfect spanish I have ever heard. It was a little intimidating, because he came to our ward council, which is where I as the district leader give our weekly missionary report. So i had to give my report to a general authority, infront of the entire stake presidency. Da pressure was on. But we pulled it out. He gave a super goood talk on real growth and the critical role of the priesthood, i just loved listening to him. And this last week i did 2 more baptismal interviews, which have become some of my favorite experences. The spirit is so strong during those as you really get the confirmation that this person is ready for baptism and to make this change in their life. Well have a good week family, keep the packages a rolling in, it really does make my day when i get something in physical mail. Love ya'll.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

 

P.S. This was on the outside of a door. needless to say we knocked. He was not amused.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

I'm up in the mountains!


Beck Family!

How is everybody doing? Things are going well out here. Where i am at is basically up in the mountains in relation to the rest of the mission. We are higher up and the weather is much more extreme here than anywehre else in the mission. I mean that it is the hottest and the coldest up here in Whittier. Up here it dropped below 50 degrees last night, and it was so cold i almost gave up the ghost. I have become such a whimp, its not even funny. I am freezing my sin off everytime we freaking leave home. And it is barley 50 degrees! I suck, when i come back to utah i feel that i am going to be in for quite a shock. Being in so Ca for this long just kind of does that, it makes you go all soft. Im not hard core at all now. but its all good, cause the area i am in is awesome. Whittier has the stigma of being the hardest area in the entire mission. But we are working hard to chagne that stigma. we want people to be excited to be called to whittier by the time we are done here. And we have all the tools to do it, out ward is really good and we have great leadership. Me and my comp elder R
Dallin and new comp. in Whitter
 
6 month mark---tie burning
have been getting along good, he is still super fast, but now he doesnt leave me as far behind in our morning runs. My schedule is pretty much the same overall, except that i now have a good amounts of meetings sprinkled in there throughout the week. It is so cool cause now i get to spend more time with president Tew, who is a boss. For real, we have the greatest mission president ever. We refer to him as 'Mountain Tew' or simply 'John Wayne' He is that awesome. The struggle up here in Whittier is simply meeting with out investigators, it is just harder to find everybody. We have a decent amount of people we are teaching, it is just the struggle of regularly finding them. But that is why this last week was really good, because we were able to find about everybody we are teaching. I have had to learn how to take care of a bicycle really fast up here, lots of things happen up in the hills of Whittier. I am a lot less dangerous now of a rider, so that should help somebody sleep better at night. We have this really cool investigator now who we are teaching who in our last lesson bore super strong testimony to us about how she knows our whole message is true. She said this after she said that she had sjust finished reading the book of mormon. Crazy cool. The trouble is that she has a live in boyffriend that wont moarry her. I hate those. but we will keep working until she is baptized. Thanks for everything family, and just know that anypackage i get from you i will save until christmas to open. Have a good one.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Elder Beck is full!


*Beck Family!*

*So how is everybody doing this fine Christmas season. Yes, it is officially they Christmas season which apparently means every Hymn we sing has to be a Christmas one. I dont know if that is a handbook rule or what, but we obey it strictly. It looks like you guys did great with the christmas lights, nice design. This week has been pretty good. But i did think i would die on thanksgiving. For the first time in a very long time, Elder Beck was completley full, and did not want to eat anymore. We had 3 different thanksgiving dinners with members. And everysingle person wanted the missionarires to try everything special that they made. So they would serve us big plates of food, and then just watch us as we ate it to see if we like it. that meant there was no getting out of it, you had to eat everything that they scooped you. And mind you that simply one of these dinners would have been more than adequate, and would have left me comfortably full. Take that peacful, yet full feeling at the end of thanksgiving, and multiply it by 3, and you are kind of getting at what happened to me. The food was good, I cant lie. But by the time came for us to show up to 3rd dinner, i simply wasnt hungry. In fact, i was nearly gorged, because at the last home they made us eat a whole freaking turkey by our selves just split between 4 missionaries. So i really didnt need any more food, for probably a day or 2, but still we went to our next dinner.

There, i found a new level of how far i can dig to not offend a member. I ate everything. And i thought i would die. I can only guess at what my calorie intake for the day was, it must have been outstanding. these were some of the best members in the ward, and they were all so happy to have the missionaries over, and to show them how Mexicans have a great thanksgiving feast, we would have crushed them if we didnt eat it all. So we pushed through, somehow, we found a way. I went to sleep at 9;45 that night, that much turkey practically puts you in a food induced coma. They next day, for our morning excersize, we did the Samoan shake and walked to the stop sign and back. And that was pushing it. It was an intense day, so very grateful that i can say i survived it. I feel like im writing about it the way Bear Grylis talks about when he survives a super dangerous Man Vs Wild episode, but im not kidding it was on par with that type of experience. Now, there are some other things that i must write about.

First, we are getting bigger into fmaily history in our mission, so if you want to send me some cool small storires about grand parents, and great grandparents that would be cool. I just need enough to fill the little family history pamphlet that the church makes. Thank you so much family, i love ya'll, you are the best. *

 

*Beck out,*

*Elder Beck*

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

It's way hilly up here in Whitter!


Here are all the answers to all of Mom's questions:

1. I am still very much on bike. I am on bike so hard. My area is one of, if not the, hilliest area in the mission. SO many hills, and they are all massive, and could pass as mountains in eastern states. My legs are getting jacked. No lie, from the hips down i will be yoked in no time.

2. My companion is Elder R***. He is from Smithfield utah, up by logan.

He runs cross country is super fast and impssible to keep up with in the morning.

3. I am actually living with members right now. We live is a small room they have that also has a bathroom and small closet. Technically it is all we need, but it is a lot less space than I had. It is just the 2 of us that are living there.

4. Job as district leader is basically to keep everyone in my district accountable and safe. There are 11 elders in my district, and we all work in the same ward named La Esperanza, which is the spanish ward up here in Whittier.

5. I am still emailing at a library up here, but you only get 1 hour here instead of the 2 that i was enjoying down in Compton, so I am typing really fast. for that please excuse all typing errors.

6. Thanksgiving plans are to eat as many dinners with as many member as humanly possible. I heard that at the end of the day you want to throw up.

Bring it on.

7. The members do a pretty good job feeding us. I think we usually get 5 member dinners a week up here, which isnt to bad.

8. I get mail probably 2 a week. Really it is whenever someone makes a trip down to the office and brings it back.

More info about Whitter:   It is the hilliest city i think i can possibley imagine. And we are doing everything on bike. Yeah. On Thursday my back brakes went out, so i H ave been going since then with out brakes. So to stop at the bottom of all of these monster hiils, I am just using my foot and scraping against the ground. Today i will buy some new brake pads, because i dont want to have to get new shoes.
This last week in my first week of being a district leader, I got to do a baptismal interview for an investigator of one of the other companionships. It was such a cool experience to feel the holy ghost confirm to me that this young woman was ready for baptims. In my first week in this district, there has already been 2 baptisms, and the work is really progressing out here. Whittier has a stigma of being a hard place to work, but i think that we are proving that it all depends on you attitude and how hard you want to work. Thanks for everything family, love ya'll.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

spelling really isn't their thing
 

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Good bye Compton :( ...Hello Whittier

Beck Family!
How is it going. Guess what, today isnt a holiday so i actually get to send a real letter. This last week has been awesome. It was the last week of the transfer, so we worked out tails off, because the odds are that i was leaving. And it is true, i got the phone call 2 nights ago, it is my time to leave Compton. I have been here for 4 transfers, that is 6 months, or 1/4 of my whole mission. That is a long time. And i feel so lucky that i got all of that time out here in the hood. It is weird, but Compton has really become my home. I love it here, i feel like i really know this city. it is crazy here, and I would have to think really hard about coming back to visit this place without a name tag on, but while being a missionary, i cant think of a better place. Love it here, but like i said, it is my time to go. I am now headed up to Whittier, which is none in the mission as the black whole where people go to die. Whittier is the farthest place out in the mission. Which really isnt that far out cause our mission is tiny, but still, for us it is out in the boonies. It is gonna be so cool, i hear that it is super hot up there, so i am glad that i am doing my Whitter tour in the winter. I have also been called as a district leader up there. There will be 11 Elders in my district. If you dont know all about how missions are organized, its not to complicated. As the district leader i will do the weekly trainings, get to go on exhanges with everybody, hear out everybodys problems, try to serve everybody and keep people happy, and most importantly lead by example. I am pretty excited for it, i think it is going to be a great time. Yesterday we had a baptism. We  baptized a kid named E***. He is E*** best friend. E*** is our recent convert who we baptized a little over a month ago. And he immediatley wanted to share the gospel with his friends, so he brought us to E*** and told us to baptize him. That is exatly what we did. That is how member missionary work gets stuff done. He is super funny, and has the same sense of humor as Hyrum. I feel like the 2 would get in a lot of trouble together in church if they sat next to each other. Anyways, it has been a super good week, even if right now i am really sad to leave Compton. Still, i trust in the Lord, and i know that he is going to put me where he needs me. Thanks for everything you do family, love ya'll.
Beck out,
Elder Beck
all 18 missionaries in their district

baptism are the best...so happy

this is where you get your locks cut!

one of their companions came back to visit
 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Skectchy ride home

Beck Family!
How are ya'll.
So i dont really have anytime today to eamil. It is veterans day, so that means that we are all crammed into the stake center history center again, so i have a total of 20 minutes to read and email everybody. Cause i am holding up like 7 elders, so i cant really take time. Sorry ya'll, but its the curse of the holidays. Missionaries dont even celbrate holidays, we just work the same. So i dont like it when the holidays mess with our everday lives. But what are you gonna do.
We had a great week this last week, we set a couple more baptismal dates, and we should be having a couple this weekend. Just gotta keep working hard to see all of those miracle blessings that a mission is made of.
We went to the sketchiest place i have ever been in my life this last week. We rode the LA river trail at 8 at night. So scary. There are hobo villes built all along the trail, it goes through scary tunnes and sketchy bridges. And some rabid hobo dogs tried to attack as as we were riding through, they were big and biting at our ankles litterally as we were riding away as fast as we could. Thats all i got time for today, love ya'll.

Beck out,
Elder Beck

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Halloween is not a fun missionary holiday


Beck Family!



We had an awesome week, we have been teaching really good lately. And by that i mean the spirit has been teaching really good, we just get the front row seats. There were some really cool moments this last week when i swear i just felt the Spirit take over mine and my companions words. One time we went by a potential investigator this last week, and had such a spiritual experience. She was very sad and angry when we arrived to her house, and without giving us a chance to say anything, she turned around and walked into the house and just left us outside her gate. We shouted out to her for her to stop because we just wanted to share with her a message of happiness and about the plan God has for us. For some reason, she stopped, and turned around, and said that we had 1 minute before she walked back inside. From then on it is a little hard to recall, because the spirit totally took over, and the next thing i knew we were invited into her home, where we then taught her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was so spiritual, i cant remember hardly any of what I said, but everything touched her heart.

She cried continually as the spirit helped her come to know the truthfullness of our message. It was amazing.

For halloween, it really sucked. We have to stay in our apartment and clean the whole night. The reason is because in this area people go out dressed up as missionaires, so it is best for us to just stay inside. So we deeped clean our whole apartment. It was filthy. I saw things that i never wanted to see. Enough of that. For the day of the dead, there were lots of festivals and stuff going on. Everybody makes food that their deceased family liked, then they all have a party, they paint their faces like skulls, then they get drunk and dance arund for the rest of the night.

Crazy holiday.

Anyways, thanks for everything family, love ya'll.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Energy from the Lord!


Beck Family!

How is everything going? Its awesome to hear about all of the fun stuff you are doing. And Hyrum, way to be, riding the big boy bike. If there is competition for that bike when i get home, that will make me so happy, cause then i'll know that Hyrum has shown up to ride. Awesome. This last week was pretty good. We had a really cool lesson a couple of days ago with one of our investigators that I have been teaching for nearly as long as I have been in Compton. We have taught him everything, and he wants to be baptized, but his problem is that his ex wife still lives in his house, so he cant be baptized. Unless he moves out, which is what we have been working on with him for a while. for months. But this last week we decided to bring over our recent convert for a lesson. We thought that she would be good because she had to do something similar to be baptized, she had to move to a new home, and she did it to be baptized. It was a really cool lesson, because we hardly talked at all. We just got to watch as she testified to him about the blessings she has seen since she joined the church, and how nothing should ever stop someone from experiencing those blessings. He is now moving out this Wednesday, he is moving to Las Vegas. We probably wont get to baptize him, but he will move there, and be baptized within the week. That is because we had the power of a members testimony during a lesson. members tesitmonies really are so powerfull, they bring the spirit which invites people to act. So that was a cool experience.
 For some questions that i think  i need to answer for ya'll. I get 123$ every month to budget with, and that is what i spend for food, haircuts, laundry, dry cleaning, and hygenics. Everything else personal i have to pay for with personal money, like bike repairs, souvenires, printing pictures, and those types of things. The church has it worked out that all of our utilities and rent are automatically payed every month, so we never see any of that money. We just send in the work orders we need for our apartment, which our complex does for free. I spend pretty much all the money on food, and we rely on our members a lot. We have dinner pretty much every night at a members home, and often we have lunches. If we we didnt have those, i would be starving, and would have to dip into my personal money just to get by. We shop at Winco, cause we have one in our zone. Which is good, because the only hope i have for making that much money feed me is to by bulk. Anything less and i would be in trouble. One of the great things about being a missionary is that i feel like i have exactly the amount of energy i need every day to do what God wants me to do. And I think God wants us to work hard, so i am convinced that we all have enough energy to work hard if we are being obedient. I am known as an anti-napper. If any of my companions ever takes a nap, they know full well what i am going to do to them to wake them up. I am going to fill up a tube sock with bars of soap and hit them until they are awake. So far, not a single on of my companions has tried to take a nap. As soon as

10:30 hits at night, i feel all of my energy just zap, but in the working hours of the day, i feel like i can work relentlessly hard every single day. My companions are always exhausted, and its because i think i  put them through a very tireing mission experience with me. But the very last thing i will ever be known for is a missionary that took it easy. I will die knowing that i was a relentless worker as a missionary. I do it all with positive thoughts. Whenever my body starts thinking it is tired, or needs a well deserved break, or needs to slows down riding up this hill, i positivley command my body to do what my spirit wants to do. I am all about as Elder Holland says "square shoulders and positive thinking." Im convinced with those two things we will always have the energy we need to do everything that they Lord wants us to do. Being a missionary is tireing, and exhausting, but only if you let those thoughts dominate thoughts of the people you can teach, the families you can help, and the happiness you can bring. Those thoughts outweigh those any day, and that is where i get my energy from. Thanks family for all that you do, ya'll are the best, have a good one.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Investigators ahoy!


Beck Family!

 We had a pretty good week. We had 5 investigators at church yesterday, and they are all really progressing. We have a bunch of other new investigators that we just found, and the ward here is starting to get into missionary work. They are giving us referals, and things are going really well. Stuff happened. We are finding people who are really ready to accept us and to make changes. And the members are starting to give us referals, and that is by far the best to do missionary work. Because then it means the investigator already has a friend and connection with the church, and that is the foundation for success we need. I might have to go get new brakes on my bike, i am wearing through mine really fast. Again, we are being as safe as we can, but still, my brakes are wearing down. Not sure how expensive that will be, maybe just make sure i have atleast 100 dollars in my personal money. Everything is still going great out here, it is weird, but Compton has really become my home. Never in 100 years did i ever think i would type that sentence, but alas, it has happened. I love it out here, it is just so much fun. thanks for everything family, you are all the best, and i love ya'll.

 
Dallin and his Comps
 
cool picture
 
Dallin's action figures coming in handy
 
true missionary work...in the rain!
 


Beck out,

Elder Beck

It's a bummer when your Pday is on Columbus day!


Beck Family!

Well, bad news, but apparently today is a federal holiday of some sort, so the library is closed. That means i am hear at the stake center and i only have 1/2 hour to email.So its gonna be short this week. sorry. I didnt get to hardly email anybody else either. We confirmed our 2 new converts yesterday in church. It was pretty sweet. We have been riding our bikes a ton. Honeslty, we crank out over 10 miles a day. And in our small area of compton and with talking to everybody we see, that is a lot of stop and go bike riding. We bike way to much, but its awesome. I am literally that crazy guy that all the cars hate. I swerve in and out of cars, we ride on the highway some time, we ride up and down the off ramps. We dont stop at any stop signs. We are lawless, just like the rest of this city. It is so freakin fun, and it really is the only way we can get around to all the places we have to go. We have to pull some crazy moves to get to appointments on time. Also super lame, these computers do not agree with my camara card reader, so i cant even send pictures this week. Or see any of the pictures that people sent me. Super lame. I had some good pictures from this last week, just going to have to wait a week. Please know that i actually did read your emails, i just dont have any time to respond to them. Your not forgotten, just the government has let me down today. I still love ya'll. This last week we sent Elder xxx home. Sad, but good, he had finished his 2 years, and went home the right way, by baptizing on his last weekend. Still thank ya'll for all the support, i promise that next week will be a little bit better. I will sumarize those events from last october of last year next week for ya dad. I still gotta squeeze off an email to the mission pres. so ill talkt to ya'll later. And go Herriman!

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Friday, October 4, 2013

We beat our GOAL! feels awesome!


Beck Family!

Well holy cow have I had a great week. This last week our focus has been to get member present lessons. So to do that we were making dozens of phone calls every day to try and get members to come out with us to lessons. We were doing everything we could think of to get members out with us, and in the end it payed off. We were able to have 21 member present lessons this last week, and that was no small miracle from the Lord. It feels so good to achieve and exceed a goal. Our goal as a district was to have 21 member presents, but we thought that if we tried hard enough, we would be able to achieve that goal just as a companionship. And we did, all thanks to the Lord, we got it. So many of them were miracle lessons, part member family's, and countless ways that the Lord had prepared people to receive us. My brain is just tired from all of the work that it took to get that many lessons, but goodness it was so worth it. We are seeing the blessings all over, we have had other investigators come to church, others set their own baptismal dates, others started reading the Book of Mormon. Countless blessings. This last P-day we went to Roscoes Chickin N Waffles. Still frikin delicious. And then we went to the Queen Marry. It is an old gigantic cruise ship that they have parked at the Long Beach Port. The tour was like 30 bucks, so we didnt do that, just took some pictures. They also had a old Russian submarine. So i decided to sink it. At least that was my intention. Your welcome America. The long Beach port is massive, absolutely huge. Those cranes are comparable to the cruise ship in size, they make the large cargo boxes look like legos. It was quite a site to see. When we brought out a member to one of our Investigators who hadnt been progressing, the member was able to walk to him, and by the end of the lesson, the investigator set his own baptismal date. Seriously, getting the members out with us has been incredible.

Beck out,
The Queen Mary

Those gigantic cranes
Anyways, i love ya'll, and thanks for all the support, that means a lot to me out here.

Elder Beck

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Bikes and cultural events

Beck Family!
So how are ya'll doing? I have had yet another great week down in the hood. We have been working our red-zoned area more recently, just more time in the ghetto of ghettos. My bike is the only bike that has been holding up to these Compton roads. My companions bikes are being put through the ringer. We are fixing flat tires every single day at lunch, and we have to make weekly trips to the bike shop on P-day. The roads in Compton are less than ideal for bicycles. So many thorns, all the glass, the garbage just stays on the road forever. But my bike has been handling it really well, i havent had any real problems, and i dont get flat tires. So wahoo, i count my blessings. Someone did however try to steal our bikes this last week. We chain our 3 bikes up with 3 bike lockes, mine that goes around all the bike frames and the pole we are chaining too, and the other 2 locks go on the front and bike tires to lock them all together. Because if you just chain you bike to a pole, people will still come by and take you tires. If they are really despereate they will take you handle bars and seat to. So to help prevent that i have put super glue in all of the sockets for my handle bars and seat, so they cant fit the alan wrench in there. these are just some of the safetly measures we have to take to keep out bikes safe. I have put super glue in nearly every socket on my bike, which would make it a huge pain if i ever had to change my handle bars or something. But its what we have to do to keep thievs from stripping our bikes clean. I have also taped and spray painted my bike a little bit to make it look really crappy so people dont want to steal it. But anyways, when we can back to our bikes friday morning, some guy riding by told us that some people had stopped in their truck, gotten out with bolt cutters and had tried to steal our bikes. But i bought a really expensive german made bike lock that is made to withstand Compton. So they just ended up scratching my lock, then driving away. If i had gotten a cheap lock they would have taken all 3 of our bikes. They are constantly trying to steal our bikes, not the gangs, just the low level thugs that probably just want to sell it for enough money for another hit. The good news is the gangs will "take care" of anyone they catch trying to mess with our bikes. This last week we had a ward party that was huge. It was a party to celebrate all of the different countries that the members of our ward come from. So for the activity all of the people from the same countries got together and would have a little booth on their country. They would have authentic food, and native stuff from their country. And for the activity each country had a turn to do a native dance and or song, all with the native clothing. It was freakin legit. I tried authentic food from pretty much every country Mexico and south. They got some good stuff, but i think i still like Mexican the best. Their food is the spiciest. It was also an awesome activity for getting investigators and less actives to come to. we had around 22 investigators come and a ton of less actives. Some of them even participated in the dancing and brought authentic food. So it was really awesome. We have some awesome investigators, and should be having a few baptisms coming up. Our recent converts are on fire, and they are inviting all of their friends and family to come listen to the missionaries. They have the recent convert fire, and it is doing wonders. We had even more lessons this last week than the week before, we are putting all of our emphasis on member present lessons, and the results are certainly coming from it. WE had 12 member present lessons this last week, which for me is a personal best so far. But i dont see why we cant beat that this week if we keep doing what we are doing. Thanks for everything family, you are all the best. Love ya'll.
Beck out,
Elder Beck
Cool eh?
 

Monday, September 23, 2013

Habanero challenge!

Beck Family!
So it has been another great week. We have been teaching with members a lot lately, and there has been great success with it. We try to get a different member out with us every day, and it has been working really well. We have had lots of member present lessons, more than in my last area, and it is just cause we are taking the time to make lots of calls to get them out here. This last week I ate an entire Habanero. And because it was my great idea, we decided to do it without eating or drinking for 3 minutes. So for 3 minutes the fire of the habenero just sunk down into my cells. It was intense. My companion elder stone didnt do so well, as you can see from the picture, it took a heavy toll on him. But my whole trio did it, and because of it I believe we have earned a higher level mancard. It was crazy, and the next day was even crazier, in relation to the spiceyness. We call it the Icey-hot sensation. Cause that is about what it feels like on the way out. pretty intense. My daily schedule as a missionary is kinda like this. I wake up at 6;25 every day, so that we can be running by 6;30. And i run my companions hard. We dont just do a boring run, i incorporate into it buddy cares, frog hops, lunges, sprints, wall runs, everything i can think of. We get he most out of the 1/2 hour. Then studies start at 8. Personal study at 8, comp study at 9, then language study at 10. After that it is time to go out to work. Usually we have lunch at 1, dinner at 5, always done by 6. We try to spend out whole nights teaching, cause that is the best time when everyone is home. Our daily goal that we have set in our companionship is to teach 3 lessons a night, and we hit that goal this whole last week. Thats the basic schedule that vaires just a little bit every day for the days plans. But its tpretty standard every day. Life is still going great out here, and i still love being out here in Compton. I love this city, but goodness gracious i would never visit without a white shirt and tie, Im not thug enough for that. Love ya'll, and take care.

Beck out,
Elder Beck
yes Mam!  he ate that that whole thing

That is what it looks like after you eat it!

trying to be tough...it didn't last
Dallin and his comp

Service project...taking down the ceiling

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Wow, September is one hot month!

Beck Family!
Sounds like ya'll had a fun summer, not as cool as my summer I got to say, but still pretty fun. Did you know that in Souther California September is the hottest month of the year? And also that we lost our car the day the Elder xxxx went home. So as soon as it  became the hottest it will be the entire year, i got permantly switched to bike for this area. It is flippin hot here, and its not the driest heat either. It is comprable to the devils moustache. And we are biking all over the place, our area is really big, and since we talk to everybody we see, we are out in the sun, talking to people, and biking, for much of my waking day. I now have to eat for real, i have an actual calorie deficit to make up. Eating isnt just for fun anymore, i gotta eat and drink for real and replenish everything im loosing. Lunch is not longer a break, eating is serious business when your biking in this heat. But its super fun, cause when you talk to everybody you see in Compton, you run into some characters. And by characters i mean people that were too crazy for the Asylums. Now i am back into a trio. One of the elders from the other Compton companionship went home, It was really sad, cause we had to drive him to the airport, which was a place i was sure i would not return to for 2 years. so the elder still here got put with me and Elder xxx. I already knew him cause we have been sharing an apartment for 7 weeks, but now it is just us 3 covering all of Compton. And that is a large area. We have to keep moving to get anything done. But we are teaching like crazy, so its definitley all worth it. We have been finding new families, and have some investigators that are right at the edge of baptism. The work is going good out in the hood. Something new that we have been focusing a lot on with our new mission president is achieving our goals. He says how to many times we set goals merely to be inspired by them, and then dont achieve them. He has stressed how we should achieve what we set out to do, that we should be inspired not from setting goals, but from achieving goals. I have taken this mentalitly to heart. We are achieving the goals we set as a companionship,and that is awesome. We are working hard to make sure that we we say we are going to do something, that we then do everything in our power to do it. It gets me pumped, and makes me want to teach the living crap out of this place. I still absolutely love being a missionary. Have a great week family, love ya'll.
 
Beck out,
Elder Beck

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Biking in Compton


Beck Family!

So it has been a crazy week. Oh yes, i am emailing you on Tuesday, because yesterday was labor day and our library was closed. So we got permission to email ya'll today. So im just hoping mom didnt freak out in the last couple of hours waiting for a letter from her missionary, just stay calm mom. This last week has been awesome. Elder xxx  went home Tuesday, and he was actually realesed to his father monday night, so that was the last time i saw him. For the last thing we did together, we went to the swap meet, got lots of really cool stuff for dirt cheap( if you are a good money talker) and then we destroyed all of his letters he still had from the girl that dear johned him one year into his mission. He took a baseball bat to that stuff and held nothing back. Then we each burned some letters for him, letters from her that said how she wanted to be married in the temple and all that stuff, we burned it all. Then i disconnected the fire alarm cause that went off, and i know how. Then we left, and did not come back to our appartment until night, because we made everything smell like smoke and didnt want them to know it was us. But it really isnt a big deal, every single one of our neighbors smokes weed every night, so you couldt even tell we had burned stuff. My new companion is Elder xxx, and he is awesome. He is just as old as me in the mission, and a gringo too. So they thought it would be a good idea to put the two of us together out here. We are on bike now, and i now realize how dirty the streets of Compton are.

There is broken glass, garbage, and frikin thorns every where. No lie, In the last 3 days we have gotten 5 flats, and then blew a tube while trying to fix it. This is a bikers nightmare out here, im thinking about getting solid tires, not kidding, or i will be fixing tires every lunch for the rest of my time here. 2 nights ago when my comp. got double flats at

9:15 on our way back to the apartment, that really put a damper on our night. We started walking the bikes home through the heart of Compton, which is a less than ideal place to be at that hour. The sounds of gunshots were just enough to encourage us to walk faster and get to a main road ASAP. We got home without incident at about 10:05. I really dont want that to happen again. Yesterday the ward did a party for labor day, and since it was our P-day, we got permission to go. So we went and played soccer and volleyball with all of the members, it was super fun. Then we came home, and got a start on all of our bike trouble. Thats kind of whats been going on in my neck of the woods, fun stuff as usual. Keep me posted on all the stuff about home. And yes dad, i can not wait to watch football again, but i guess ill just have to make do without it for now. But you can atleast let me know if Herriman and the Cowboys are winning. Thanks for everything, love ya'll

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

 


Tuesday, August 27, 2013

My comp. is going home


Beck Family!

Holy cow it has been a crazy week. We have basically been getting all ready to send my comp. home. Yep hes been out for a whole 2 years, and now its time to send him home. His Dad and Brother came out to take him home. We were taking them around with us saturday to lessons it was really cool. We also went to church with them yesterday, and last night we had the departure fireside for the departing missionaries. Pretty crazy stuff.  The good news here is i get to stay in Compton for atleast another 6 weeks. Wahoo. My new companion will be elder xxx, i dont know him, but ill meet him tomorrow. Hopefully he doesnt have a nervous break down out here. I got to go to the LA temple last tuesday, it was incredible. That temple is enourmous, freakin huge, and just awesome.
Yesterday at church we set a new personal best for investigators at church. We had 12 investigators come to church, and 28 people over all, including less actives, investigators, and former investigators. That was quite a turn out, and it was awesome to fill up a few rows with just people that we had gotten there. 
Now that's some artwork!
 
Me at the temple

 
This is my desk
 
These are some pictures of me at the temple and the LA visitors center. We managed to walk the entire visitors center without having to talk to a single sister missionary. Success. Well have a great week family, I love ya'll.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

 

 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Ants or roaches?


Beck Family!

So pretty good week out here in Compton. We have been teaching this awesome guy and his son. his son is about 30 years old, but has the mentalitly of an 8 year old, and he is super funny. He reminds me a lot of garrett, he just says the darndest things. I actually get to go to the LA temple tomorrow, so i am super excited for that. Ive heard their is a new treat instore, cant wait. Hma XXX in my ward has to be the funniest best grandma a missionary could have. She called up my companion's ex girlfriend, the one that dear johned him one year into his mission, and she gave her a piece of her mind. She just tore into her, let her know how dear johnning my comp.  was the worst thing she had ever done and that she will never find another guy like him. It was awesome. And it felt like we took a stand for every Elder that has every gotten a dear john that night. Cause that night, we had Hma xxx fight back, and she takes no prisoners. So mom, if you hear that a missionary has gotten a dear john, you ask for her number, then you call her, and you destroy her. And if they didnt get dear johned, maybe you should just call their family back home and let them know that how great their missionary is.. The work has been progressing, hopefully we can have a baptism or 2 . My mission presidnet is a boss. Pres. xxx  is one of those spiritual giants that you can all just feel when he walks into a room. He is awesome, i love the guy.

We had zone conferrence and he just blew us all away, really powerful guy.

My apartment has changed from being infested with roaches to being infested with ants. Honestly, we realized just this morning how much of our food has been broken into and ruined by thousands of ants. We will buy Raid, and their will be a war, and it will be us or them that dies by tomorrow. My taste buds are now even climatizing to habeneros. There are still really spicy, but they dont cause near the level of pain that they used to, and i can more comfortably eat them. . Have a great week family, and pray for missionary experiences. Then act on your prayers and look for missionary experiences. Have a good one.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Saturday, August 17, 2013

One Crazy week


Beck Family!
Yup, this is the wreck
Oh my goodness it has been a crazy week, and i got some pretty good pictures for yall. This week was interesting to say the least. It has probably been the most dangerous week in the City since I have been here. There we lots of shootings and gang wars, more than usual. I'm not sure what for, but it was a crazy week to be walking around. At one point a guy came up to us and just told us that we were going to want to leave that area for a little bit. We did, and as we were walking away we heard them and somebody else fireing back at each other. Then the helicopters come flying in, the police show up, there is more gun fire, then everything stops, order is restored, and life goes on. It was a crazy week.
On friday we saw the guy run into the fire hydrant. The fire hydrants are kind of weak sauce in Compton, they are real skinny, probably all the city can afford, so this guy just knocked it right out of the ground. Then his car was no doubt ruined by the water, and he was just standing next to his Lexus with his hands on his head, and was then arrested for drunk driving. It totally flooded the streets and train tracks. it was pretty cool.
We got this referal so we went to the trailer, and this old nutty looking skinny guy welcomed us in. Now i dont expect a lot from trailers in Compton, but this had to be the grossest place I have ever been in. It was completely swimming in cockaraoaches. Now i am going to tell the rest of this story without any exageration. You could not look at any square inch of his trailer and in 5 seconds not see a roach scurry by. I looked into his trash can in the kitchen, and the trash was littlerally swarmed and swimming in roaches

 That was pretty wild, not something that happens every day out her in Compton. That was the jist of my week. Thanks for all the support back home, and for your prayers, you are probably literally saving my life out here.

p.s.
The last package i got from you was the tshirt about being a missionary, and that means that all of the girls have to keep back. that is an honest problem out here mom, all the girls are all over us handsome missionaries. With no exxageration, me and my companion are hit on by many  teenage girls every single day without fail. Im sure its the last time they will put me with a decent looking companion, we draw to much attention. I love you to mom, your the best in the whole world.
Beck out,
Elder Beck
So true

Monday, August 12, 2013

Them peppers are hot!

Beck Family!
 I had a pretty excellent week as always, im still alive here in Compton. I have had to go on exchanges with lots of greenies lately, and it was weird for me to think, that i am no longer a greenie, that i am actually one who to them seems like ive been here forever and knows everything. I still feel like i just got here. Crazy huh. I really do wish time would slow down a little bit, my mission is flying by way to fast. But its all good. I am now the toughest gringo here. Why? Because i have never turned down a chile, i have eaten every hot thing that anyone has given me, and i have kept it down. You gotta understand, people here like to pick on the gringos. They like to try to make us cry and admit we arent as tough as them for eating these hot things. So it just does me so much good when i pop in a fresh habenero and eat it like its candy, and see all of their jaws just drop to the floor. I have been put through the fire, in some instances literrally, with eating the hottest chilis these people have. I am now at the level that i eat whole fresh or dried habenero peppers without breaking a sweat. Granted everything taste like ash for the next  48 hours, and my insides get crazy messed up, but gosh darn it i can eat them. I have eaten a few things hotter than habeneros, and habeneros are freaking spicy, no lie. Just this last week an investigator of ours bout 3 times a habenero, and those almost melted my teeth, but i kept it together. I have never cried at eating one yet, and i dont plan on it. My next level of pepper is literally the ghost pepper. i have eaten everything up to that, so that will be my next challenge. that is the hottest organic pepper im pretty sure in the world, and at a grocery story you have to sign a waiver before they will sell you one. Thats what i am working my way up to. I think I can do it.
 This last week an investigator of ours took us out to wing stop, and we ordered their atomic wings, and ate them right there in front of the cooks, without water, and without problem, and just left them amazed. They told me those were supposed to be spicy, but i could hardly tell they had put something on them. childs play. the picture with people with cake all over their faces, is just how mexican partys usually end up. That is our gigantic investigator family, and we went over to their b-day party they were having. And for some reason, at every mexican party, the persons face has to be shoved in the cake. They know its going to happen, everyone expects it, it is just part of the party that their faces is pile drived through the frosting, apparently thats fun. And it happens at every party I have ever been to.  . but anyways, that was pretty much my week, best times as usual. And also, i did just find out that my area of compton is the stronghold for the Cryps, so that is cool, right? That explains all of those blood stained blue bandanas i have seen around the city in the ally ways and stuff. Light Bulb. Have a great week family, love ya'll
 
Beck out,
Elder Beck

Monday, August 5, 2013

Pretty normal week


Beck Family!

So it was a pretty normal week, we are teaching lots of good people. One of the people we are teaching used to be a professional soccer player in Mexico for Cruz Azul, but he is now living here in Compton in a trailer cause he had kidney failure, and in mexico he said they pretty much discard you if that comes up. He is just a super cool guy, and we love going over to see him.
 Life is still the best in Compton, there are just so many crazy people here, there is never a dull moment. We are also teaching a couple big familys, one of the familys we think is about 15 people, but we arent really sure. Everytime we go over to that house more little kids seem to show up. So we dont really know how big the family is, just that 11 of them are baptismal age, so hopefully this works out good for us.
The work is just so good out here, Compton is where the danger is yes, but it also where the humblest people are. People that have juast had a whole life of problems, and see us as their answer and way out of it all. This is the best place to serve a mission in the world, i love it here.
 I might have gotten food poisoning yesterday, it smelled like something a member gave us had rotten mayo, but since we cant offend members, i had to eat it. Today i regret that. that potato salad will get you every time. Still life is good.

Have a great week everybody, love ya'll

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Look what we found


Beck Family!

So it was an awesome week, I am still in Compton, and it is crazy here.

Some one got murdered just infront of our apartment last week, about 5 minutes before we got home. Also, i have collected a few souvenires from my time here in Comtpon, that i figure i would ojnly really find in Comtpon.

In the streets  I have found a loaded 45 bullet, and just the other day I found a fire 45 slug. That stuff is just all over, and i thought i would grab one of each just as proof that i was here and i survived.

 And the other pic is of the Menu at Roscoes chicken and waffles. This place is world famous, and i know why. I never thought that eating a chicken breast with a waffle would be so delicous, but it was honetlsy one of the best things that has passed my system. It was crazy good. That is what black soul food is all about.
 The teaching is going good out here, we have lots of investigators and lots more baptismal dates set, now just gotta make them follow through. The XXX are our go to members, they do so much for us. And they are helping us baptize a lot of their neighbors, they are the best. Thanks for the update family, sounds like you all had fun at trek, even sierra, and lava looked like a blast. Love ya'll and have a good week.

 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Thursday, July 18, 2013

I worked on my birthday


Beck Family!
Holy cow did i have a crazy week. For my birthday, nothing happened. I mean i woke up on time, went out to work on time, worked hard the whole day, came home on time, went to bed on time. I did nothing to waste any time that day like going out to eat or taking an after noon nap, it was pure business. And that is just what I wanted to do, keep on working. But i did have a member give me a soccer jersey. Its for Arsenal, which i dont really know anything about, but it looks pretty cool, and it was defintley expensive. So that is pretty cool. But other than that, it was a totally normal day.
 The work is going great out here. We had another person confirmed yesterday, and we had 11 investigators come to church! Some of them were people that we hadnt talked to in 2 weeks, but they just decided to show up yesterday. How awesome is that, this is gonna mean many baptisms to follow. The work is just moving along out here. So things are going awesome. I get to stay in Compton for atleast another 6 weeks and we are just tearing it up out here. My companion  actually goes home at the end of this transfer, so I am going to be the one to kill him. And today we actually say goodbye to one of the elders in our Pad. He has been the one that ive been working out with, and he has absolutley been killing me.  I had to buy a saudering iron to burn to hole in my belt cause im getting so skinny. That is a combination of working out with him, and just walking around all day in this heat. I am still eating a ton, i mean literally a ton of mexican food, but im just getting skinny. I guess 14 hours of physical excersize is what it takes to combat the food from the Mexican culture. But for real, I have already had to burn 4 more holes into my belt.
Mom, dont think that the member arent feeding me out here, they feed us realy good. send you a . Im not sure what I weigh, but i left the MTC at about 204, yeah the MTC did me no favors, and i am definetly a lot less than that now. I am in the Long Beach 16th ward, which is a unique ward among all other wards. In my ward there are 19 missionaries. Yep,19, cause somebody is in a trio. No other ward in the world has that many missionaries in it. Its a few weird circumstances that made this happen, large boundries, tons of inactives, a need to put all the spanish missionaries somewhere. Its pretty fun, but we missionaries basically run the whole ward. We teach every class, that means form primary to elders quarum. We organize every activity, even the father and sons stuff. And we talk in sacrament meetingevery week. So now we are focusing on a lot of re activation, which is working. Church attendence is staring to overflow the chapel, and we are baptizing like crazy. Now we just need some preisthood. But it is a blast. Well love you family, keep enjoying your summer.
 

Beck out,

Elder Beck

This is my area

My ZONE

Here's a look at Compton


And yes, everyone has a pit bull