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