Every week is pretty Crazy!

Beck Family!

So this last week was pretty good, and you guessed it pretty crazy. for real, why is like every week of my life so good and crazy? that just feel repetitive saying that every week, but gosh darn it its still true, so thats  why i still say it.

To start, this last week we found 3 new families to teach. They are all really cool, some very prepared people in there. We found them just from talking to them on the street, all at different times and different places. One of the families we found in the most awkward of situations. We were walking to a lesson with our member in an apartment complex, when we walked by this group of 20 year old girls. And these were the cholo type of girls, (cholo signifying mexican gansta). there were about 6 of them and they had started shouting at us profanities before we even got to them. Guess what, nothing feels to awkward anymore for elder beck. We walked right up to them and starting talking, about 5 of them were completely crazy. they all had babies with made up strange names, lots of tatoos, really the opposite type of group i would expect to find people who are ready to accept the gospel. But like i said, we talked to them anyway. It was a super awkward conversation for about 15 minutes as they made lots of comments about how cute we were and what they wanted to do to us. Uh, yeah, cholas as just as filthy as the guys. As the decency of the conversation fell down, we simply asked them if they knew anybody who needed to hear from us, because we could see that most of them were just not interested in God at all. The one chola who had been the quitest said that her mom needed to hear from us. We got her apartment number, and came back 2 days later. We came and talked to the mom, who turns out was very ready and willing to recieve us. She had been going through a very hard time and needed help, and we cam at the right moment. Thats just where this starts though. WE set up an appointment to come back the next night and teach her and the rest of her family, including the chola daughter. The next night we came back ,we found the family there ready to hear us, including the chola. By pure inspiration we did our lesson of the plan of salvation focusing on where do we go after we die. Pure inspiration people. As we taught, we could feel the spirit of the room change. We were teaching the mother and her cola daugher who was 27, and her brother, who was 18. Everyone else left the room except for those 3, and they hung on to every word that we said. Eventually the chola daughter brok out and starting crying. She said her ex husband had recently committed suicide, about 2 months ago in front of her, and she was wondering if she would ever see him again. She said that as we taught she felt so peaceful and that she knew what we were saying was true and that he was ok. It was by pure in the moment inspiration from a prompting of the hold Ghost that we taught the last part of the plan of salvation in this first lesson. God knew what this family needed to hear, and the spirit bore such strong witness to us in that lesson of the things we taught. It was a great lesson, very powerful. we used scriptures and testimony and experiences, and it made everything so powerful. 2 main points from this. 1. we do not know who is prepared. out of a group of 6 girl gangstas, how could we have ever picked out that 1 of them was hurting from something like this and needed our message so badly. We had to talk to them to find her. 2nd point, when a prompting comes from the holy Ghost, you must act, and you must act without hesitation. If we had hesitated or tried to do anything different, we would have walked out of that home with very different results, but the fact that we followed the prompting, even if it seemed illogical, proved to be the difference in an average lesson to a miracle.
That was just 1 story that happened last week. I hpe you know that every week i have many stories like this, there just isnt enough time to type them all in the emials to ya'll.

I went on exchanges with the APs this week. It was so much fun. I went and worked in down town long beach with ap T, he is the man. for real, the leadership in the mission and aps all seem to be just such good missionareis, it makes me wonder what i am doing with them. But it was super fun, we contacted a gay guy outside of a gay thrift store, because like i said we talk to everyone. He turned out to be really accepting, and gave us his adress and phone number and we sent the english elders over there. WE talk to everyone. Man i love missionary work, best thing i have ever done. Thanks family for everything,
Beck out,
Elder Beck

Us kicking it at the library!
 

 

Crazy referrals are entertaining!

Beck Family!

Disclaimer, this email will not include pictures. I am currently to occupied being a 110% missionary to take pictures. Maybe this week if i drop it down to 109% i will find time to take atleast 1 picture.

This last week was great. it was so hot. For real, like every day over 100. and its windy here to. So the wind feels like a hair blower is going in your face, its just a hot dry wind. And then out of nowhere the humidity hit for a day, literally was sweating all night long. then it went away and we are back to the dry pico heat that i know and love.

We got to go to leadership training last tuesday. Leadership training is for all the DLS and ZLs in the mission. the aps, mission president and his wife give trainings to us there for like 5 hours. They also feed us lunch. It is so awesome, cause i get to see lots of my old companions there. For real, i had 5 old companions at that meeting, President has been consistently putting me with comps that are better than me, so all of the ones that are not already home are leaders in the mission. Super fun. Also, just having the opportunity to hear Pres. Tew speak is something i would straight up pay cash money for back home.

On thursday me and elder L did zone meeting for our zone. wE have the smallest zone in the mission, only 15 missionaries. We have 10 zones in the mission, but lots of the other zones have 25-30 peoople in them, we are by far the smallets. Which is really cool cause i feel like i get to know my zone really well. And we are the best performing zone in the mission right now. WE are finding and teaching more than any other zone, and we had some baptisms happen just yesterday. Pico rivera is just the place to be if your a missionary.

Yesterday at church d and j came. They are both super awesome, and they are progressing really well. Our ward is still super small right now, but atleast we found somebody yesteryday who could play the piano, so we didnt have to do the whole day acapella.
Also crazy experience, we asked 2 kids of the street for a referal, cause we ask everybody for referals. they told us to go to their neighbors house. WE went there asking for A, which is the name they told us of the person that lived there. Turns out ashley was a crazy death metal junkie, that walks around all day with her kitten sitting on her head, and throws water balloons off of her 3rd story apartment at kids all day. She wasnt that interested, but she definitely have the shock value on her side.

Anyways, love you family, have a good one.

Beck out,
Elder Beck

We are your guardian angels that aren't afraid to hurt people

love these guys!

We are the army
 

Beck Family!

First things, its hot here. like over 100 every day, and for some reason it feels humid to. even the mexicans are sweating. So this last week was pretty good. First week of transfers, and i feel right at home being back in a trio. For real, i know how to teach just as good in a trio as i do in a regular companionship. We had a really good week, my comps are great. We found 12 new investigators last week, which was a good number. A new investigator is someone that you sit down with, have a real lesson, and set up a return appointment. I know some missionaries count just saying a prayers with someone on the street as a new investigator, but i'm not about that, we try to find solid people, that really want to learn more about the church. We find a lot of our people from talking to everyone. For real, i have no fear anymore about talking to strangers. And like in all situations. I just talk to whoever wherever i am. And the crazy thing is that that is how we find a lot of people who really do want to know more about the church, and have been looking for answers. Its a testimony to me that God is preparing people all around us, but if we dont open our mouths we would never know it.

We are teaching a really cool family that just moved here from el salvador 1 month ago. They are super humlbe, and have family that are members, and they really want to see if this church is the answer that can help them. They are actually living with recent converts right now, so that also helps.

Also, crazyness, but my old companion elder K got married over the weekend. He went home 4 months ago, and just got married. What the crap companion. Thats pretty darn fast.

In other news, we became acquainted with another prominent gang up here in pico rivera. From what i understand they are the only gang here that isnt hispanic. Most of them are cambodian. anwyays, we ended up contacting a lot of them outside while they were getting hammered. about 10 minutes later we walked away having made some great new friends that said 'we will be your protectors in this hood, consider us your guardian angels. guardian angels that arent afraid to hurt people.' Flattering right. Missionaries are so safe, aint nobody gonna mess with us. Anways, have a good week family, love ya'll!

Beck out,
Elder Beck

I plan salvation!

Official missionary soccer team!  well, kinda

Service, service, service

Taming the jungle

yes sister, we will help you tame this jungle

Ohhhh I have a smoothie drinking boy!
 

Beck Family!

Its cool cause i'm pretty sure this email will get read together by nearly the whole beck family. Nice.
So let me break it down this last week. Crazy. Good. We got tons of work done. Me and elder N last week set the goal of 20 member present lessons this week. We achieved that with 22. In addition we found 12 new investigators. That was a successful week. For real, we just planned effectively. That is one of those skills that i have gotten a lot better at on my mission. Before, i just planned dates. Now, i plan salvation out. Pretty cool. We planned smart and had members out with us nearly all the hours of the day, every day. I believe there were only about 6 hours of total proselyting this last week where we did not have a member with us. And every single time we had a member with us we taught. Even if our sets fell through and we had no more people we knew of, me and my comp would look at each other and ask 'why are we here?' we would then contact or knock, and without fail, every single time, we were able to find someone to teach. Those miracles happened all week. It builds my testimony that when we plan effectively we are always in the right places at the right time, even if it wasnt for who we thought it would be. We dropped 7 investigators last week. We werent sure how we could replace them all. We turned out to nearly double them this week. When we seek the elect and those that are ready to listen, the Lord guides us to those that are ready to recieve us and act. Super cool  stuff like that was happening all week. We also had 4 investigators at church. All of them had good experiences, our ward is super friendly, they can make anyone we bring feel welcome.

I played some soccer with some kids that were playing inside an apartment complex that we visit a lot. good news, i have gotten good enough to have with the 7 year olds. next level, 8 year olds. Bring it on you baptizable 8 year olds, bring it on.

Anyways, it was a great week, we have lots of people with solid baptismal dates, and 4 of those people came to church, so we are excited for them, just gotta keep working with them. Take care family, love ya'll!

Beck out,

Elder Beck

Giving someone a blessing IS a COOL expereince

beck Family!

Another great week in the books of missionary life. So this last week was pretty sweet. Yesterday in sacrament meeting i got to confirm B a member of the church. It was another great experience. I feel like every time to confirm someone or give someone a blessing is a really cool experience, espescially when you are speaking in a new language. Cause it is a time when God just speaks through you in a language that is now your own, and words just come out. Its awesome. It was really cool. this last week we had 13 member present lessons and found 6 news. Those numbers are ok, but this week we are going to smash them. We picked up 2 different investigartos that both came to church yesterday and who both had great experiences. They have both accpeted bap dates for the 27th. They can make it, we are just going to keep working with them.
Me and elder N gave a 1 hour training in our zone conference this last week. We gave a training on how to turn investigators into progressing investigators. I talked a lot about following up on commitments and daily contact. this was the analogy i used for why we need daily contact. I told everybody think of your pre mission life, and now think of a boyfirend or girlfriend that you had. Think about how much you talked to them. If it was a good relation ship, werent you talking to that person every day? didnt you atleast call or txt, if not see  each other every single day? did that help you 2 progress?

When i posed this analogy, literally everybody, elders and sisters were just like, oh my goodness that is so right. Literally, it was true doctrine. And everybody understood what i was getting at. we gotta contact our investigators every single day if we want them to progress. It was a good training, i really like giving trainings, i dont really get that nervous anymore, i really like getting up there and doing it.

anyways, it was a great week. Thanks for all of the b-day wishes, much appreciated. And i love the watch, for real, that thing should should get me on the front of GQ, i love it. Thanks family!

Beck out,
Elder Beck

My Comp. is the best!

And check out this sweet  jersey!

Yup, that's my cake!

That's one sweet missionary

Yup 20!

Oh. My Goodness. What a flippin good week!

Beck Family!

Oh. My. Goodness. What a flippin good week. To start, the 4th of July was awesome. God Bless America. It was crazy again here, just crazier than anything i had ever seen at home. For real, all the mexicans just know how to out party us, even at our own holiday. Everybody and their dog buys illegal fireworks, and a lot of them. Like enough to shoot down an Apache and still have enough to impress the dos equis man. So many fireworks. And on the 4th of july, we still found 2 new investigators,and tuaght 3 lessons before the fireworks ruined our night, or atleast our teaching. WE go hard right up to the buzzer. I was on exchange during the 4th with the AP T. The ap's are like the 2 best missionaries in the mission, they are the big shots, and so it is really cool to go on exchanges with them as a ZL. And so that was agood day. At 8:30, when all of the fireworks had gotten in full swing, i just started trying to drive out of this neighborhood we were in. it took us all the way until 9. just to leave this neighborhood because there were so many fiireworkds in the streets, and people out and about stumbling cause they were so drunk. It was one of the craziest 1/2 hours of my life. Constant explosions, our car was just full of smoke, you could taste the gun powder, and i had to yell at my companion to communicate anyting. And we had the windows rolled down and i would just yell "America!' to anybody that we passed by. Man that was a great night. Once we made it home, we planned and then watched the fireworks from our balcony until 10:20. They caught on fire and burned down one of the large pine trees on our street that night, the whole thing when up in flames, it is just a naked trunk now. The flames were huge, police and firemen everywhere. it was just that kind of day. And i also bought american flags for every elders car in our district, because gosh dang it we are in american and we are gonna be darn proud of it.

But that was that.  here is the real good thing that hapened this last week. Even better than the 4th of July.
B got batpized!!!

yes, we finally beat satan on this one. After 3 1/2 months of the most adversity i have ever seen the devil through at one of my investigators, we won and got her baptized. It was so good, it was such a good baptism, it was the best attendence i have seen in a long time to a baptism. It was super spirutal, and she cried the whole time. She got interviewed on tuesday evening, and since then we were just in full out war to make sure she got baptized. That is why i pulled out all the big guns and asked mom to call her just to give her a little bit more encouragement. I think that the devil opposed her so much because he knows how much good she is going to do and how strong of a member she is going to be. for real, she is solid. None of her family came to the baptism, not a single person. And that was really hard from her. But when she saw how the whole ward came out to support her, and how she even got a call from a stranger (mom) to support her, she said she really felt like this is where people come and stick together. and that helped her a lot. I'll send lots of pictures of the baptism, it was really good. Elder W got to come back to baptize her, he goes home in one week. And she asked me to confirm her this upcoming sunday, it will be another great experience.
And this morning we got to go the temple again, that is why you are getting this letter on tuesday. It was great as usual, and i feel like the better i get as recognizing the spirit the more personally rewarding temple trips are becoming.

Anyways, i love you family, you are all the best. Thanks for the B-day wishes,.

Guess what i'm gonna go do tomorrow for my b-day? i'm gonna work myself to exhaustion, cause that is what i love doing, i dont need a day off, an even better present would be more days added on to my mission. But i dont think they will let me have that. but for real, thank you everybody, love you!

Beck out,
Elder Beck

This is a response to some questions Shawn asked him

20 is pretty crazy. I'm like officially not a teenager any more. And its crazy to think that i'll be 20 when i come home, no more mission birthdays. What da heck. But yes, i reflect often on why i am still here and what i still need to accomplish. I realize that i still have so much to do and become, and that i certainly cant stop working hard now, if anything i have to keep finding ways to kick it up. I am not going to ever slow down as a missionay, just keep getting faster and better right through the end, cause anything else would be a waste of time. Its something that i have kind of learned, God doesnt expect us to be perfect, but He needs us to always be moving forward. I apply that with never being complacent with where i am at. Man, that all sounds like coach Wilson philosophy, he said that all the time that we practice to fight off being complacent. We dont always practice cause we are no good, but we all practice cause we can get better.
Anyways, thanks for everything dad, have a good week.

God Bless America...and the missionaries!

B at her baptism!  Way to go!

And Elder W got to baptize her

We love temple days!

Spiritual high!

Beck Family!

apparently it is repetitive that i start every week with what a crazy week. but sorry guys, pretty much every week of my life is just crazy, so thats just gonna be the way it is. Until the mission stops being crazy. Which it wont. So lets just settle in for the long haul of crazy weeks.

Here we go!

On tuesday i had a cool experience. As a ZL i go on exchanges with the DLs every transfer. On tuesday elder miller, an english dl in the zone came into my area with me. One of the things that the president has asked us leaders to do is that everytime we go on an exchange to find a new investigator. He wants us to do that essentially to show that it is possilbe to find, and to show the missionaries how to do it, essentially how it is done. So elder M came here with me, and we taught acouple lessons tuesday night all in spanish that he did not understand. in nightly planning i told him that wednesday we had the entire day full of lessons, and so there would not be much time to find, except at 2 :00 for 1 hour. And i told him that we were going to find a new investigator in that hour. full faith. We went out the next day, and ended up teaching most of the lessons we had set. 2 came around and we had not yet found a new investigator, and the exchange ended at 4. I told elder M, we are still going to find a new investigator, we need to expect it. We went and knocked an apartment complex, we got a lot of good potentials, but were unable to turn anybody into a new investigator, even though we flipppin tried so hard. but i still new we could find one. I followed our plans and we went to our next appointment. Along the way i saw some of our investigators playing at a random park with their familys. We called our appointment, told them we would be 20 minutes late, and went over and talked to our investigators and their family at the park. We sat them down under a tree in the shade at a bench and had a lesson with them, picking up 1 new investigator. We did not doubt, we fully expected that it was Gods will that we find a new investigator, and we went out and worked and the miracle came. You just gotta expect that God will make a way to accomplish what he has asked us to do, even something like finding a new investigator on exchange.

The rest of the week was also super good. Sunday also turned out to be a great day. B came to church yesterday. And she had a great experience. The ward did such a good job at friend shipping her. Everybody was talking to her and sitting with her, i am lucky to be in a great ward. But even more than that she had a really spiritual experience. We were sitting next to here and a recent convert family during sacrament meeting. She was kind of getting figity, so my companion passed her an open hymn book opened to I need thee every hour. she read it, and then quietly  started taking notes on what she had read. I then had just one of the clearest impressions i have had in a couple days to give her some passage of scripture to read. I immediately thought of Mark 9, where the man cries out Lord I Believe. I opened to it, and asked her to read it. I then continued to listen to the talk, when she took out her note book and wrote be a little note and passed it to me. The note read "thank you, i really needed that. Yesterday i had a really bad anxiety attack and couldnt even get out of bed, but that scripture hit just the spot." I wrote back to her "that is what the scriptures do, they invite the spirit which brings feelings of comfort, even when we feel hopeless. Do you feel like the man in the story that Jesus Christ can help you." She responded "I feel like Jesus Christ is the only one that can help me. and that he is taking me by the hand through you guys."
Tears welled up in my eyes.
I can not describe what that felt like. To really know that somebody sees us as Jesus Christ. That she looks to us and pleads to us the same as if we were Jesus Christ himself.  Every now and then i feel like i have a real moment when i realize exactly what it means to represent Jesus Christ, and yesterday at church was one of those moments with B. I realized again exaclty what it means to have his name on our chests. That by the time we are done with the day, that we can look back and just think, today i did everything that Jesus himself would have done if he were here.

We had another miracle sunday. We had set a goal to teach 11 member present lessons, and by sunday we only had 8, which is pretty low for us. cause we had a ton of meetings to go to this week. But we didnt loose faith, and we knew that we could still do it. We ended up being guided with 3 different members to  3 different lessons, that all ended up being powerful lessons where those we taught felt the spirit and progressed. We set a couple baptismal dates, and B should be getting baptized this weekend. Keep praying for her. And also just a side note, when we went to a trailor park last night, i saw a guy we talk to a lot outside smoking weed. I walked right up to him, asked him how he was doing. When he said he was doing good, i asked him, why he was smoking weed then. He kind of looked at me with a guilty face, and then i straight told him, you know what is going to help you and what is not, then pointing to the blunt, you know that that is  not going to help you. Give it to me right now.

He gave it to me, i threw it on the ground and stomped it out infront of him. He gave me a hug of thanks, sometimes he just needs the push to do the right. Crazy how sometimes bold the spirit can make you sometimes. Anyways, love you family take take.

Beck out,

Elder N and Elder Dallin
 

Elder Beck