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
 

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
 

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

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

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

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