January 26, 2015

This last week was really great!

We met with one of our investigators, Teddy, on Thursday.  He's the one trying to quit smoking.  The first thing he said when we sat down was "I want to set my baptism date. I'm done smoking, I'm ready for baptism!"

He's gone two weeks with no smoking. We set a baptismal date on the 31st, this Saturday.  So this will officially be my 1st baptism!  I couldn't be more excited for him.  He's married to a member and they are already looking forward to going to the temple in a year to be sealed!

Then, the day before, on Wednesday we received two referrals.  Bill  was one of them.  We stopped by that day and met with him and his daughter.  Bill is about 80 years old.  He has a brother who lives in West Valley. (Oh yeah, side track real fast. What ward were we in when we lived in West Valley? The new senior missionaries who are coming to replace the Abney's are from West Valley and he has been the Stake President. Their names are the Brooks. I don't know if their name sounds familiar. That would be pretty neat if we know them.)  Anywho, So we were talking and saying that would be neat if the Brooks know his brother.  That would be a super small world.  Bill and his daughter Molly are very interested in the Book of Mormon.  We're in the middle of trying to find a larger print BoM for them both since they are a bit older.  

It really hit me this last week at a Zone Conference.  At the Zone Conferences, The missionaries going home that month bare their testimonies and one of the sisters that I came out with, Sister Smith, gave hers.  It hit me that I will be doing that in 6 months.  No bueno.  You know me.  I don't cry.  I started to cry at Zone Conference and then also, yesterday was the last day that the Abney's (The senior couple, the man in the ladder picture) would be here in North Carolina.  They spoke in Sacrament meeting.  I started crying when Elder Abney was concluding his talk.  They are like my parents here.  We've grown so much together.  I wrote them a letter and gave it to them before they left. They said they're going to miss me the most ;D It feels so weird with them not here but the mission has made me a freakin’ softy!

Uhh, I think that's all the major things that happened this week!  It was a great week!  I hope this one will be just as good if not better!

Love you! Stay Safe!

Love,

Elder Beach

Excerpt from his Dad's Email:   I'm still working and doing my best and I am definitely not wishing my time away. It freaks the heck out of me that I have 6 months left. Next month I get permission to start applying to schools and scholarships. I really do not want to come home.  (This last sentence brings tears to Momma Beach's eyes and JOY in my heart!)

Momma Beach says: 

ONLY

DAYS LEFT 

in the Missionary Field

Oh Happy Day!!!

Last Friday, the doorbell rang, so I answered it.  The lady standing at the door said, "You don't know me but I'm Patti Maxwell, I live in North Carolina and I know your son!!!"  Oh my goodness!  It was so kind and thoughtful for Sister Maxwell to stop by the house!  Her parents actually live just down the street from our Stake Center.  So we HAD to take some pics.
I am amazed at the blessings and tender mercies and angels that Heavenly Father sends us!  Thank you! Thank you Thank you!!  She even fit in her luggage some much needed clothes (another crash) and a Valentine's goody bag for Elder Beach.  Thank You Thank You Thank You ever so much Sister Maxwell!  You will always be in our hearts!!!

Dex was in his car about to drive away, luckily Sister Maxwell stopped him!

Thankfully she loves pooches!

E-Mail from Elder Beach after seeing these pictures:
Yes, Sister Maxwell is awesome! She is pretty funny! Thank you! I need new slacks, bad. I need a new belt as well. haha.

Yes, I know I will be very sad as well when I have to transfer, because the members here are so fun! But it's okay! I'll continue to meet the wonderful people of North Carolina! Yeah that's #4 or 5[bike accident]. I don't remember... He [Elder Buckner] hasn't had a very bad crash here.

Well last Monday for preparation day we played basketball from 8:00-4:00! We played with the priests and some teachers in our ward and their friends, then we played with the other missionaries in our district.

Tuesday we had another lesson with Jessica and Trevor. It went great! Brother Meisner came along with us. We answered some of the questions she had and talked about the Book of Mormon more, then we watched "The Restoration" DVD. That also answered a lot of the questions she had.

Wednesday Nothing really happened. Just a lot of closed doors.

Thursday A whole lot of nothing really happened. I did vomit a few times, yes I was sick.

Friday We had Zone Conference. I was very sick in the middle of it and vomited...again.

I may or may not have fallen asleep during our break at Zone Conference

Saturday We visited a less active ward missionary.  Bro. Brame, It is very sad because the only thing holding him back from church is a ride.  He doesn't have enough gas money to pay for the ride all the way down to the church and back.  So we try to stop by and leave a spiritual message with him once a week.

Sunday, Had church, we taught Priest Quorum and kinda threw down on them about missionary work.  I told them with the new age change, serving a mission will come a lot quicker than they think, it sure did for me.  I told them how I regret not going to Sunday School and Seminary, and told them to take these things seriously.  It wasn't until I was out here that I figured out that these programs are here to help us!  They may be boring but it will help us in the end!  I let the things of the world get to me, like football, phones, etc. and because of that I didn't have an eye for the eternal things, the knowledge that I will gain of this Gospel and the friendships I will make at church.  So yeah, it was a pretty good lesson!  Had a lot of fun!

Today is going great! It's 65 degrees! It feels so great! Elder Buckner and I were just outside throwin’ the ball! But tomorrow it's supposed to snow... again! But I don't mind that because everyone goes crazy, so we will be "forced" to stay indoors.

That's all for now, I'll send some pictures now.

Love ya,

Elder Beach

Thought this was funny!  Saw it last night driving home from dinner. 

Elder Beach and Elder Buckner

Ello!

This week has been great! The new transfers came in this last Tuesday, so I am proud to say that I am no longer the youngest missionary out here! This last Friday, the 10th I believe? We had a Zone Conference, where the whole Zone that I am serving in, meets up.  President & Sister Bernhisel, the A.P.'s and the Zone Leaders all teach us and what not. It was great, but long. It was from 9am-3pm HOLY SMOKES. It was still a lot of fun. Elder Buckner had a lot of friends there and he introduced me to them. They are all hilarious and I hope to be companions with them later! 

Oh, I don't remember exactly the night, but we met Bryan and George.  They're brothers who have lived in the same area all their life. They inherited their parents & Aunt's house. Bryan is a huge History buff.  He loves to collect antiques from the Civil War and pretty much any war. He does Civil War Re-enactments and asked us if we would like to do one! Unfortunately, we cannot. I think that would have been an awesome missionary story, doing an Re-enactment on my mission! Sadly we can't because it is out of our area and they only occur on Saturdays and Sundays. We are going to try to baptize both of them in the next coming months! I cannot wait!

Oh, Annika would like this, there is this statue we pass pretty often, it's kinda scary cause it looks like those Angels in Dr. Who, they have their face down in their hands. I'll have to take a picture of it when we see it again. 

Oh yeah, while we were visiting with Bryan and George, George loves to make CD's. He asked us if we wanted some! So we said sure!, trying to be nice. He went and got us each 2 Christmas CD's... You know how much I love Christmas music. I think this mission has changed me a lot already, cause we have not stopped listening to it since we got it. My all-time favorite song is Carol of the Bells, it gets me pumped! ;)***

There is an awesome song we have on one of Elder Buckner's CD's, one of the lines is "Work through the pain, rain or shine" I love that line. Anyways, that's kinda all for now, I'll send some pictures I took this week. Love Ya!

Elder Beach

Found an Owl in our apartment complex 

 Weird "Graffiti" of Cary, North Carolina

"Summer is Dead Yet Fall Has Not Been Born"

Packets from Taco Bell

 Mah Desk!

 Some more cool graffiti in downtown Cary

 A funny sign I saw while biking this last week

My new Oakley jacket that I got for $40

Got a new P-Day shirt.  Thought I would show it off with my Blue Steel look

 My other shirt!

 Dat Belt Buckle Doe

***Parental Note:

Sadly, and much to our chagrin, Parker detests Christmas music, always has.  We CANNOT wait to meet this completely transformed son of ours!!  Today marks his 2 months serving date... only 22 more months to go!