Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
My Last letter Home
Dear all,
This week was miraculous. The Lord just provided the way this week and made things happen.
I
went on exchanges with Elder Cordner this week up in the city. We
taught this Malaysian man who apparently goes every morning to pray
outside the temple. There have been a lot of missionaries who have tried
to talk to him in the past, but he was never really interested. Anywho,
one of the temple workers saw him one day and had a prompting to go
talk to him, so he did, and this temple worker invited him to church, so
Poon ( the Malaysian guy) came to church this last Sunday, and the
member arranged a time for us to meet with him and Poon.
So
we had the talk about it all right next to the baptismal font, and we
said an opening prayer, and the very first words that came out of Poon's
mouth were, "I've never been baptized before" so naturally we invited
him to be baptized, and he said that he would like to. It was such a
miracle!
We
also had a super good meeting up in the city on Friday, and during that
meeting Elder Torrie and I had an impression that we needed to follow a
prompting that we both got about three weeks ago, and that prompting
was to set a date to have a baptism on the 1st, and then when a few
weeks went by and we didn't have anyone at church, we kind of
subconsciously gave up on that goal. So we decided that we needed to
keep going for that goal, so on Saturday we tried to make some inspired
plans of who to see, and literally no one was home, that we planned to
see, so we decided to knock a few doors, and I remembered that the
street we were on used to have a member that lived there. So we knocked
on that door, and there was this 18 year old guy who told us that it was
is new year's resolution to be baptized this year!! What the?! And
apparently his older sister is a member. So it was pretty nuts. We are
going back to teach him on Wednesday!
We
decided to pray and fast yesterday that someone would be put in our
path at church. So we were at church yesterday and it was our ward
conference, so there were heaps of people there. We had a huge feed at
the end of it, and we saw a few unfamiliar faces so we talked to a few
of them, and one of them looked like they were a member just visiting
from another ward or something, but then they actually were friends of
the members!
They
weren't members so we got talking to them and we found out that they
live in our area! It's a whole family! A mom and 5 girls! What the
miracle! They told us that they loved church and that they want to learn
more! Honestly, that one just fell out of the sky!! So we are teaching
the Tanga family on Tuesday. They are Cook islanders, and they are cool!
I'm
so grateful to have been able to serve here. There are countless things
I have learned from so many different sources, like my companions and
my mission president, but mainly from my relationship with God and
Christ. They are real. I've come to the honest conclusion that either
this is the full package of truth and happiness, or that the full
package doesn't exist. The greatest thing that has helped me to believe
in and trust in God is actually the changes I've been able to see in
myself and in others from following what he asks us to do. You naturally
have greater hope and direction when you are clean from sin. I've been
the happiest since I've been here than I have my whole life because
gradually and steadily my focus has shifted from myself to others. The
Atonement of Christ is real because I have felt the effects of it in my
life. I plan on becoming more and more like him. This mission has been
the greatest kick start of becoming one of his disiciples.
Love
you all! Thank you for your love and letters and putting up with all of
the emails that I probably haven't responded to. ;)
Love Elder Beeson
G'day everyone!
This
week was a pretty interesting! We had some cool things happen this
week, which was good because last week was pretty rough to be honest.
We
went on a few exchanges. I went with Elder Noble on one of them, and we
were walking everywhere, and so we decided that we would go "inspired
tracting" along the way, but really we were just knocking all the doors
that had flip- flops out front so we could find some Phillipinos for him
to teach! And guess what? We didn't find Phillipinos to teach!
But
we did find different Asian people who are pretty keen. We found a
Indonesian family who has been looking for a church to go to, and a
Malaysian dude who was keen to read the Book of Mormon. So yeah moral of
the story, is that flip flop tracting is great ( the flip flops have to
be small though ;) )
I
also exchanged with Elder Tilivarua from Fiji this week. He's so
funny. We were biking back to the flat for lunch, and we contacted this
guy from Pakistan. He was pretty chill, and took a Book of Mormon, then
he let us inside, and he's kind of a real health nut, so he pulled out
all of these healthy things, and one of the things he pulled out was
this apple cider vinegar, and he told us that it makes you skinny, so Elder Tilivarua wanted to have some because he's already gained some
weight, and just after he drank it, I noticed on the bottle it said that
it was naturally fermented..... buuuuuuuuuut we found out that it
didn't actually have alcohol in it, so that's good! We had glow
in the dark volley ball that night... it was alright.
The
next morning, Elder Torrie and I decided to go to kind of this bush
looking area, so we went and in between houses, this guy drove past us
then pulled over, and asked if we were Mormons, and we said yes then he
asked if we wanted to have a chat! We went over and he
asked us quite a few questions, then we asked him questions as well, and
we found out that he is actually going to bible school right now to
become a Lutheran pastor!
We then spent the next 2 hours
talking about grace. It was hard to understand his definition of it all,
and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon, but yeah then we had a comp study about the whole thing afterwards, and we realized that
we didn't understand each other, because we had different understandings
of the plan of salvation. Wayyyy different. I get how to
explain grace to people now heaps better than I did before!
Then
yesterday we had S and T come to church! What a miracle! It's the
2nd time that is happened in my 3 and a half months being here! wooooo
;)
This week I definitely learned how blessed we are to have the plan
of salvation. It is so hard to understand a number of things that
happen in life when you don't have a knowledge of the plan. But since we
know it, it puts everything into proper prospective. The gospel is soo
true.
Love you all!
Love Elder Beeson :)
Monday, June 12, 2017
Dear family and friends,
This
weekend was actually pretty full of opposition! I would definitely say
it was one of the harder weeks of my mission, but nonetheless, I am
still happy to be here serving! I'll share a little bit of what
happened this week though, just so yous know whats going on here!
That
one super keen guy that we picked up a week or two ago, the Iranian guy
with dreads dropped us, and he left a note with the book of Mormon
outside his door, saying he didn't want to see us anymore.
Then the girl
that was looking like she was super keen to be baptized, randomly moved
to Mandurah, then the family that was supposed to be baptized a few
weeks back now, have moved, and we don't know where they are, then the
cool Maori guy we were teaching is out of credit on his phone, and his
family doesn't know where he is, and then the worst one was yesterday at
church...
We had our investigator come to church yesterday that we
tracted into a weeks back, and we were so pumped/ shocked he made it, so
during sacrament meeting, we told him that church was 3 hours, and he
thought we were joking, but then we went to gospel principles, and he
was looking super bored, then after that, as we were going to
priesthood, I had to go to the bathroom, and so we told him we would be
right back, and then literally one minute later we came back, and he was
gone! We went to the car park, and his car was gone too! haha he
literally peeled out and got away, so we shot him a text, and said that
we would catch up with him during the week, but he texted back and swore
at us and said he didn't believe in anything that was being taught.
hahah.. yeah so that was pretty stink.
BUT
Amidst
all of this, on Saturday, K was baptized. She was the lady
that Elder Moller and I tracted into about 6 weeks ago. it was the first
time that door knocking has ever yielded a baptism for me. So that was
my tender mercy of the week.
I'm
looking forward to smashing things this week though, get to start fresh
with a new teaching pool! Elder torrie and I had a good talk about all
of it last night, and we feel blessed to have a new start! it's going to
be a sweet week! love it!
Love you all
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Today at 12:38 AM
Elder Hamilton and I.. he was a model before the mission ;)
This
last week and a half was super eventful. so eventful that I can hardly
remember what happened... so this may be a lot shorter than what
actually happened.
There
were a few curve balls that happened this week.Some things didn't go as planned. Enough said there.
We
had zone conference this week, and with that we had the Kalgoorlie
Elders come in. Super good conference! We were supposed to take the
Kalgoorlie elders back to the train station the next morning after the
conference, but the traffic was INSANE getting up to the city, and so we
literally got there Just as the train was pulling out! haha so yeah,
the next train to Kal didn't leave until Saturday morning, and so we had
them with us for an extra 2 days! wooo!! hahahaha ALL of our food was
smashed(gone) by then though.
But
yeah we had 2 other exchanges this week. Just been smashing the finding
as always. We've had some pretty cool stuff happen though! There
was this one dude that I contacted on exchanges AGES ago, but I told
Elder Torrie that he should try to see these guys, so he went and he met
this girl that lives there, and yeah Elder Torrie has taught her 2 more
times on exchanges, and she is suuuuuuuuuuuper duper keen to be
baptized. She brought it up herself, so we set a goal of baptizing her
on the 1st of july! Woooo! but long story short, I learned that
there is always value in talking with everyone, because it can lead to
opportunities down the road!
Also,
I felt inspired to set a goal that for the rest of my mission I am
going to give at least 1 book of Mormon out a day, and yeah so far so
good! haven't missed a day yet, then again it hasn't hit a pday with
that goal yet, so we'll see how we go ;) But it has been super cool to
have that be the focus, because at the end of the day, if people know
the Book of Mormon is true, and actually apply the principles contained
in it, they will draw nearer to God by reading and applying than by
doing anything else. So basically, giving out book of Mormons with
specific passages to read I have found is pretty much the best way of
planting the seed within others. I looooooove the Book of Mormon.
loooove it
yeah I can't remember anything else that happened this week. but there was good stuff I promise!
Love you all
Love Elder BeesonElder Macki, my son. Elder Ramsay from Kalgoorlie, and temple pday baby!
Monday, May 22, 2017
G'day family and friends,
A pretty solid week this week. lots of things happening/ happened this week!
First thing I got to say is that Elder Moller got transferred on Saturday. It was super last minute because he got the call Friday night, then left Saturday afternoon. he's in bunbury now! my new companion is THE MAN! Elder Torrie from Canada! been out for nine months, but is doing really well. I forgot to take a pic of him and I this week so I just took a really quick one since we've been here emailing this morning ;) but yeah pumped to be with Elder Torrie! gonna miss being with elder moller he was the man too.
On Tuesday we felt inspired to tract around one of the member's houses, so we parked the bikes there and asked the members if there was anyone we should try in particular. then he said that he actually had a rugby mate just a few streets over that he reckoned would be pretty keen, so we knocked on his door, and no one answered, but then as we were leaving the door and going to the next, the guy came out, and he was like, "ohhhhhh elders! come over here, come sit down lets talk." but yeah he's actually keen as! we taught him a few more times this week, and he said that if he comes to know that everything we are talking about is true, that he is going to go "all in" so yeah pretty sweet. It's cool also because everytime we are with him, he posts some snap chat of us being there or of what we are teaching him. we taught the plan of salvation and spelled out the word love in it, and he loved it! so yeah he's being a missionary for us ;) :)
Also on Saturday morning we got a text from a random number asking if we could help her out with garden stuff. she said that she was down in the dumps and that we met her a few weeks back, but yeah we ended up finding out who she was, and she was actually a referral from this guy that we tracted into. he told us he hated his neighbours, and that they definitely needed God in their lives, so we went over and his neighbours were actually really nice, so we just left our number and didn't think too much of it, but now she wants us to not only come over for service, but to share our message :) it's so cool how Heavenly Father prepares his children. it just goes to show how no effort is ever wasted!
Elder Torrie and I went tracting in the pouring rain sunday morning and found this girl from Zimbabwe who feels like she doesn't have much purpose in life, and she was so grateful after we taught her a brief bit of the plan of salvation, and about prayer. we'll send the sisters over to teach her because she's YSA age. But yeah, it's so fun teaching with elder torrie. he's just so wise. Also that girl that elder moller and I tracted into a few weeks back, C, she is getting ready to be baptized. she came to church yesterday! wooooooo!!
Something I have come to really begin to recognize is about how God communicates to me personally. So grateful to have a personal connection with Heavenly Father. He reveals things to me on such a personal level, and he does it day by day and week by week. That's how I know he is real and that he loves me. I love inviting people to have that same sort of a relationship with him because it brings soooooooooooo much more direction. Everyone here is lost, and having a connection brings the direction. I know that from personal experience.
Love you all family! CTR
Love elder Beeson
the priesthood a week ago and passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. he's the man.
Elder Sto Tomas and Vainikolo. Elders I've served around my whole mission. they are gone-ski's now.
my last minute pic this morning with Elder Torrie!
May 14, 2017
Dear Friends and family,
This weekend was pretty sweet! It went by fast, but had some good things happen :)
On Friday we went on exchanges with the Rockingham West Elders. I was with Elder Amparado, and we pretty much just smashed the tracting all day. It was pretty cool though. As we were walking back to the bikes after knocking for a few hours, we saw this young looking dude who looked like he was in deep thought sitting on this park bench. So we went up and started talking to him, and he told us that he comes to that spot everyday so he can be in deep thought! So we took the opportunity to teach him the Plan of Salvation, and taught him how to pray, and then he said his first prayer right there with us. it was cool because at the beginning of our conversation with him, he said that he was atheist! well I guess he's not ;) I'm honestly convinced though that pretty much all of those who say they are atheists are not really atheist, they just haven't had a spiritual experience yet :)
Then on Saturday one of the recent converts in this ward came up to me and showed me some pics of the baptism she went to earlier in the day, it was G and E's baptism! I was so excited to see them in their whites! It made my day, and it was funny because they took a pic and photo shopped me into their pic! haha. I love those guys. So happy they were married and baptized this weekend!!!
Something I learned this week is of how much more happiness is available when we give our all. The more we commit ourselves to the Lord, the more happiness we have. if we feel unhappy, we need to commit more to him. I love it! that's what I've been trying to do recently, and I can tell you that it works!! I'm just so happy, and Il ooooooooove the work :)
Love you all!
love Elder Beeson
Friday, May 12, 2017
Far out folks. This week was miraculous. Crazy stuff happened this week.
So
that girl that I was emailing about last week that we found who was
wanting to read the book of Mormon is being taught by the sisters now,
and has a baptismal date set for next month! WOOOOOOO! I was super
pumped about that.
Also,
one of the elders in the district got his gallbladder taken out this week, and so we had to take one of their appointments. We
saw their investigators, C and T from New Zealand. Elder
Daniels and I actually just contacted them on the street a few weeks
back on exchanges. haha the initial contact with them was pretty funny,
because we were just tracting, and then in between doors, we saw them
walking, and C was wearing a beanie, and looked pretty suspicious,
and T was pregnant ( at the time) and so we talked to them and asked
if they believed in God and stuff, and Cjust told us straight up,
"nah man, I'm a druggie." then his partner was like, "yeah we
don't really believe in anything." hthen I just asked him if he was
wanting to give up the drugs before baby was born, and he said that he
would, but he doesn't think he can do it. Then we told him that we were
keen as to help him out. So he gave us their address, and we didn't
think too much of it. Then after that the elders later went over there
and started teaching, and apparently C quit EVERYTHING cold turkey.
So yeah he has been clean for like 4 weeks now. crazy. So we took their
appointment with them, and we taught them pretty much all three
lessons, and man they were feeling the spirit super strong, and so we
invited them to be baptized, and C said, "You can count on it bro,
I'm feeling it. " they are shooting for the 17th of June!! WOOOOOO!!
they are so cool.
So that was something cool.
Then on
Saturday we FINALLY set an official wedding and baptismal date for our
investigator T. She's getting married to S, which is this dude
I've known from literally day one of my mission.
Then
on Monday we finally got to go around and teach this family that has
been coming to church for the past few weeks, that leaves before we get
to talk to them. it's the F family. they are a Maori family. So we
went there and taught the plan of salvation, and we found out that the wife was actually baptized when she was eight. So then
naturally her 9 year old daughter asks about baptism, and then we
naturally extended the invitation for the rest of the family to be
baptized! and they all said yes to the 3rd of June! WOOOOOOOOO!! So that
will be the husband, and four of their daughters being baptized
on that day. SUCH a miracle!!!!
Then
yesterday during our weekly planning, we got a call from one of the
ward missionaries, and he told us that one of the sisters that used to
serve here has been talking with one of the investigators she used to
teach, and she told the ward missionary that she feels like this
investigator is ready to be baptized now. So we went over to his house,
and literally as we walked up to his car port he just pulled in, and so
we had a lesson with him outside, and invited him to be baptized, and he
said yes! for the 17th of June! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! so yeah.
MIRACULOUS week.
We
had a MLC on Friday last week, and we were talking about how we need to
change the culture of the mission, and start talking about baptism
HEAPS more. and so that's what our focus has been, and now look, lots of
people are keen to be baptized. amazing. miracles.
So
yeah I guess the biggest lesson I learned this week is that it is
important to make sure that our focus is on the right thing. Our
happiness level has everything to do with what we are focusing on. So if
we focus on nasty thoughts and nasty things, then we are going to be
feeling nasty. but if we focus on Christ and his gospel, which is all
meant for us to find real peace, and real happiness, then we will have
real peace and real happiness!
Loving the work soooooooooooo much right now.
pics from our
temple pday today. also we weeded the bush and a member of parliament
came. guess which one he is ;) parliament is like a representative or a
member of the senate here apparently.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Hey family and friends,
This week was a bit hectic. lots of interesting things went down. lots of opposition, but still a good week :)
We just did HEAPS of tracting throughout the week. I love it though. nothing like teaching and testifying on the door step :)
We
found this one lady while tractting. She said that she had a friend that
she once saw was reading the Book of Mormon, and she wanted to read it
as well, but then she ended up graduating before the girl could give her
a copy. So yeah obviously we gave her a copy, and we shared with her a
brief passage from Ether 12 that she then shared her insights from. She
was suuuuper keen to read it though. Then we got a call from some of the
other elders and they were having a pretty rough argument so we went
down there and helped them out, and then yeah we had to rush another
elder to the hospital this morning for gall stones. So just lots
curveballs thrown this week. But good week nonetheless :)
I
am kind of in a rush right now, but I am just so grateful for the
restoration of the gospel, and it just feels so good to boldly say that I
know Joseph Smith is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true, because
the spirit has told me so. Love it! love you all
love Elder Beeson
Monday, April 24, 2017
G'day everyone,
This week went by suuuuuuper fast. I honestly only remember a few things that happened. I feel like I emailed yesterday, (don't worry I didn't ;) )
On Monday night we got a call from this lady who we contacted a few days earlier from papua new guinea. Her name is L. She said when we originally contacted her, that she wanted to come to church, and yeah she didn't end up coming, but then she called us up the next day and said that she wanted to come, and she said that we could pop by. So we went by on Wednesday with one of the newly ordained elders, and taught L. She opened right up, and told us she wants to get on the right path, and so we invited her to be baptized, and she said that she wants to be! So we are aiming to help her to get there within the next month :)
On exchanges apparently my companion and the other elder taught her at a members home with some dinner, and the spirit was super strong. So yeah, she's a cool lady! the only bummer is that as soon as her friends and family found out she was investigating, they are now swooping in to take her to their churches... haha so yeah she didn't end up coming to church this week, but she'll be there this next week :)
Also met another Apostate member through tracting this week. He was a Jew, then he was baptized a Mormon, then he went back to being a Jew. So that was interesting, he said that we can come by again.. but we'll see ;) then we also tracted in to this guy from Zimbabwe he was super hard to read at first, but as soon as we started talking about the book of Mormon, he got pumped and wanted to read it! So we are teaching him now.
But yeah this week was just heaps of door knocking, and just working hard. It's been fun though. Our mission president has had this big push recently of teaching, testifying, and inviting people to act within a 60 second contact time. hahah it's been pretty funny applying it this week, because it's all really fast paced, but it keeps you focused on what's most important!
We also had zone conference this last week, and something that came up not only there, but within a few different places to me was how important it is that we keep our spiritual experiences between us and the Lord sometimes, and about how important it is to take the time to pray, and to pray in faith! so much to learn in the gospel. Love it :)
hope yous have a good week
love, Elder Beeson
it's always a competition to see who can outflex the other ;) hahaha
Friday, April 21, 2017
April 17th
This week was insanely awesome. let me tell you about it :)
> On Tuesday night we got a call from Bishop telling us that there is a couple in our area that he is going to be marrying soon, that are interested in hearing more about the church! Woooo!! So we went by the next night, and met the couple. Their names are D and J. They are a Maori couple, and D is actually a member, just hasn't been to church in a while, so we went in, and J has had all these questions about the church for AGES. Most of her questions were surrounding why in our church we seem to have such a good family dynamic, so we ended up teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Their oldest daughter was sitting in the lesson as well. They all seemed to understand everything pretty well, and so we invited J and her daughter to be baptized after the wedding, and they both accepted! woooooooo!! pretty pumped for that :)
> Then this is the crazy thing that happened. it's got a bit of a back story, so I"ll tell you the back story.
> So about a week and a half ago, I had a dream that elder moller and I were tracting, and it was super cold outside. We were pretty much just looking for a place to get warm because of how cold it was. Then we passed by this house, and it had this warmth emanating from it, so we knocked on the door, and we were let in straight away, there was a whole family there. There was a mother and father preparing for dinner, then a few kids, a boy about in his 20's a girl in her late teens, and another son who was pretty young. there were also some grandparents there. The atmosphere was super comfortable, I felt I could completely be myself. So Then we got talking to the older son, and he was talking about how lately he was feeling like he needed to find purpose in life, and that he had had some loved ones pass away, and he wanted answers, so we began to teach the whole family the Plan of Salvation, and there was just so much warmth and love as we taught. Then my dream skipped to the following sunday and the whole family was at church, minus the grandparents that were there at the house. I was shocked, so we approached them and I totally forgot all of their names, so I asked their names again, and so they told me, and then I shook hands last with the dad, and I asked him what his family last name was, he told me it was "Liahona" and then I said, "What the?! That's the name of a compass in the Book of Mormon! You guys are meant to be Mormon!" Then yeah that was pretty much the dream.
> Then this week, we had a pretty parallel experience, and I didn't realize that it was parallel to this dream until after it all happened.
> So on Saturday we were tracting, and we weren't having too much success, it was just the aussies being their "cold" selves ;) hahaha. But then we passed by a house that was blasting some latino music, and I just have the biggest soft spot for latinos, so we knocked on the door, and then the father of the house let us in straight away, right after I asked where he was from in Spanish. So we went in, and the mom of the house was preparing dinner, and they had 3 kids, a boy in his 20's a girl in her late teens, and a younger daughter. I held a pretty decent conversation with them in Spanish. They were so nice and warm to us, we showed them the prince of peace video, and then another easter video came on after that. the Spirit was super strong afterwards. Then both the wife and the husband said that they had lost their parents within the last few years. So we talked about the plan of Salvation for a bit, and at the end of that brief discussion with them, we asked them if they would honestly be interested in hearing more of our message, and they all said that they would be. The father told us to come back when he came back from work. He's a FIFO worker. We said a prayer with them and the spirit was SO strong.
> There were some pretty crazy parallels that I realized later that night. the two I found that were pretty crazy were how in my dream there were grandparents there, and when we were there there were no grandparents, and how in my dream when the father said that their last name was Liahona, that this family was from south America. They were from Paraguay. So yeah after this realization came to mind, I had a prompting to write down this dream, and the experience, and to give it to them. and Elder moller had a prompting as well to write down the chapel address and our phone number because we forgot to leave it with them. So we doorbell ditched them with those things at around 9pm. and I felt like I did the right thing. Pretty cool experience. It's hard to put it all down in an email, but yeah, going to praying for this family heaps!
>
> Easter was super good as well! heaps of activities. This ward is soooo good. love it.
>
> I hope that all made sense.. :)
>
> Love Elder Beeson :)
> On Tuesday night we got a call from Bishop telling us that there is a couple in our area that he is going to be marrying soon, that are interested in hearing more about the church! Woooo!! So we went by the next night, and met the couple. Their names are D and J. They are a Maori couple, and D is actually a member, just hasn't been to church in a while, so we went in, and J has had all these questions about the church for AGES. Most of her questions were surrounding why in our church we seem to have such a good family dynamic, so we ended up teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Their oldest daughter was sitting in the lesson as well. They all seemed to understand everything pretty well, and so we invited J and her daughter to be baptized after the wedding, and they both accepted! woooooooo!! pretty pumped for that :)
> Then this is the crazy thing that happened. it's got a bit of a back story, so I"ll tell you the back story.
> So about a week and a half ago, I had a dream that elder moller and I were tracting, and it was super cold outside. We were pretty much just looking for a place to get warm because of how cold it was. Then we passed by this house, and it had this warmth emanating from it, so we knocked on the door, and we were let in straight away, there was a whole family there. There was a mother and father preparing for dinner, then a few kids, a boy about in his 20's a girl in her late teens, and another son who was pretty young. there were also some grandparents there. The atmosphere was super comfortable, I felt I could completely be myself. So Then we got talking to the older son, and he was talking about how lately he was feeling like he needed to find purpose in life, and that he had had some loved ones pass away, and he wanted answers, so we began to teach the whole family the Plan of Salvation, and there was just so much warmth and love as we taught. Then my dream skipped to the following sunday and the whole family was at church, minus the grandparents that were there at the house. I was shocked, so we approached them and I totally forgot all of their names, so I asked their names again, and so they told me, and then I shook hands last with the dad, and I asked him what his family last name was, he told me it was "Liahona" and then I said, "What the?! That's the name of a compass in the Book of Mormon! You guys are meant to be Mormon!" Then yeah that was pretty much the dream.
> Then this week, we had a pretty parallel experience, and I didn't realize that it was parallel to this dream until after it all happened.
> So on Saturday we were tracting, and we weren't having too much success, it was just the aussies being their "cold" selves ;) hahaha. But then we passed by a house that was blasting some latino music, and I just have the biggest soft spot for latinos, so we knocked on the door, and then the father of the house let us in straight away, right after I asked where he was from in Spanish. So we went in, and the mom of the house was preparing dinner, and they had 3 kids, a boy in his 20's a girl in her late teens, and a younger daughter. I held a pretty decent conversation with them in Spanish. They were so nice and warm to us, we showed them the prince of peace video, and then another easter video came on after that. the Spirit was super strong afterwards. Then both the wife and the husband said that they had lost their parents within the last few years. So we talked about the plan of Salvation for a bit, and at the end of that brief discussion with them, we asked them if they would honestly be interested in hearing more of our message, and they all said that they would be. The father told us to come back when he came back from work. He's a FIFO worker. We said a prayer with them and the spirit was SO strong.
> There were some pretty crazy parallels that I realized later that night. the two I found that were pretty crazy were how in my dream there were grandparents there, and when we were there there were no grandparents, and how in my dream when the father said that their last name was Liahona, that this family was from south America. They were from Paraguay. So yeah after this realization came to mind, I had a prompting to write down this dream, and the experience, and to give it to them. and Elder moller had a prompting as well to write down the chapel address and our phone number because we forgot to leave it with them. So we doorbell ditched them with those things at around 9pm. and I felt like I did the right thing. Pretty cool experience. It's hard to put it all down in an email, but yeah, going to praying for this family heaps!
>
> Easter was super good as well! heaps of activities. This ward is soooo good. love it.
>
> I hope that all made sense.. :)
>
> Love Elder Beeson :)
April 9th
Dear
Family and friends, this week was very.. interesting. It's funny how
after the really crazy cool spiritual weeks/ experiences how satan just
tries to throw heaps of curveballs. So yeah this week was full of those!
haha.
We went on
two exchanges this week. One with the Warnbro Elders, and the other with
the Mandurah Elders. on both of the exchanges we literally only got to
talk to like 6 people total. All the people we ran into/ saw just talked
for AGES.
The one
that was super annoying was the Apostate member that we ran into. Elder
Moller told us that there was a dude that lived in this one house,
so we went over there, and we met this south African guy, who used to
be active as, like he was in the elders quorum presidency, was married
in the temple, but then just went completely apostate, because he looked
wayyyyyyy beyond the mark. The feeling while being at his house was
just gross. we were there for like 2 and a half hours, and by the end of
it, I didn't feel uplifted or anything. he was just going on and on
about conspiracy theories.
Then
we also have been trying to set things up with our investigator J,
who has been solid, but recently we've kind of just lost contact.
Buuuuuut,
conference just soothed over everything that happened throughout the
week. Every question I had was answered, and everything just felt so
simple and good.
We
went finding last night and met this former cop and his wife who is a
cop. They have been looking for a place where they can get there baby
blessed ( they said baptized) haha and they are keen to listen to us and
to hopefully get their baby blessed in the church! so yeah that was
cool :)
but
yeah this week I really learned how important it is to 1) realize that
opposition comes both before and after spiritual experiences, 2) to not
look beyond the mark, but to live in the simplicity of the gospel, and
3) to pay attention to see if you are feeling the fruits of the spirit.
I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost which will never fail us, so long as
we are genuinely trying have His constant companionship in our lives.
Love you family! Love Elder Beeson :)
ps. elder moller and I are staying another transfer here together in Baldivis! woooo!! :)
April 2nd
G'day family and friends. This weekend has been awesome! Really cool miracles have been happening recently!
On
Friday we finally got to catch up with the Maori fella we tracted
into last week. We went in and we taught him all about the Atonement of
Christ, and invited him to be baptized. He sat there for a bit, then he
looked with us and smiled, and he said, "you know what, I'm going to do
this, and I'm going to do it with all my spine!! I want this!" hahah
woah! ;) but yeah he's seriously one of the funniest people I have ever
met. He's insanely enthusiastic about everything. We set a goal with him
to work towards the 29th of april. :)
I
went on exchanges the next day with our district leader, but my
companion saw him the next morning, and apparently after the lesson we
had, his family and friends were like offering him drinks and stuff, but
he said that he moon walked out of the room, and said "I don't need
that stuff I found where the true happiness is. it's in the Atonement!"
haha THE MAN!!
Yesterday
we had a pretty sweet sunday, we had 6 of the people we are teaching
come to church!After church we got a call from some elders who were
having a bit of a rough time with eachother, so we went over and had a
long talk with them, and it helped! also had a long talk with some other
elders this week.
I
love being a missionary because sometimes I get to play the role of
being a fixer upper. It feels so good to be actually helping people. But
I've come to learn that none of the credit goes to me or my companion.
It goes straight to the saviour. He's the real fixer upper for ANYTHING.
I have come to experience that. I've come to know how it feels to have
the Atonement change me over time. It's such a blessing.
Love you family! have a good week. CTR CPR! ;)
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Dear Friends and Family,
This week and a half has been MONUMENTAL. Honestly, I am soooooo grateful to be where I am right now. I'm learning sooooooo much.
We've been doing HEAPS of finding lately. Like just about all day everyday, and there have been some super cool experiences.
There was this one guy we tracted into that has been prepared for a lonnng time. So we knock on the door and it's this Maori guy that answers, and he told us that he was going to be baptized 13 years ago in 2004, but right before his baptism, he moved from Christchurch to Perth, and he lost contact with the church, and has been wanting to get back into church recently. pretty much his whole family is active, and he told us that his goal is to go to the temple with his WIFE! and just the fact that he's married is a miracle in of itself!!!!
So yeah, we are seeing him tomorrow, and he suggested to us to come over and to teach him, and he would feed us, and to come over Sunday morning, and he'll drive us to church with him. Such a miracle, because we have been working with heaps of people that we have been trying to convince them to want it! He's just has the desire. Such a blessing.
We also went on exchanges with the assistants, and we knocked on a door of a young chinese father, who was really happy to see us, and he was just so willing to act on what we taught, so he said the closing prayer at the end of us talking to Him.
We also went on exchanges with the Rockingham West Elders. I was with Elder Amparado, and we were talking to this lady at the doorstep, and she wasn't too keen, but then I had a thought just to point out the obvious to her, and we asked her if she ever had tried to quit smoking, and she said yesssssssssssss. and then we offered to help her quit, and she was all the sudden so much more willing to listen to us, so we are going to go see her and her partner tomorrow :)
There have been quite a few other experiences that we have had this week, but I will say, that I've been feeling like I've had a second wind kick in, and I am more anxious than ever to just share about the Restoration of the gospel. I've developed a lot of trust in our Father in Heaven this week, that has helped me to do what he wants done. It's powerful. I feel like I understand a little bit more of what it means to lose yourself in the work.
Love you all! Read and pray!!!
Love Elder Beeson
ps. this was on lds.org. see if you can find me in this picture :)
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Monday, March 20, 2017
Dear Family and Friends
This week just flewwwwwwww by! Good week though as far as I can remember. just going to bulletpoint the highlights today :-)
-We decided to go bush tracting this last week. it was fun/ scary. there are soooooo many massive guard dogs out bush. Met a few nice people though. Also saw a got a pic with a tiger snake while we were out there!
-The sisters gave us one of their potentials to follow up with, they are a cook island/ aussie couple. The wife who claimed to be atheist from when we first started talking to them committed to read about the plan of salvation, and to pray by the end of our discussion. so that was pretty neat.
-We have been working with a part member family that just needs to get married, but we found out they have another friend who lives with them and we got to catch up with him, and he wants to investigate again. haha he told us that he is all about the "deep stuff" though. hahah we'll see ;) but yeah, it was cool had a mean talk with him, and apparently he was about to be baptized when he was in NZ. Seeing him tomorrow :)
-We've been smashing the bikes here. it's nice! Loooooooooooove biking. miss biking in a straight biking area. Gets you out of the comfort zone :)
but yeah, I love this ward. so many cool members.
This week I've been reading HEAPS of church history stuff, and it has strengthened my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I look up to him. He had sooo much stuff happen to him, but he always was one who would lift others, and help them out. I hope to become like that.
Love you all family! CTR
love Elder Beeson
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Hey everyone!
This week was pretty good! It went by suuuuuuuuuuper duper fast, and we had a pretty stinking amazing miracle this week!
There
have honestly been so many general authorities in Perth over the last few
weeks. We had Elder Renlund, Elder Hallstrom, Elder Nielson, Elder
O'reardon, and this week we had Elder Cardon of the Seventy come. It was
awesome, we had an MLC with him, and he gave us some awesome ideas of
how we can better work in our wards. Then he came to zone conference as
well. suuuuuuuper good!
On
Thursday we had to go to the chapel to set everything up, so we went
there after picking up the Kalgoorlie elders from the train station, and
we saw this Maori dude just sitting under a tree right out front of the
chapel. We told him he could come in if he wanted to have some air con,
but he said that he was all good, so we went in and were setting up,
then about 5 minutes later we heard a knock on the door so we went out,
and it was the Maori dude! He asked us, "Hey do you guys have like a
preacher or someone I can talk to? I've just have had heaps of stuff on
my mind lately."
So we told him that he could talk to us, and yeah he
opened up, and was just saying how he really feels like he wants to have
a fresh start, and that he has made some bad choices in the past that
he wants to get rid of, and how he wants to find more purpose in life,
etc. and yeah it was amazing!! So we took him on a chapel tour and
taught him about Christ, and the Atonement, and yeah we ended in the
baptismal font room, and invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! He
said he wants to be baptized on the 2nd of April!! woooooooooo! crazy
cool miracle. We had to hand him off to the Rocky West elders though,
because he's not in our area :/ but it's all good, it's all one work :)
I'm
loving this ward though, there are heaps of islanders Maori's, there
are HEAPS of Cookies ( cook islanders) they are super cool. They have
these drums that I'm going to jam on someday ;)
I
love the area, my companion, the zone, Everything! things are awesome
:) This week I've reflected heaps about how lucky I am to be a
missionary, and so I've just tried to embrace every minute of it this
week, and it has made the work even better :) Love you all!
Love Elder Beeson
Monday, March 6, 2017
Baldivis Baby!
G'day family and friends!
This week was amazing!!! It honestly felt like we finally hit a bit of an Oasis after this transfer of a desert. Super good week :)
This week we have had a super cool miracle still in the process of developing. So on Monday we visited the H 's a returning member/ recent convert family, and the Dad's parents have moved in for good to help them raise their kids. The parents of the dad ( the parents names are G and E) have been really nice and respectful whenever we share anything, but nothing has been softening their hearts to actually learn.. UNTIL.. they had a death in the family this last weekend.
She was super teary eyed as she asked it, and so we took that opportunity to teach the plan of salvation, and we taught the whole thing, and it was good, but when we finished it up, I had a feeling that we should go more into depth with the spirit world, and so we talked about the temple, and about doing baptisms for the dead, and that was what ended up connecting with them the most! Then we felt prompted to invite them to be baptized and they both said that they would once the feel of what we said is true! ( hahah I already know that they know it's true ;) ). We had another lesson with them on Thursday as well and the Spirit was suuuuuuuuper strong as we taught the Godhead, reviewed the Plan of Salvation, and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of the lesson, all of the H girls came in for the closing prayer! That has NEVER HAPPENED! Suuuuuper cool.A distant relative committed suicide last weekend :( and they were doing heaps of funeral stuff over the weekend. And so in the middle of some small talk we were having, E just speaks up and says, "Is it still possible for my grandson to still be saved, even though he committed suicide?" and we told her that yes, it is possible!
Elder Aldous ( my former comp) and I went on exchanges on Wednesday, and we had a pretty cool 4th floor last door experience! We had about 20 minutes until lunch time, and we could have easily just gone back to the flat for lunch, and used the 20 minutes to spare as travel time, but we planned to tract, so we decided that we would stick with the plan and tract it out! We tracted out this cul-de-sac. and literally no one was home, because it was like the middle of the day on a Wednesday. Then we got to the last house on that little street, and this guy was polishing his car, and when we approached him, he said that he was impressed with us for having patience to go from door to door with no one answering, so we got talking to him for a bit, and then his partner came out, and she just started asking heaps of really good questions about Christ, and our church, and so anywho, long story short, they let us in, and we were able to teach repentance, and the Atonement. Super cool simple experience that just has strengthened my testimony about being diligent :)On Saturday we had mission conference with Elder Renlund. It was amazing! There were heaps of things that he said that just spoke to my heart. I honestly feel like he is the apostle I connect with the most, not because he came to our mission, but from the talks I read from him in preparation for his coming, and from just how he acted when he was here, I feel like I connect with him :)Yesterday we had a special stake conference with Elder Renlund, and it was good we had 5 of our investigators come to it! G and E were there, and they were super intrigued by everything he said. I got to shake hands with him 2 more times on Sunday ...:)
Then I got a call from President during MCM that I am going to be transferred. I'm going down to Rockingham zone to serve in Baldivis! Woooooooooo!! My new companion is Elder Mollar from New Zealand. super pumped to serve with him. I'm for sure going to miss this ward, I've literally spent half of my mission here, but I'm super excited for a fresh start :)Something I learned this week is of the power of fasting and prayer. When we fast and pray with absolute confidence that God will bless us with what is needed, then he WILL bless us with what is needed, and often miracles are needed, and that's what happened this week. I love this work, can't get enough of it!Love you all!love Elder Beeson
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