Huntsman spider

 caterpillar

and lizard.  Oh my!

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.

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

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

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 :)