Well,
A lot has happened this week. We've been working hard and seeing some good results. We had the opportunity to teach a young family the first part of restoration. They felt the goodness of the message we shared and wanted us to come back the next week (we couldn’t come sooner because he's in the army and is away during the week). We also were able to visit some members and strengthen them. We have a hope that all will go well in our efforts.
The weather out here has been amazing! I've been tanning easily in the sun (as my envious sisters know I do) and it's actually really funny because the Sister missionaries here accused me of going tanning on P-Days because apparently I'm just getting that tan. I couldn't notice it until the other day when I looked at my hand. I realized that while I walk my cuff hung down on my hand a little bit and there was a tan line on the hand where it was! It's really funny :D.
We've been helping the President out here work on his house. He has been building it for a while and he needed our help putting up the second story plywood. It was really funny because Elder Dickerson and I are the only ones who did construction previously so it came easily to us but the others learned quickly :D.
It was really cool this weekend because we saw some tents in town on Rockwood Parade (it’s just a road here by the river) and they were all set up selling different things. It was Friday and we were in a hurry so we didn't have time to stop. So Saturday we hurriedly ate lunch in 10 minutes and then went down to spend the rest of our break looking at the different things set up. It turns out it's a French fair which comes into town every year. It was a lot of fun.
Sunday it rained :D. But the Sun came back out long enough to tempt us to leave our jackets and then it started pouring again. We took refuge in the church for 10 minutes while the darker clouds passed and then we went over to see an investigator we hadn't seen in a while. It was really good because we thought that he was interested but we just hadn't seen him in over 2 weeks and we weren't sure where he was at. But when we spoke to him, he told us that he knew that what we taught was good and true and he had wanted to come to the church the past 2 weeks, but hadn’t been because of the disapproval from his wife. This was really surprising because he seemed to just enjoy our visits with no visible progression, but obviously he was progressing!
We set up a time to do FHE with his whole family to make sure we include them all, and from now on we are going to try to teach them all together. We really can only see him once a week because of his work schedule so we're going to try to just always do FHE :D.
Anyway, that's a lot of what's new here. I am loving the mission. I am loving the Savior. I love you all. Take Care.
-Elder Beacham
Monday, April 19, 2010
I Feel My Savior's Love
Hello Everyone,
It is a surprising thing to me to see in my most powerful spiritual experiences in life the only way I feel I can truly express them is in the simple songs I learned in Primary. However, I have come to accept as plain and simple truths all aspects of the gospel. It was once surprising to me that God spoke to me in a still small voice that I sometimes wouldn't even acknowledge as the spirit. Yet now I know this to be a true form of communication which comes to us in our quiet moments away from all the noise and technology and business of the world; yet at the same time it will still prompt us whilst in the midst of bustling places.
This week has been one of great enlightenment for me. I have learned of my Saviors love for me and all his children in a very deep and simple way. The spirit has testified to my heart on repeated occasions that this is God's work that I am doing.
This week we had Zone Conference where some missionaries were arriving and others were going home so we got to hear some departing and arriving testimonies. Some that spoke definitely touched my heart because I related with them. Two of the missionaries going home were actually the AP's (Assistant to the Presidents) at the time that I arrived in Ireland so they were the ones who picked me up. I am sorry to see them go, but they have helped me greatly while here in Ireland and I know that they have done all that the Lord asked of them. One of the missionaries (Elder Gardner) went up to bear his testimony and pulled out a letter. It was a letter from his grandmother who originally accepted the gospel and in turn their children received it and Elder Gardner as well. He read it and though it was simple and short as to why and how she had accepted the gospel from the missionaries, he bore a powerful testimony about how he knew that the gospel was true and that it was because of the choice that his grandmother made that he had served a mission at all.
Too true are the principles of that testimony. Whether or not we get married and pass it on to a future generation. Those around us will always see, know, and remember who we were and what we stood for. When their world falls apart, and they cannot go on; they will remember their friends who followed the Savior, who made the decision to keep going, even what it was hard, and pulled through to a brighter tomorrow.
As a missionary it has been an exceptional experience for me to help people change their lives. I have learned some very simple truths though. You cannot change another person. You can only help them to change when they want to. This applies also to the teaching process. I have learned that sometimes I need to deny people the further knowledge which they may want, until they pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. For THAT is the basis of our belief and until they understand and believe that through the power of the Holy Ghost, they will never benefit from the knowledge of the Plan of the Salvation or the entire Gospel itself.
I remember when I was very young that I had all the knowledge of the gospel but still I doubted because I did not recognize the spirit. It wasn't until I prayed and asked God to help me that I began to recognize the spirit, and then in turn I knew how to follow what it was telling me to do. I also learned what things bring the spirit, and what things don't.
This week I had a very good experience with a Less-Active. We had tried to visit her a lot of times but she was always busy or something came up at the last minute. So as had happened before, something came up right before we were supposed to go see her, so I spoke with her on the phone for a while. I discovered that she actually enjoys talking on the phone a lot because we spoke for nearly an hour (52 minutes!). It was a very significant spiritual experience for me though because I learned that the spirit even testifies to people through the phone.
We were talking about different things and got on the subject of church, and then general conference, and then we began discussing how empty your life becomes without the Savior. She opened up a lot to me and told me how she hadn't been to church in 10 years and just didn't know. I felt prompted to and bore my witness to her of the truthfulness of the gospel. I remember feeling the spirit fill my heart and the room around me. I remember thinking "If only she could feel the spirit as strongly as I am she would know that the Lord loves her and wants her to come back to church". Then, to my great surprise, she replied by saying "I know what you said is true because I feel the spirit telling me it is, you are very strong Elder Beacham".
It was a very humbly moment for me, and as we continued speaking I began telling her about my life before. I wasn't always this strong, I wasn't always this stalwart for the Lord, but I knew know that this is one of the few things in my life that brings pure joy and as such I will never let anything replace it. I recalled a poem I've been writing which, when it is completed, I will share with you guys. We had a really good discussion about where are strength comes from and she truly has a desire to return to church.
Beyond that experience though, I returned back to the flat and at the appointed time before bed I went and knelt in prayer to speak with my Father in Heaven. It is an amazingly personal feeling that the Lord gives you to show his love for you. I cannot say that I have had a stronger manifestation of the spirit (whilst I was by myself) in all my life. I recall the study which I did on Prayer. In the Bible Dictionary it says that some of the highest blessings we qualify for simply through prayer (something like that) and I know that that is true. I have seen in my own short time here in Ireland that the Lord can show you his love for other people and that he can show you how to convey that love to other people.
I remember my missionary call packet stating "as you serve in this labor of love among God's Children". I've learned very personally what exactly that sentence means. Service requires doing something for others. Labor means "to work at a disadvantage". Love is something which I am only beginning to comprehend, but I do know that we only come to Love people more as we Love the Savior more.
I have tried even harder than ever to come to know the Savior while out here on my mission. I know that there is no greater work for me to be doing “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. -John 17:3.
I love you all.
-Elder Beacham
It is a surprising thing to me to see in my most powerful spiritual experiences in life the only way I feel I can truly express them is in the simple songs I learned in Primary. However, I have come to accept as plain and simple truths all aspects of the gospel. It was once surprising to me that God spoke to me in a still small voice that I sometimes wouldn't even acknowledge as the spirit. Yet now I know this to be a true form of communication which comes to us in our quiet moments away from all the noise and technology and business of the world; yet at the same time it will still prompt us whilst in the midst of bustling places.
This week has been one of great enlightenment for me. I have learned of my Saviors love for me and all his children in a very deep and simple way. The spirit has testified to my heart on repeated occasions that this is God's work that I am doing.
This week we had Zone Conference where some missionaries were arriving and others were going home so we got to hear some departing and arriving testimonies. Some that spoke definitely touched my heart because I related with them. Two of the missionaries going home were actually the AP's (Assistant to the Presidents) at the time that I arrived in Ireland so they were the ones who picked me up. I am sorry to see them go, but they have helped me greatly while here in Ireland and I know that they have done all that the Lord asked of them. One of the missionaries (Elder Gardner) went up to bear his testimony and pulled out a letter. It was a letter from his grandmother who originally accepted the gospel and in turn their children received it and Elder Gardner as well. He read it and though it was simple and short as to why and how she had accepted the gospel from the missionaries, he bore a powerful testimony about how he knew that the gospel was true and that it was because of the choice that his grandmother made that he had served a mission at all.
Too true are the principles of that testimony. Whether or not we get married and pass it on to a future generation. Those around us will always see, know, and remember who we were and what we stood for. When their world falls apart, and they cannot go on; they will remember their friends who followed the Savior, who made the decision to keep going, even what it was hard, and pulled through to a brighter tomorrow.
As a missionary it has been an exceptional experience for me to help people change their lives. I have learned some very simple truths though. You cannot change another person. You can only help them to change when they want to. This applies also to the teaching process. I have learned that sometimes I need to deny people the further knowledge which they may want, until they pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. For THAT is the basis of our belief and until they understand and believe that through the power of the Holy Ghost, they will never benefit from the knowledge of the Plan of the Salvation or the entire Gospel itself.
I remember when I was very young that I had all the knowledge of the gospel but still I doubted because I did not recognize the spirit. It wasn't until I prayed and asked God to help me that I began to recognize the spirit, and then in turn I knew how to follow what it was telling me to do. I also learned what things bring the spirit, and what things don't.
This week I had a very good experience with a Less-Active. We had tried to visit her a lot of times but she was always busy or something came up at the last minute. So as had happened before, something came up right before we were supposed to go see her, so I spoke with her on the phone for a while. I discovered that she actually enjoys talking on the phone a lot because we spoke for nearly an hour (52 minutes!). It was a very significant spiritual experience for me though because I learned that the spirit even testifies to people through the phone.
We were talking about different things and got on the subject of church, and then general conference, and then we began discussing how empty your life becomes without the Savior. She opened up a lot to me and told me how she hadn't been to church in 10 years and just didn't know. I felt prompted to and bore my witness to her of the truthfulness of the gospel. I remember feeling the spirit fill my heart and the room around me. I remember thinking "If only she could feel the spirit as strongly as I am she would know that the Lord loves her and wants her to come back to church". Then, to my great surprise, she replied by saying "I know what you said is true because I feel the spirit telling me it is, you are very strong Elder Beacham".
It was a very humbly moment for me, and as we continued speaking I began telling her about my life before. I wasn't always this strong, I wasn't always this stalwart for the Lord, but I knew know that this is one of the few things in my life that brings pure joy and as such I will never let anything replace it. I recalled a poem I've been writing which, when it is completed, I will share with you guys. We had a really good discussion about where are strength comes from and she truly has a desire to return to church.
Beyond that experience though, I returned back to the flat and at the appointed time before bed I went and knelt in prayer to speak with my Father in Heaven. It is an amazingly personal feeling that the Lord gives you to show his love for you. I cannot say that I have had a stronger manifestation of the spirit (whilst I was by myself) in all my life. I recall the study which I did on Prayer. In the Bible Dictionary it says that some of the highest blessings we qualify for simply through prayer (something like that) and I know that that is true. I have seen in my own short time here in Ireland that the Lord can show you his love for other people and that he can show you how to convey that love to other people.
I remember my missionary call packet stating "as you serve in this labor of love among God's Children". I've learned very personally what exactly that sentence means. Service requires doing something for others. Labor means "to work at a disadvantage". Love is something which I am only beginning to comprehend, but I do know that we only come to Love people more as we Love the Savior more.
I have tried even harder than ever to come to know the Savior while out here on my mission. I know that there is no greater work for me to be doing “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. -John 17:3.
I love you all.
-Elder Beacham
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