Miracle Buses

Dearest Family & Friends,

We had some miracles this week... I won't call them "little" ones, because I don't dare give the Lord any reason to stop sending them. But it has been amazing to me to see how much the Lord takes care of you when you follow His spirit. It's been a lot of things like catching buses and trains and getting to appointments right on time, when we had no idea how that would happen.

Just the other day we were walking to a bus stop to catch a bus and we saw our investigators with a baptismal date trimming their hedge and putting the clippings in the trees (it was a really LONG hedge). It was odd for me because I was sitting there thinking "We have 1 hour until our next appointment on the other side of town and if we leave right now we still might not get there on time". Yet the spirit prompted me to stop and help them with their hedge. So I dropped the bag off my shoulder and began to help with the hedge as my new trainee (companion) looked at me and tapped his watch (He's all gung-ho about being exactly on time; plus he has huge allergies to grass and anything green and beautiful, so all he could do was watch and teach).

As we spoke with them they were very grateful and seemed to open up a lot more about questions and concerns they have. James was really funny --> He asked if he had to get circumcised in order to get baptized. Haha. I told him no.

But as we were there and worked alongside them for 25 minutes or so, they talked about why they missed church (visiting their children in Wemyss Bay) and how they were both really excited to be baptized still.

So it was truly an important time for us to be there and teach them just little things if nothing else. Well we left there and walked to the bus stop (James walked us there). As we looked through all the bus times, one came in just 2 minutes (ON A SUNDAY TOO! just so you know, the bus schedules are rubbish over here and if you have to wait less than 15 minutes, that's a miracle). So, willing to possibly let this one slide as coincidence, we got off the bus at the train station (thinking that would be faster) but the next train didn't come until half an hour after our appointment!

We rushed out of the Train station, over to the bus terminal only to see a bus driving away NOOOO!!!OO!OO!O!O! But, then we went over to check the schedule and wonder of wonders, a bus came in 7 minutes! (like I said, another miracle). So we caught that bus and got across town (Actually to the neighboring town) to our appointment right on time! It was amazing! To get that distance in that amount of time on a weekday would be a miracle in itself. Yet somehow the Lord was able to pull it off on a Sunday, because he wanted us to stay there and help His sheep.

I love this work; I don't think I'll ever find a work that brings greater satisfaction

God Speed,

-Elder Stephen C Beacham

Edinburgh Military Tatoo

Dearest Family and Friends,

I must say that the event of most note this week has to be the Edinburgh Military Tatoo. I don't know quite why they call it that but it is basically a big show of all the military bands from around the world (Scotland, USA, Poland, Jordan, New Zealand, etc). The bag pipers were amazing and I am quite determined to learn how to play bagpipes when I come home (Mom and Dad, you can apologize to Perry and the other neighbors in advance for me J

Anyway, I slept in Irvine overnight (because the Tatoo goes until 11PM in Edinburgh and we got back to Irvine at 2AM!!! (This is a once in a lifetime event for missionaries)) AND because I slept in Irvine, I am emailing in Irvine; and because of that, they have card readers on the computers here! So I can send lots of pictures to you people! Picture quality isn't the greatest but the music is amazing.

Love you all so very much. Enjoy the Pictures.

-Elder Stephen C Beacham

On the train

Check out my hat

On the bleachers

We're in awe at the scenery

Here's what we're looking at

A couple of the military bands that played for us

This is a picture of a Scottish Thistle. It is infamous in Scotland for a story it plays a part in. Once upon a time there were some Vikings coming to raid a village. While running through the Scottish Thistles, one of the vikings tripped and landed in them. Due to the nature of the type of clothing Vikings wore (I.e. around their Loins) certain vital parts were exposed and the Viking made such a howl and noise that it scared the rest of the vikings away and they never came back to attack that village :)

Training?!?!

Dear Friends and Family!

As the title alludes to, I found out Sunday night that I would be getting a new companion. Upon asking President who my new companion would be he said that he did not know because he hadn't met him yet. I was confused (naturally) and upon asking him why he told me that I would be receiving a companion fresh from the MTC! WOW! DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING!

But it has been exciting thus far! I am amazed to see just how far I've come from being new (being around someone new gives you that feeling) and at the same time see just how much more prepared he is of the Lord than I was! I think the Lord is progressively preparing the children of Men to be more and more effective advocates of the truth.

His name is Elder Holcomb. He is from Queen Creek, Arizona! He's about the most non-dramatic person you will ever meet (so pretty much the opposite of me) but I love him. We get along great! We (all the trainers and all the trainees) spent Wednesday in Edinburgh where we got to Interact and get to know one another before we actually got assigned to each other. I like that method a whole lot better than the way I was assigned; nevertheless it was a lot of fun. We hiked up a hill called "Arthur's Seat" but the local missionaries call it "Pratt's Hill" because when Orson Pratt came on a mission to Scotland he hiked the hill and asked the Lord to bless him in his endeavors. He hiked that hill a lot to consult the Lord and left his mission a while later (like 8 months or so) with 200 baptisms! It was a moment that the Mission President gave the new missionaries to consecrate their efforts to the Lord. I took the moment as well to set some goals with the Lord for how I could be a better missionary.

It has been an overwhelming responsibility to train another missionary. I have realized just how much I relied on another companion who knew certain things that I didn't. Now Elder Holcomb and I are learning together! It's a good feeling! Rather than sit there and teach an inanimate object (like a pen, or a football) I will let him Solo Teach me. I think (and the spirit seems to accord) that this is the best thing for him right now. He testifies so powerfully and he will do a lot of good on his mission. He struggles a bit with confidence, but then again, so did I at the beginning of my mission. I think the biggest thing that has caught him off guard so far has been the Scottish accent. It is really funny to see him go through the same turmoil in the first week that I did!

We have had some amazing lessons with people so far. I think I mentioned at one point that we were teaching a Jim McNeill. Jim kind of backslid a little bit and we didn't know what to do. When Elder Holcomb and I went over to see him, we had a powerful lesson on prayer and Jim began to cry. He committed to pray vocally when we left and truly seek relief for the pain and anger in his heart. I was really glad to see Jim this way. Because usually he's all joking and such and won't really let anything out. It was good to see him let the spirit into his heart. I believe this was major in him being baptized and when he prays and repents, I have no doubt that he will be.

After Jim we went up to see Lisa Padda. Lisa is also a former investigator who is the daughter of a member, and she has been taught everything about a billion times! We went up to teach her and the spirit was still very strong in this lesson. Her husband (Peter) is an active Muslim and usually just "tolerates" our lessons. However, this time as we taught, he actually participated and testified of a principle! I was so impressed at the effect the strong spirit and (I believe) Elder Holcomb's strong faith was having on these people. We will work very hard together and bring a lot of success.

I have seen that it is our duty to try our best and reach outside our comfort zone to get the miracles the lord has waiting for us.

I love you all!

Elder Beacham