Merry Christmas!

Greetings!

I have now moved from Greenock to the heart of Glasgow, in Maryhill. It is here that I will spend my Christmas Day and New Years. I appreciate all of your love and prayers and I want you to know that I have sought to know what I might say to you at this Christmas time.

I know that Jesus Christ Lives. He is our Lord, our Savior, and our Redeemer. I felt impressed to read the account in Luke 2 (as Father often would) Sunday Morning and to my surprise, at church they did a Christmas Service where they read the very passage I had read that morning, and sang carols to our King. I am so touched by the Christmas Season. The Christmas Spirit is like none other. We know that Christ was actually born at Easter, nevertheless, it is the Spirit of the Season which drives us to celebrate, remember, and commemorate our Savior's Birth, Life, and Mission.

I wanted to write today and tell you how much I Iove you all. I will undoubtedly fail in this endeavor but I pray the Spirit of the Lord will communicate it in a far more effective manner. Many people speak of the loss of the Christmas Spirit. Many people speak of the dominating power of the media which sways us to lose the Christian Spirit in the continuous battle for material goods. I do not see this. Nor have I ever seen it. For it was never in my home, nor do I believe in yours. I remember staying up all night playing games with brothers. I remember gifts always coming secondary to the time spent with family. I remember Stories repeated year after year which always reached into your soul and touched you in such a way that you knew, no matter how old or young, that they were true, or the messages conveyed therein were. I remember peanuts and satsumas, toffees and chocolates, toys and bicycles, games, tricks, puzzles, and fun.

One year in particular I would like to dwell on though. 1999. This has always been an interesting year in the story of my life. As is now common knowledge, in November of 1999 Mom, Dad, and myself were part of a serious car accident which left us all in pretty bad shape. Dad and I spent months sitting in bed reading Edgar Rice Burroughs "The Martian Series". Mom spent months in bed probably sick of us reading Edgar Rice Burroughs. I remember Auraleen taking me and Christina and Laurianne on a secret mission to get a 5 gallon container of Love Potion #31 Ice Cream for Mom. I remember the kids deciding that it would be alright not to have any presents this year.

I don't remember not having any presents. Nor do I recall for that matter any gifts which I still have in my possession which I recieved for any Christmas, which are material. It is for this reason that the year of 1999 has been my favorite Christmas so far. I pray that you all, in whatever place you may be in, will see the Spirit of the Season, and Feel Christ in your Homes. You don't need anything to tell you what day it is. If you listen closely, you will know.

I love you all so very much. My love is in us, not in words or pictures or in anything material.

Merry Christmas!

Elder Beacham

Do We Get It?

Dearest Friends & Family

I write to you today with many things on my mind, but I love each of you with all my heart and I shall write today and hope that what I share will help you in each of your individual lives. This week was an interesting one. We taught a man who recieved a witness that the Book of Mormon was true, yet he didn't come to church, that was a shame. In dwelling upon this thought I had several questions come to my mind. He knows it's true, why didn't he come? What on earth could hold him back from coming to church when he knows that the Book of Mormon is true?! I pondered this for a while. If the Book of Mormon is true, then the Church is true, then he needs to come to church, then the Authority has been restored, then he needs to be baptized again, then he can live with his father in heaven again, then he can take the sacrament and be cleansed through the Holy Ghost, then he needs to have a church calling, then he can magnify his calling and be blessed even more, then he needs to get a patriarchal blessing, then he can know that his father in heaven has a plan so specific to his life and wants to help him ever step of the way, then he needs to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity, then he can be with his family forever.... Doesn't he get it?

He Must not.

Do We Get It?

Alma spoke in Alma 4:19 of a desire to reclaim his people. He states that the only way in which he knew to reclaim his people was to "Bear down in pure testimony against them". I've thought about his alot. I've pondered over the meaning of this phrase quite alot. Because I want to reclaim souls. I want to bring about a mighty change in people, so it is very important to me to understand how and in what manner I would bear down in pure testimony against someone.

I have yet to come to an entire conclusion, but I know that a pure testimony would have to be one in which there was no dilution of doctrine, neither false doctrine, nor personal opinions, or philosphies. It would have to be one of pure truth. A pure testimony could not be born amidst railing accusations or uncontrolled emotion. One who bore a pure testimony would have to have had a first-hand experience with the doctrine which they were bearing witness to.

In Alma 5 is an excellent example of this.

"And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have you spiritually been born of God? Have you received his image in your countenances? Have you experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

"Do you exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?"

"I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?"

Most of us who know what is in Alma 5 don't like reading Alma 5, because it's sort of like a spiritual punch to the face. Most of us don't enjoy that. Yet Alma was/is merely bearing witness to that which he has come to know to be true. He is asking questions which he has asked himself. He is teaching what he has learned.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

-Elder Stephen C Beacham

Hello again, here's the latest....

Hey everyone

I cannot begin to tell you of what is going on here, but I shall attempt to try :D

It is snowing, it has been snowing, and it will continue to snow lots and lots and lots. The roads are absolutely icy and we are constantly interrupting our jovial strolls to push some poor vehicle out of a rut they seem to have gotten stuck in.

I've drawn the parallel recently, that we often get stuck in ruts in our life. When it's a bad rut, we usually welcome to help, as do the driver's here. However, often we become confused and angry when pushed from a "good" rut. I find it important to note that no matter what type of rut you are in, it's bad, and you should always be working towards improving.

We are currently teaching a plethora of people. I use the term plethora because I don't actually know how many it denotes, but to use laymens terms; We are teaching abut 3 people. Our foremost right now is named Lawrence Ngoma. We had an amazing lesson with Lawrence in which we knelt and prayed with him and he felt "fire" go through his body. We identified that as the Holy Ghost. That evening he came to a baptism and felt the Holy Ghost again. It was really good for him to get that second witness in the same day. Sadly however, he didn't come to church, because he slept it. We're going to have to teach him what exactly it means to keep the sabbath day holy, and that the Lord expects you to go to sleep on a Saturday, early enough to get up on Sunday.

I think I might share about how people who lived the Law of Moses (as given in Exodus 20) actually counted the Sabbath day as Sundown on Saturday, to Sundown on Sunday. At the same time I don't want him to think he can go out and party on a Sunday night. I'm still undecided if I share in Exodus 31 where all those who didn't keep the Sabbath Day Holy were to be put to death :D. What do you think?

Just Kidding! So, it's great out here in Scotland. The working is going forward. I hope everyone of you is happy and healthy.

~Elder Beacham