General Conference! (October 8, 2017)

Wow, I can't believe this transfer is halfway over already. Time is flying!

General Conference was so so good. We watched them this last Saturday and Sunday, and I was so impressed. Saturday morning during my personal study I prayed, and thought, and wrote down some of my questions that I have, about how I can improve, about what I need to do in different situations, etc. 

Then while watching conference (I watched it with Elder S from Erda, who attended Stansbury High), I was stunned as almost all of my questions were answered on Saturday! There were very clear answers, and sometimes even whole talks based around my very specific and personal questions.

Not all of my questions were answered as fully as I wished, however. But, as Elder Anderson encouraged us at the end of conference, I look forward to studying them again, on paper this time, to find the rest of my answers. 

I have a testimony that the Lord is real; He has real and full power and, as taught in conference, he is in the milestones of our lives, as well as the daily stresses and minor details. He led me what questions I should ask, and he inspired men thousands of miles away to speak on topics that would most bless and help God's children today. 

I want to share a few more things that I learned in conference in a bit :)

One things I will tell you about our ward is how AWESOME the recent converts here are! So some history of this area: 3 years ago, my MTC teacher served in the same area as me! Then last transfer, Elder Y served here for 1 transfer, and was ZL while I was DL in Youngdo. At that time, he was companions with my current companion, Elder P, and they baptized a couple who met during English class previously, named Brother J and Sister H. They are such a faithful good couple. Anyway, so I came in this transfer to Haeundae and we are teaching the recent convert lessons to this awesome couple! J is super good at ping pong; we had a good showdown the other night, but I lost 6-11 11-4, 13-15. Too bad. I am getting decent at ping pong, and I like playing the Asian style better than American I think! Haha.  Asian style is less side spin, but more control I think, and consistency. They have totally different paddles for it-- the handle is different. But yeah, I will show you when I come home.

This morning I was a bit rushed and forgot my SD card reader, so no pictures, today, sorry.  I'm out of time, but my favorite talk in conference was probably Elder Holland-- he is so encouraging, to help us do better, and have hope, along with President Uchtdorf. I love them. 

Remember to always find hope, especially in little things! This life is about change-- the point of the Gospel is progress, and Satan's greatest lie is that we do not have the ability to change or improve. But we can. Remember, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. What small change will you make today that can change your life forever?

LOVE YOU!

Haeundae, Week 2 (October 1, 2017)

Hey Family! How are you?

My second week in Haeundae went all right! We met with an American investigator, he is a nice middle-aged man named D. We went to a cafe with him... He is really polite, and loves to talk with us. This week we showed him a bit of how the Book of Mormon and Bible work together.

Other than that, not too much... Except yesterday we did a Sunday school lesson with all the adults and youth in the ward! It was about member missionary work.

So for our lesson, Elder P did the first part, about WHY we share the Gospel, to try to help people want to share. He showed the video about the family whose sons worked in a mine for like 3 years to save up money, then flew on a plane to get sealed in the temple as a family. He did really great discussing that with all of them.

Then I talked about how we share the Gospel. We did a little discussion on how they have already been doing it, then we did something that was kind of like a missionary district meeting. We watched part of the District 1, where two sister missionaries visit a member and help her practice sharing the gospel, then we had everyone in the room do that! We had each of them role play with each other and practice inviting someone to hear about the Gospel. Then we shared our testimonies of missionary work. And we invited them to each invite one friend during the month of October to learn about the Gospel.

There was this sweet grandma in the ward who came up after and said, "During that lesson I felt like I wanted to do missionary work so much! I don't have someone to share the gospel with yet. I am not sure where to start. But I will pray about it! And I will work on it this month of October!"

Haha. I love this ward! Also this week I had the opportunity to give 3 priesthood blessings. One of them was to the nice old man who was baptized by President Hinckley. We visited him again yesterday, too, and gave him the sacrament. I love visiting hospitals, and the elderly-- there is a special feeling there. And it reminds me of my grandparents, as well as taking the sacrament to the elderly as a priest.

Hey! I love you all so much, I will email some pictures and things a bit later, but I have to go for now! Sorry, my recent convert from Sangin came up to meet us today! So we are going to have lunch together.

(Here are the pictures he sent later:)

I went on exchanges with my trainer this week, Elder L!  I love that guy so much. He is AP right now.

Elder P and I with Brother Y, who was baptized by President Hinckley.

Me, Brother J (who was baptized while I served in Sangin), and Elder P. We are by Haeundae Beach, a popular tourist attraction in Korea. This was taken today!

Haeundae Week One! (Sept. 24, 2017)

Hello Family! Week one in my new area was pretty great! I am really excited to work here with the great members and my companion Elder P. Here are some pictures from my last area.

L and his family with Elder A and I. Love this family!

This man is our investigator, J, with his new bride, Sister C.

J's son, so cute!

Here in Haeundae we don't really have investigators right now.. like 2 people, but I am not sure how much will come out of it. So we have to find a lot of people! But last night we did some group proselyting with the sisters, and with an English sticker board. There was this big group of kids who came by who seemed like really nice good kids. We got a few of their numbers and plan on having some kind of fun activity with them and some of the young men. The miracle was, one of the kids in the group asked if I knew J__... Well earlier that day I had met a kid at our church named J__! And I found out that our church member was best friends with one of the kids in that group! So I am pretty confident we can meet with them all and have fun playing ping pong and teaching them the gospel.

The members of Haeundae are awesome-- I gave my greeting speech yesterday. I  told them how I came from a small town, feeding horses and cows for a job growing up. I told about how before my mission I realized that missionary work was important, but didn't really activitely seek opportunities to invite people to hear about the gospel. But now, I realize how important it is, now! So I shared a couple quotes that are in PMG about missionary work and how sometimes we can be worried about sharing the Gospel, cause it is scary! But, God doesn't want us to be scared. So I shared my testimony, finishing with my favorite scripture, in 2 Timothy 1:7 

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.

Well after the meeting I talked with the Bishop, and we also had Missionary Coordination Meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. Both went super well, and they both expressed their willingness to help, and advice and encouragement. The Bishop even told me that he or several others would be able to make time whenever to teach with us, and they gave us the Sunday school lesson this week to talk about member missionary work! I am super excited if you can't tell... Although I am nervous to teach about that in Korean, so pray for me please!

Also, one other miracle-- there is a man in our ward who is not a member, but the ward contains his wife, and 4 daughters, and their husbands and children, so he comes to church every week. But he looks like he just sleeps during the meeting and isn't really interested in being baptized. Anyway, after the meeting, one of his daughters came up to me and told me that he grew up in the country, too, and loves horses and cows and when I talked about that he was really happy, smiling big! That really made me happy! I hope to reach his heart.

After church, we visited the hospital and took the sacrament to an elderly man there yesterday. What a neat man. I love taking the sacrament to the elderly. Well this man is really special. His name is Y_. He is 91 now. I asked him how he was baptized, because Elder P had told me a bit about him. This is what Y told me (in English, he was so sharp and smart):

"Do you know who this is?" He asked, as he pulled a picture of President Gordon B Hinckley from a notebook he had. "Yes, President Hinckley!". Well, when Y was 19, he saw President Hinckley on the street in Korea and said hello. President Hinckley said hello too, and then said to young Y, "Why don't you come to the church with me?" And then Y emphasized as he told us "President Hinckley said, 'Not tomorrow. Not this evening. Now." So Y went with him to the church, and President Hinckley explained a bit about baptism, and asked if he was Christian. Well his dad was Presbyterian, so he knew a bit. And President Hinckley baptized him right then. And then made him a branch president, and a building supervisor over a new church building. Y was 19! 

Well Y went on to be a district president, temple presidency, staying close with President Hinckley throughout his life. He said, "After I finished the temple presidency, he sent me and my wife to Japan for a couple's mission."

It was so neat to me to see this 91 year old man, whose body was failing, but whose spirit was as lively as ever. When he spoke in English, he even sounded a bit like President Hinckley. What a neat man! He also asked us to write the date, time, and our testimonies in a little book he had. I am so excited to continue visiting him each week! And it is amazing to me, both that he stepped up to the calling President Hinckley gave him, and that President Hinckley was inspired to have such a young man do it-- a young man who was obviously prepared and ready.

Anyway, I love my new area! I sure miss Youngdo, but I am excited to work here!

I've got to go, love you family!

Elder Beckett