Our whole 4 man house is staying, which is awesome! We are having a fun time together-- usually at least one person transfers it seems, but all 4 of us will be here for at least 1 more!
Good week this week--to go along with the "Light the World" activity we are doing additional missionary based challenges for the members. So we made little boxes that look like presents, and filled them up with papers that say things like "Invite a friend to the Christmas Sacrament meeting" or "Give out a Book of Mormon to a friend for Christmas" for adults and " Say prayers with your little brother/ sister before going to bed" or "visit a lonely or sad friend" for children. The challenge is to complete them by December 31st. As they complete these activities and the ones on the calendars, they put star stickers on this world map which the other elders and sisters in the area made. So little by little our world map gets full of stickers as we light the world!
To get the members involved, we went to almost all of their houses last week, and sang carols to them, then gave them the challenge. They were excited and enthusiastic to participate! It was really fun to visit them in their own homes-- and they were all so kind to always give us snacks and things. Especially fruit. It is a part of Korean culture to snack on fruit a lot, or eat it as dessert. So the members just keep cutting apples, persimmons, Korean pears, etc, and even when your full, there are five more in the bag and they show no signs of slowing down. I love fruit though, so it's great! :)
One highlight of the week was meeting A_. He said that his wife wouldn't be able to come to the meet us because of their newborn baby, but they showed up together! We taught about faith, and acting in order to strengthen and grow our faith. We invited them to pray together as a family, and they accepted! It is so neat to teach A_ and his wife-- A_ has no religious background but his wife grew up going to church. Both of them are just good through and through, very loving, and down to earth. Please pray for them this week that they will feel the Holy Ghost as they read the Book of Mormon, and feel the truth of the Restoration as they read the pamphlet we left with them. Thank you!
A quick little message-- as we have been doing our Book of Mormon mission challenge I again found, to me, the coolest person in the Book of Mormon-- Captain Moroni! I looked through the verses about him and found some of my favorite things. In Alma 48 it tells the story of how Amalickiah uses deceit, murder, and flattery to become king of the Lamanites. It then contrasts that with Moroni, who, at 25 years old, was commander of all the Nephite armies. He was a trusted and loved and powerful guy! Why?
1) He remembered God. It mentions time and again how he knew where his success came from, that men like Moroni shook the powers of hell, that the devil had no power over him. Before Moroni prepared his armies he "prepar[ed] the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God" (Alma 48:7)
2) Moroni didn't tear down. He strengthened. He didn't delight in bloodshed nor did he attack others if he could avoid it. (vs 10-13) He built others faith, hope, and love, helping them remember who they were, the fight they were causing for, and inspiring them to fight out of love for God and family rather than hatred.
3)He was smart. In fact, the scriptures say "perfect understanding." (Alma 48:11) And it is shown in his actions as he is always one step ahead of the Lamanites.
4)Physically fit and strong (vs. 11)
5)He loved his country and did all he could to help and serve it (vs11)
6)He was grateful for all he had been given. His heart did "swell with thanksgiving to his God" (vs 12)
I love Moroni! And I am so grateful for the men and women like you all in my life who live these same attributes and inspire me to be better. I invite you all, and myself as well, to pick one of the characteristics of Moroni that you may lack in, and try for 1 day to improve at it! Just one day :)
Love you all so much! I have about 25 minutes left so I will try to quickly answer your personal emails. It is kind of slow sometimes because we only have one computer so I had to email on the phone.
Love,
Elder Beckett
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