Elder Beckett in Korea: March 2018

This week was fun! We had the old missionaries leave, which is always sad, but feels right... also the new missionaries came in! I got to drive the new elder back from the airport in Gimhae, which is fun! Korea driving can be intense because the city is just big and crazy, with taxis and city buses, but overall the speeds are slower than the US.

Let me map out my day last Tuesday. At 3:30 a.m., we took our German Elder to the airport! Yeah, I look tired...

8 am: Breakfast at President's house. We took a break on the couch! :)

A candid picture of me at the airport. (more pictures at the bottom of my message.)

We had lots and lots of meetings this week, for training. One every day except Saturday. On Saturday we met one of the new investigators we found last week again (his name is K), and originally our ward mission leader had arranged for a member to come, but it turned out that the member was unable to help us... So we asked our 29 yr old ward mission leader to come, and he said he would! After meeting, our ward mission leader and K realized that they had known each other in middle school! We had a fun night getting kimchi chigae, a kimchi soup, with rice and all you can make fried eggs! We ate a lot of eggs, haha. I always proudly tell people that we raised chickens growing up, so I know how to make and eat eggs. Grantsville pride. ;)

K came to church, and it was good! Please pray for him to read the Book of Mormon and continue learning about the Gospel! And strengthen his faith in God-- he doesn't really have religion.

This week we had all the training meetings, as I mentioned... Well there is a kid in our mission who was called to be a zone leader, and he is really young... being in his 5th transfer, I think? When he walked into the meeting, I could tell something was up. He was just pale-faced, so nervous. I asked if he was sick, and he said he just felt like he didn't belong there.

I had an opportunity to speak at the next meeting, me and Elder Y had a bit of time. I felt like the Spirit kind of guided me what to talk about. President Jeong had told me the day before to not prepare but just follow the spirit. Right before the meeting I was thinking about the young, nervous elder, and I thought about what I could say to help him. I was thinking about a scripture that had been mentioned in a talk that dad had sent me a couple weeks ago. I want to share the message I did in that meeting, or at least a similar one with you all, because I feel like the Spirit was leading me what to say.

There are times in our lives when we are given a calling, an expectation, standard, or goal that seems far above our ability to complete. It can be overwhelming and discouraging. We may want to give up. I was thinking about one example of this, someone who I love and respect. I will show you a picture of him.

This is a picture of President Thomas S. Monson, a prophet of the Lord, who passed away recently. He was called as an apostle at age 33. Can you imagine how he must have felt? Look at the emotion on his face. I can't understand what we must have felt. He accepted the call, and became the great man we know him to be.

We may have times where we are called to a new calling, when President Jeong sets a new rule that may be difficult to keep, or a mission goal that is quite high. We may not think we can do it.

We are very aware of our inadequacies, insufficiencies, and the things we lack. It is not easy. But I know that the Lord will qualify those whom he calls. He knows each one of you. He knows your hopes, and your dreams, and your concerns, and your worries, your strengths and your weaknesses. Trust him. I know that this is His work. I know that this work is possible because of Jesus Christ. And as we place our focus on him, we will be able to accomplish it.

To end, I would like to quote President Monson, in a talk he gave in 2012.

"Courage is the word we need to hear and hold near our hearts—courage to turn our backs on temptation, courage to lift up our voices in testimony to all whom we meet, remembering that everyone must have an opportunity to hear the message. It is not an easy thing for most to do this. But we can come to believe in the words of Paul to Timothy:

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

'Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.'

Love you all! Have a great week! And remember that the Lord is on your side :)

Elder Beckett

At the bus station saying goodbye to one of the Korean sisters.

I found a 대전 bus for Allie!

Goodbye sister!

To the airport to say goodbye to an American sister.

Airport picture, goodbye Sister!

Headed to the train station for the rest of the Korean missionaries.

Back to the airport that night for the new missionaries coming in.

Welcome to Korea, new missionaries! Busy, full day!

Pictures at the training meeting the next day.

Training meeting.

Hey my dear family!

(Mom here: looks like Nate's giving us a smolder...)

Last week was the last week of the transfer... I am now a 14th transfer missionary. Do you know how crazy that is? I was sad yesterday when I realized just how fast time is passing. Don't get me wrong, I am excited to see all of you, but... I am going to be really sad to leave my mission in a few months. I have 4 months left. Four months ago I was just starting my 2nd transfer in Haeundae... That doesn't seem like long ago at all. I promise to make the best of these last few months, give all I can in the time I have left, leave in all on the court, so to speak.

PS Me and Elder Y are both staying in Oncheon, so that is fun! And my last companion, Elder KTH was called as an office assistant, so he is coming to be here on the other team. Should be great! I love him a lot, we will have a lot of fun!

Here is Elder Y and me with Brother C from Haeundae! He received the Melchizedek Priesthood!

Last week we were able to meet a lot of new investigators! This transfer has been a little difficult to find and things, partially because of other responsibilities, but last week it all came together!

One cool miracle: Me and Elder A, who was my companion in Youngdo, were on exchanges here in Oncheon. We wanted to find a place outside to do language study. We went into this place called Paris Baguettes, a bread shop. It is super good. I love bread. And I love Paris Baguettes! But something felt a bit off... The music was a bit loud, but something else felt not quite right. So we left. We walked passed this restaurant called Lotteria, which had SUPER loud music on the outside speaker. But Elder A said, "Maybe it is just outside that's loud..." So we went inside. Well sitting there inside, right by the door was a South African man named E. We said hello to him, ended up sitting with him, and talking with him about his life, his studies, etc... Really neat guy. Then I asked if he had heard about our church. He had heard a bit, but he said, "Show me what you've got! I have all the time in the world." So we ended up teaching him the whole restoration lesson, and it was a really cool experience! He was really nice and listened to it all, asking questions. He said he would love to come to our worship service sometime, too, as well as practice some Korean together! I got his kakao talk id, so we will contact him and try to meet him again.

Allie--do you recognize this man? You served under him in your mission, then he moved to Busan and was my Bishop in Haeundae! Small world, huh?

Sometimes we lift weights with President! :)

I want to share a quick story-- kind of a parable.

There was once a town that was suffering a long drought. For a long time there was no rain there. And so the people began to fast and pray for rain. In fact, they picked a specific date to pray for rain to come on.

According to plan, they fasted, and prayed, and hoped for rain to come. The day finally came-- the day they had been praying for. All the people were to meet in the town square. And they did-- all of them.

Yet only one of them brought their umbrella.

And so this short parable highlights something that I would like to point out-- sometimes we pray and have faith in something, but we don't choose to act according to our faith-- or you might say that we don't have faith enough to affect our actions. In this story, all the people prayed for rain, but only one person in the town believed in the answer to their prayer strong enough to bring their umbrellas!

One thing I have learned as I have served as a full-time representative of Jesus Christ is that our faith needs to be strong enough to influence, if not completely change, our actions. It could be said that some of the greatest strength that faith has is, in fact, that it changes our behavior. We believe in a force, a power greater than ourselves, and the believe changes our expectations, our hopes, desires, and eventually our actions.

This week I read Alma 56 in the Book of Mormon. It highlights the story of two thousand young men-- young enough to have never fought in the many previous battles their people had fought in. I assume they were probably late teens, maybe some early twenties.

Their enemies? The Lamanites, experienced, hateful warriors, seeking to put in bondage, if not destroy, the Nephite people.

These young men bravely go to war against the greatest army of these Lamanites, .

Their commander Helamen recorded of them, "t[N]ever had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: 'Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go...' Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

This brave band of young men goes against the massive army of bloodthirsty Lamanites... and wins. How?

Helamen recorded again, "there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war...they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them." (Alma 56-57)

These young men were full of faith in God.

This faith led to a desire to obey-- to obey exactly.

This exact obedience both increased their effectiveness in war, and opened the windows of Heaven, that God could bless and protect them.

I know that faith changes us. It changes how we act. We can choose to act according to our faith. To bring our umbrellas when praying for rain, to do all we can do... to obey with humble exactness.

I invite you to act... to act on your faith. Sometimes we don't act in harmony with our beliefs, and our faith is stagnant. But as we let our faith change our actions... miracles arise.

I know that's true.