Transfers - Staying in Gooding! Great Things are Happening!

I am staying another transfer in Gooding and getting a new companion! I love it here and I am glad to stay. Elder Taylor was awesome so I am sad to see him go! 

Had some great things happen this week: 

#1 - New People to Teach!

We have been visiting this couple and just talking briefly at the door and helping with a few things and this week we went to see them and they let us in and the wife told us to teach her husband cause he wants to be taught! It went great and he accepted a baptismal commitment for November 14th. His name is Rodney, and he is 86 and never been open to missionaries until now, the wife said that it totally surprised her that he is committing.

Met this guy named Brandon through a ward member. Had a super good lesson with him, then the following day we had a church tour, and we showed him the baptismal font and ended up committing him to baptism on Nov. 21st! He is very prepared. Has had a lot of things happen in his life that he says are pointing him toward God, and then one day this ward member showed up on his front step and he took that as another sign that he should listen to the missionaries. 

#2 Hayden is going strong!

He has been clean of smoking/addictions since Wednesday! He drank this 'elixir' that has milk, garlic, and tobacco blended together and immediately after drinking it you have to smoke and it makes you sick so then every time you have urge to smoke you feel sick and don't want to! Well Hayden did it and is set for baptism on Nov. 7th! We are stoked for him.

#3- Sabbath Day was great!!

Had awesome primary program in 3rd ward, and a lot of nonmembers came and they definitely felt the spirit, and we might have more people to teach soon because of it.

Fireside last night was awesome. Great talks by some ward members that are converts and 2 awesome musical numbers. Spirit was very strong and we some non-members/less-actives come and enjoyed it a lot! about 50+ total people there!

I have such a love for these people. It is crazy how in just one visit with some people you come to love them and see them as Heavenly Father does, and all you desire for them is to have the same knowledge and feelings that the gospel brings. As a missionary I have faced a lot of disappointment in seeing those I have come to love, reject what I hold close to my heart and know is true. It is those moments that happen every so often where someone gets it, and they feel the Spirit and desire more of it. Those moments that build my testimony, and help me to realize ALL of my efforts are more than worth it!

I was at a wedding this week and ran into a member from my first area! He told me of a family that was converted while I was there and how they are doing now. Not everything is perfect and great, but it was amazing to hear they are still in the gospel and striving to be better and continuing to press on! That is all we must do is keep striving!!

Love y'all,

Elder Bean

Winter ready!

Message for Greg's birthday

The Power of Teaching with the Spirit

It was a pretty good week! 

Last Monday we had to be in Twin to get our car windshield fixed, and Bro. Ray from Gooding came and took us around to shop and then we went hiking down to Pillar Falls. (never again, that hike almost killed me because of how steep it was) Got some cool pics though!

Tuesday we did exchanges and I went to Wendell with Elder Calderon. Had a good time and some cool things happened! Last week with Elder Taylor we met this guy that worked in Gooding, and during this exchange I met him again! We taught him the Restoration and he agreed to have the Elder's come back! Also we just knocked a random door and ended up teaching the family about how the gospel blesses families in just 5 minutes, and they agreed to a return appointment! 

Friday we had Adult Temple Baptisms! Two recent converts went for the first time so we were able to go to! It was a great experience and we had about 20 adults there. 

Yesterday Elder Taylor, Bro. Scott (Ward Mission Leader), and I spoke in sacrament meeting. I talked on 'How Christ Invited and Why?" Elder Taylor spoke on 'Sacrifice' and Bro. Scott spoke about his own conversion and the Power of Invitation, and went over the ward mission plan and challenged the members of the ward to read "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" By Clayton M. Christensen, and to set a date to invite a family to come into their home and be taught by the missionaries. Already have seen good fruit come from it! Members have told us how they have set dates and are going to invite to activities and such! 

Last night had great experience while teaching a member family. We had them role play as if they were an investigator family and we taught them about how the Gospel Blesses Families and tied in the message of the Restoration and it was powerful! At the end they commented about how much the spirit was there and then said without us even asking: "We need to find someone to hear this message". It was so cool to see the power of the Spirit influence people to want to be better and to share that with others.

Another neat experience this week was that Hayden told us he wants to drop his addictions and be baptized on November 7th. Lexi is still planning on being baptized too, just hasn't decided which day she wants yet. I am truly blessed for this opportunity I have to be in the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To feel and witness the Spirit work through me as a missionary and change the lives of others. I have a deep love for this gospel and how it TRULY blesses and helps our families enhance the quality of life, invite true happiness into the home, and provide peace through trials. God Loves us and has given us this glorious message! We must share this with those we know. We must invite. Even if they say no. We still must invite.

Love y'all!!! 

-Elder Bean

Pillar Falls

We Really Witnessed a lot of Small Miracles this Week, and has Grown My Testimony in our Savior!

It was a pretty solid week here. Every week my love for the area and the people just grows so much. I have gotten really close with the wards here! 

Highlight of the Week:  Elder Falabella of the Seventy came and toured our mission. We had conference with him on Friday and it was phenomenal! He didn't prepare anything, but went totally by the Spirit and taught us what we needed to hear. His big focus was on families! How we need to be bringing families together in the gospel! Cool thing is, we just picked up a couple new families to teach, so we are hopeful to see these things happen.

We are hopeful still to have a couple baptisms this month, but most likely next month due to some things coming up. Always stumbling blocks and it is such a task to overcome them a lot.

Our new focus in the wards is to go and visit all of the Ward Council members and their families and teach them about how the gospel blesses families and commit them to pray about a family they can invite to hear more about these very essential restored truths! We have seen good things come from it already and it has invited a new spirit into our messages that we share. This week ahead is going to be a busy one for sure. We have a lot of appointments planned out and new visits to make and this Friday we will be going to the Temple to do Adult Baptisms with some of our Recent Converts!

We really witnessed a lot of small miracles this week, and has grown my testimony in our Savior!

I love y'all and I have such a love for the experiences I have every day. Too many to fit into an email, and I have to have some stories to tell y'all when I get home so I can't tell ya everything!! :)

-Elder Bean

P.S. While helping someone move in, I met this guy from Eagle, ID and he knows Art Rascon very well! (Art Rascon is a news reporter in Houston and he is in our Stake in the church and we have gotten to know him!)

We had such a sweet day today. We were in Twin to get our car windshield repaired and a member from Gooding was in Twin and he took us to DI and bought us pants and a shirt (The pants and shirt I am wearing in this picture that Sis. Harden just sent) so that we could go hiking and not get all dirty! We hiked down to the Snake River, to Pillar Falls and holy cow it was so steep and it just about killed me. It was sweet though and we got our car back just in time and headed back to Gooding! We were going to go to Box Canyon too but time got short.

 

A Personal Relationship with God Endures Through ALL Time and Eternity

It was a good week overall!

General Conference weekend was very uplifting! It was definitely a good one to watch. 

We had some good successes with those we taught this week! We did exchanges and I stayed here and got Elder Sautter on Friday. We also had a Zone Meeting on Preparing better to be successful and effective.

Met with Matthew this week and had a very good lesson on the Restoration with him and he is interested and has the desire!

Hayden is doing well and came to the Priesthood session with us. He is pondering about baptism still and he wants it, just other things in his life right now. Same goes for Steven. Found out Jeremy is a member already, and his dad Tim is really busy with harvest season right now so in about 2 weeks he says he can focus more on meeting with us.

Yesterday had neat experience with being where we needed to be at the right time. Got to talk with a lady that I have not seen for 3 months! She accepted a Book of Mormon and a return appointment for this week! 

We had a good lesson last night and used Mark 8:34-38 . Such a good scripture! If we gain the whole world, but have lost our soul then what good have we done? Does not matter how much money/fun we have now, if we do not build a relationship with God and follow his commandments then all we will have is temporary happiness/money/fun right now but that all ends the moment we leave this earth. So in reality nothing is gained. A personal relationship with God endures through ALL time and eternity. While those temporary pleasures are lost and go away and only endure a very small moment of our life.  WE build that relationship by coming to know God. We can only do that by  1)communicating through prayer (communication is most important in any relationship) 2) studying His words in the scriptures and 3) LIVING IT. following his commandments and Obeying his words.  This gospel has so many tools given to us to focus on our personal relationship with God, our personal path in life, AND it even extends to our family's relationship and path. All the laws and ordinances point the way to eternal life and fulfilling these 3 things. God loves us, and our families and has blessed us with restored truths to uphold his doctrine and plan for us. We must all seek for these truths and we will find them, through diligent study and prayer.

I love y'all and take care~!

-Elder Bean

How can I become closer to Christ: listen to or watch General Conference that was this past weekend for the uplifting messages given.

Cutting Elder Taylor's hair last week

Finished product!

 

Now everyone wanted a haircut

Halloween decorations at the Harden's house

Birthday message for Olivia