January 13, 2016 Keep Giving it My All (Handwritten)

I miss you all so much! Sorry I haven't written in a long time, it's been really busy here in Stoney Creek! My goal is to inform you guys about the little things that I haven't yet told you guys. There's been a lot obviously because there's' a lot that happens on a mission! I guess I should start with how I've been doing. I've been doing pretty good! The whole Laura and Manny thing was kind of heartbreaking but I've moved on. With them out of the lop though our teaching pool is definitely not at its finest! We dropped 3 of the investigators out of the 6 I came into the area with. We call them Eternal Investigators (I don't know if you guys called them that or not Dad on your mission). Basically missionaries have been teaching these guys for a long time. I really don't know why they kept them. I assume for the numbers though. We have Jenka who is from Czechoslovakis and is married to a less active. He was baptized when he was eight and never really went back to church. Oops I said, married, they are actually not married. So we are trying to teach them and get her baptized! She actually at one point was close but she came across the endowment video online so it spooked her out. Kim is another investigator who has been investigating for a year and 2 month. She really wants to be baptized really bad but she is waiting for the government to approve their divorce papers, and so it's been a long process(it's been about a year and they haven't received it).So it's been a waiting game with her, she'd going to get baptized as soon as she gets them. I talked about Pat a little bit in my emails home, she was the one who started crying when she was saying the prayer after the Restoration lesson we had with her at Tim M. We haven't been able to meet with her since. She kind of just disappeared. Just like all of our other investigators we found this transfer!  It kind of sucks but other people have their own agency. We teach such short powerful lessons so I would have thought people would want to learn more! So we've been teaching and contacting a ton in this area just trying to build up the teaching pool! The only new converts we have are the S's. They got baptized 4 months ago and then moved over her 2 months ago! They've  been doing pretty good, we've been trying to get them out to church a lot more then they have been. Our returning members are Brother G and Sean S. Brother G is an older guy probably 65 ish and he comes to church every Sunday but doesn't take the sacrament and Bishop says that he's been having some problems so that's why he hasn't been taking it. He hasn't received his endowment and I will tell you how we know that haha. We went  over to his house to teach him a lesson. He opens his door and he's shirtless with suspenders and he's probably 200 lbs overweight so it wasn't pleasant at all. So that kind of freaked us out a little bit. He was expecting us over too…. so it was definitely one of the more weird lessons I've been too! Sean S has an addiction with cigarettes. He smokes a pack a day which is nasty and is drinking coffee. He knows that its wrong and he feels guilty every time he does it. He just can't stop and he's tried in the past many times. So we've been trying to work with him and trying to help him out and teach him addiction recovery stuff. So there's the whole teaching pool right there! We've been trying to meet with the 70% of the Ward who are inactive or less active but we've been getting a lot of no's and doors shut in our faces haha! This is for sure the hardest area I've been in so far but I've been learning so much. I truly have. I think about how much disappointment and heartache the Savior had/has to go through trying to get people to do good and it warms my heart and has given me such a stronger love and respect for Him. Yeah sometimes life sucks and can seem like a drag and we all come across disappointment and sorrow sometimes in our lives, but it's nice to know that the Savior of the World had to go through something beyond my own comprehension and can relate to anyone in this world. The last thing he wants us to do is to get down on ourselves and quit! So, I'm going to keep giving it my all despite the dips in the road. I'm so glad that I have you guys as parents who have taught me that there are going to be hard times in my life and have shown me how to react and to proceed in life with my head held up high, so can you! Elder D is doing good. We butt heads sometimes but it's to be expected. He's one of the more trunky missionaries I've been around. He talks a lot about girls and music a lot. He talks about how much time he has left on his mission all of the time and what he'll be doing when he goes back, haha but he still works hard. It definitely feels like I'm the senior companion!  lol but that’s alright. It's starting to get cold up here! It's been about 2 degrees on average this past week. It's supposed to be -13 Monday so I'm excited for that! We have a huge district. I think 7 companionships are in it. I wasn't ever supposed to be in this one apparently because I was going to be in Sister C's district and somehow the AP's new about the whole situation so they put us in the other district! Most of it came from Sister C. I feel like she's been telling a lot of people, but oh well. Anyway, I hope I was able to fill you in on a couple of things! I love the gospel! I love being a missionary here in Canada! I know the gospel is true and I love declaring it to people, it brings me happiness! I know the Savior loves me and loves you guys so much! I miss you and love you guys so much! I think about you every day and I hope everything is going alright back at home! I pray for you guys every day and will continue to do so. PS- thought you guys would like to see some of my talks from when I was a kid! So many memories!

Forever and Always,
Colten, Elder Beddes, Coco, Colteyboy

Brooke- I hope everything is going alright! Hope your grades are up and are enjoying high school. Do you ride the bus or get a ride from someone? I hear you're doing good in basketball! Glad Farnsworth isn't making you do a lot of ladders. I remember him making us run around  the baseball field as fast as we could, they were called triangles. It's weird that you are going to be a senior when I get back from my mission, my sisters grow so fast! Anyway, short but sweet, just know that I love you very much and I'm proud of you!

Amber- I hear you  are doing good in sports! Keep up the good work! I had a dream last night. I was teaching a lesson to some random family, and I looked down and I noticed that I was only in my underwear! It was terrible. I've been having a lot of dreams of me being a missionary. Elder D told me 2 or 3 weeks ago I was talking in my sleep and I was talking about church and ' awesome and fun it is". Haha anyway I love you so much!

Maleah- How are you today? I drew you a picture of my favorite movie! How is school? I hear you're doing good in sports, keep up the good work! Have you watched Ponyo or Fox and the Hound lately? What about our favorite movie to watch, All Dogs go to Heaven? Those are such good movies. I hope you are getting along with Spencer! I love the pictures and emails you send me! Thanks so much for being my best friend. I sure do  miss you. We are going to play so much and watch a ton of movies when I back, K?

Love you Coco

January 11, 2016 I Have Felt a Snippet...

Hey Guys!

haha I don't miss Harmons at all! Good ole Colton still working there. Is Big John still there? If you see him, tell him to email me. Thanks for the Gloves I really appreciate it! Should I wear the Italian shoes? How expensive are they? I can't believe you saw Elder Bednar that's so cool!! Did you talk to him at all? A wave? Way to go momma with basketball, you are such a good basketball player, and I mean it!! Well this week has gone by too fast! It was a fun week especially with Elder Vargus coming into the companionship! Elder Vargus is from Mexico City and he is a convert to the church. He got baptized about four years ago and he is a English speaking missionary. He honestly the funniest person I know!! He totally reminds me of Nacho Libre and you know how much I adore Nacho haha!! His Mexican accent just makes everything he says ten times better!! The time I spent with him made my whole transfer a lot better, I haven't laughed this hard and this much for a long time so I'm very grateful for him. He's been out for about 10 months and is a great missionary. He is serving in St. Davids (Niagra Falls). He just got called to District Leader. Oh yeah we got transfer calls yesterday!!! Drum roll please............ I'm staying in Stoney Creek. Elder Ditty is leaving and going to Chadum and I'm getting a new companion. His name is Elder Brand. I know absolutely nothing about him haha so I guess we'll see how it goes! Seems like yesterday I was just explaining Elder Ditty to you, time flies! Well since Elder Vargus was with us, we were running both Stoney Creek and St. Davids!! So we were using a ton of k's driving back and forth!! It was fun though. We were able to teach Pete three times. I don't know if I've explained him to you guys yet but he is about 70 or so and he was getting baptized this last Saturday but when the zl's came to his house to do the baptismal interview he was drinking iced tea!!!!!! ahhhhhhhh so frustrating, it was an honest mistake though. He had just forgotten and he said wasn't thinking so we have to push the baptism this Saturday!! He's a stud though and I love him. He's so funny and sarcastic! He is such a strong fighter!! He had the biggest addiction to smoking but he has been enduring to the end and hasn't smoked for about 2 weeks! We have such powerful lessons with him, and the spirit was so very strong when we were teaching him! I don't know if I'll be able to make it to the baptism or not but I'm so very grateful to be able to teach him and to see him progress towards baptism!! Not much success with Cindy. She was sick all week apparently so we weren't able to meet with her. We were able to talk with Dan!! We taught him the Restoration and he really enjoyed it! We weren't able to meet with him since but we are going to be teaching him the POS in a couple of days. It really is a blessing to see people get interested in what we are teaching cause it really is the spirit that does all of the work! To see the Spirit touch their hearts is one my favorite things as a missionary to experience! We found two new returning members this week who wanted us to come and share a message with them! I love it when people who haven't gone to church for a very long time start to realize that they are missing something very big in their lives and want to start meeting with the missionaries and start going to church! I love being a missionary!!!!!! I can't wait for this upcoming transfer!! It was a slower week but it's more motivation to find more people this week. I've learned so much this last week! I was able to talk to a lot of people this past week tracting and contacting and though we were rejected it taught me a lot of what the Savior went through. I love to talk about the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ because it truly is the most important thing that happened. Christ was rejected so much and words can't describe how much pain he must of felt. My testimony has grown so much of the Atonement and of Jesus Christ as I have felt a snippet, a little bit of what Christ had to go through, as people reject the messages that we share to people. It saddens me. I can't tell you how much care I have for these people and how much I know that the gospel truly can bless their lives. I'm so very grateful to be born into the Gospel and to have goodly parents who have taught me so much. :) I sounded like Nephi right there haha! I love you guys dearly and hope you have a good week! 

Forever and Always,

Elder beddes  

January 4, 2016 -13 Degrees and Loven it!

ahhh I feel so bad for Grandma! Tell her sorry it's my fault! lol how did you like the Canadian food? haha I actually like the ketchup chips and the Cadbury chocolate is my paradise here! Looks like you guys had fun in the snow! I loved that hill we used to go to! I remember running over momma and giving her whiplash. The stupid things I did that I didn't think beforehand about lol. That whole L thing gave me the chills. I don't want to think about marriage right now at all!! It's weird to think that that is the next step... ugh. well this last week has been a ton better. the laura and manny thing was disappointing but I didn't let it settle with me. We had a great lesson with Cindy that new investigator that you were wanting to know about. We taught simply and powerfully and she loved it. She said that she will pray to know if the things we talked about were true! She's an amazing lady and wants to know the truth. We are going to meet with her this week sometime since she is coming back to her house in Stoney Creek. She said she wants to be baptized and wants to continue on this path which is sweet!!! Her son isn't talking to her, but hopefully he'll start talking to her since she has been meeting with the missionaries. It's a weird way to get her to talk with the missionaries.... but I guess he gets  it done. lol I went on exchanges with Elder Lao the other day, he's from hong kong. His story is really cool. He met missionaries about 3 years ago and got baptized in hong kong. He was a member for about a year before he came out on a mission. He's been a missionary longer than he's been a member of the church. He didn't know English very well at all when he came to the mtc. He is an inspiration to me and to all of the missionaries in this mission. he's soo spiritually strong and is such an example!! we went tracting all day and placed some book of Mormons and got a couple of potentials but no one let us in. But that's alright, I love planting seeds!! We met with Dan our new investigator that we found and had a wonderful lesson about the restoration! He is starting from ground zero. He doesn't know if there is a God, what a prophet is, never prayed in his life, and so he wants to know and he loved the lesson! he's in old trucker guy that has a big heart! He's going to go to church with us next week and is going to pray to know if there is a god! He's such a nice guy!! We have been doing a ton of tracting and contacting  lately, I'm enjoying the cold actually. I think people will be more willing to let us in if it's negative something out there. ;) For New Years Eve we went to a members house to have dinner it was really good. But we had to go back to the apartment at 7 to weekly plan. I woke up at 12 with the fireworks going off! New Years Day, it was a ghost town here in Stoney Creek. Everybody was sleeping in and hung over! lol so we tracted for a little while then we went to Bishops house and played some games over there and had dinner! :) do you keep in touch with Sister Hobbs momma? Just wondering. Well that's been the highlight of the week. Oh yeah.. we are going to be in a tripan this week with Elder Vargus who is a chubby Mexican and is hilarious haha is coming into the companionship! His Elder is going home early so we will be running both Stoney Creek and St. Davids this week, so it'll be fun!! :) Apparently there might be someone who could potentially get baptized this week in St. Davids. So we will be meeting with him and teaching him a couple of lessons before Sunday. He has to stop smoking and then I think he is set. That's all I heard though. So it'll be pretty cool if we taught him and baptized him! lo I love you guys so much! I miss you and hope everything back at home is going good!

Forever and Always,

Colten, Coco, Elder Beddes, Colteyboy  


*** Colten asked his Dad for advice and I wanted to post his response:

Here are my thoughts:  I didn't have the opportunity to reactivate anyone on my mission like you have.   I think the Lord rewards us for everything we do on our mission to bring souls back to him and that includes reactivation work and temple work.  

My first four baptisms were not mine they were the hard work of my senior companion.  Then I went probably four months or so without another baptism.  The lord then rewarded my companion and I for keeping all the rules and working our butts off and having faith.  I know really good people that did the above and did not have a baptism all mission or only 1.  

You have already helped many people and like we talked about last week you will probably never know the fruits of your labors until you reach heaven and receive your reward.  Missionaries get frustrated and throw their hands in the air and say it's not worth keeping all these rules and working hard like this.  It's so much more fun to just have fun.  Don't be like them.  Even if you don't baptize a soul you have already made large positive effects in many people life.  If the son of the Bishop goes on a mission because of you, you will have served a beneficial mission.  

Think along the lines of planting seeds and just helping as many people as you can.  I really think you will baptize some people but don't have mind set of I am not a successful missionary unless I baptize.  You will be miserable.  Count your successes the way the Lord does, one good deed at a time!

Love you Coltey Boy!  Choose to be happy, people will wonder why you are that way and want what you have, which is the gospel.  If you are bummed no one will want what you are selling!  

Dad

Exchanges with Elder Lao from Hong Kong

Cold day here in Canada. -13 to be exact

December 29, 2015 This Mission is Making Me a Man!

Hey Guys!

I wanted to thank you for the great presents that you sent again! It was a superb Christmas! I was so excited Christmas morning to open presents and then to Skype you guys! I loved the letters as well and the money that I received from Family and wanted to thank you for whoever sent me presents and whoever thought of me this Christmas! It truly means a lot!! This last week was a pretty fun/slow week. We didn't get the opportunity to teach as much as we would like due to appointments being dropped and investigators disappearing and also of course the Christmas Season. We did get to have a dinner appointment everyday this week which was very kind of the ward! I think I gained 25 pounds with how much food I've been eating and also the candy that I have! haha and yes momma we give a spiritual thought for every dinner appointment we go to! :) It was so good to see your guy's faces and to catch up on some things! I thought for sure I would go through the whole Skype call with you guys without crying but mom got me at the very end. haha the whole household (a total of like 10 people) were of course quiet so that they could hear me crying haha. We got Sister Hobbs to cry! She reminds me a whole lot of you momma. She tears up every time she thinks of her son going on a mission and is very nervous for him! I am so glad that I was an answer to their prayer, we truly do click. He loves sports and we have some good conversations about basketball. I want to invite some people in the ward to play ball but it's so difficult with everyone being so busy and our p day is always stacked. It also doesn't help with the new rule with playing sports with people, I'm still bummed out about that but oh well. I haven't shot a basketball in a long time! haha the weather here has been of course funky. I showed you guys on Skype a little bit of what I've been experiencing so it's been pretty much warm this past week. We actually got a lot of snow yesterday and it actually felt like I was in Canada for once. I think it was -4!! We received actually some bad news yesterday. We were at the Mandarin with a very kind young family talking about Laura and Manny and how we were so excited for them and their future when we get a couple of text messages from them. The messages were very shocking to us. They explained how they didn't want to continue down this path and how it doesn't feel right. They thanked us for our devotion to God and how much we helped them open their eyes to religion and faith but it isn't right for them. So we of course responded by asking the why's and the what happens. We think they ran into some anti. they were not able to go to Church last Sunday due to some unexpected family showing up to there house to have a last minute Christmas. We were trying to get into contact with them but they weren't responding at all until we got those messages at the mandarin. We think the family scared them and made them question of few things about Mormonism. Manny continued to say that Laura wanted to meet with her Pastor to talk about some stuff. They said that they felt rushed in this whole thing and feel overwhelmed about it. So I'm a bit mad, sad, and confused right now. They said that we could come over tonight around six and to have a conversation about it. So wish us luck tonight! I don't know to much about the Anti that's out there but I do know that Anti means absolutely nothing especially when you have gained a testimony of this church. I know the spirit leads all conversation about the Gospel and me and Elder Ditty will rely completely on him as we try and help Laura and Manny back onto the path to Baptism. Missionary work definitely doesn't come easy! But I can say that the challenges that I've gone through and am going through will be rewarding. Obstacles are there to signify how bad you want something. So WE AREN'T GOING TO GIVE UP!!!! hahah and we are going to keep working hard despite the hardships!! THIS MISSION IS MAKING ME A MAN!!!!   So yeah that's the news of Laura and Manny. Sorry for those of you that are a little depressed about reading that so I'm going to renew that happiness with this next story that I have. So the other day we were out tracting and we receive a message from the zone leaders saying that they found us a new investigator! This woman called the zone leaders crying. They couldn't really understand her so they were able to get her address and they went over to her to teach the restoration. They came to find out that her son was a new convert to the church and was baptized last year and I guess they got into a fight about some things and the son basically said he wasn't going to talk to her until she met with the missionaries! What I just said made it sound like they hated each other but we came to find out that the mother is very proud of her son and his pathway to Christ. She was very curious about the Mormon church and why her son was so happy. So she really excited to learn why her son joined the church and she herself wants to join. She said she's been waiting to be baptized for two years and was hoping her son would become religious! The Zone leaders taught her in Niagra falls cause she was staying for Christmas at her dad's house but she lives in Stoney Creek so we will be able to teach her so we are very excited for that! So those are the big things that happened this past week. There are a ton of little things that I could talk to you guys about that would take 10 pages but those were the biggest! :) Well I love you guys dearly and hope everything is well back at home. I pray for you guys every day and night and  I love the support you guys give me! xoxo

Love,

Elder Beddes

Merry Christmas 2015

Skype with the Fam 2015

December 25, 2015 Merry Christmas Family! (Handwritten)

Here is some Canada candy and other stuff from here! Hope you like it! Mom and Dad, it's up to you on how you want to distribute it all. There's another magical coin for Maleah. Tell her the first one I gave her gave her super strength, this one giver her super smart abilities and powers. I don't know if the shoes will fit Dad, but they look pretty goof for working in the yard! There's some literature for Atom if you guys haven't already converted her. Should help explain things a little bit. There's a present for Grandma and Grandpa in there too. I marked them. Juice is for you Dad! Mom, the mint chocolate Cadbury is yours! Also, I want Momma to have the choice of two other candies. Dad don't let her say no to that cause I know she will! My dear sisters, I love you dearly and enjoy the rare candy! I love you guys so much! Remember the true meaning of Christmas ok?
XOXO
Forever and Always,
Elder Beddes aka Coco

December 21. 2015 Scrooge and Niagara Falls

Hey there fam!!

I can't tell you how excited I am to talk to you this Christmas!!! So I'm going over to the Bishops house and we are going to have breakfast and then i'll probably get on around 11 or 12 so that's like 9 or ten your time!! I think the bishops wife will call you the night before and let you know!! BUT I"M SO EXCITED!! Christmas definitely doesn't feel like what I've experienced all of my life! haha no watching my favorite Christmas Movies or listening to Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra Christmas Music. And it definitely doesn't look like Christmas up here! haha it's like 8 degress Celsius for Heavens Sake and no snow at all!! But hey I'm still lovin it because I love helping other people out during this season and that's what it's all about. I love the feeling you get when you talk to a ton of random strangers on the street about why we celebrate Christmas! I'll tell you an experience that I had that's kind of funny! So we were handing out these small Christmas cards to people about why a Savior was born and this was like the first day of December. And I see this older fellow on the corner of the street and I walk up to him and start talking to him and he of course does the whole "Who the heck are you and why are you talking to me?" face haha and I say "We are the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we are handing these cards out to people so that they can discover why a Savior was born. Are you excited for Christmas?" And he suprises me by saying "No, I hate Christmas." and he walks away. I WAS SHOCKED!! Who knew that there was a living scrooge on the corner of a street!!!!!! I thought everybody celebrated Christmas!!!!!! I guess not.... I was quite sad. haha anyway the moral of the story is to be grateful for the families that you are in and have a good time this Christmas Season and to remember why we celebrate it!! It's already a bit odd to not spend time with my family and it can be depressing at times but that's another reason I'm out here is to share that Christmas Spirit that I've experienced with my family in the past with others!! I think I've talked to over 500 people about the Savior and Christmas and it brings me great joy to proclaim it!! Laura and Manny are amazing!! We taught them the Law of Tithing and the accepted it like it was nothing at all. We only have to teach them a couple more things and they are small. We've taught them all of the big stuff and they are progressing a ton!! They've gone to the Christmas Party and they went to Church yesterday!! Manny in Priesthood class was a stud! He was participating like he has been a member all of his life. I heard Laura had a good time in Relief Society as well! They love it so far!! Mom I didn't have enough time to print out your testimony and i'll print out right now and show her thanks so much for doing it!! She's going to love it!! We are planning on having their marriage on January 8th!! And then they'll probably be baptized the 16th!! They are so excited and so am I!! They are such an awesome small family and I love them! Mom you had a question about how we found them. They were actually on a paper with all of the potential investigators. Apparently missionaries came by their house a couple of years ago and Laura and Manny weren't ready at that time and I guess the missionaries name came back. So we decided to go and see if they were home and they invited us in!! So it's pretty awesome!! I don't know if I told you this or not but Manny is a professional fighter for his weight class. he's a skinny dude but could destroy me. He's like 140! Laura loves to sew and is a stay at home mom! She's so sweet and kind! So, pretty much I'm soooooo excited for these guys and the pathway that they are going!!! We found 3 new investigators this last week which is pretty awesome!! We have been working really hard in trying to build up the teaching pool since it kind of sucked when I came in... haha we had to drop like 3 eternal investigators this last week, so kind of sad but we are finding more and more. I love you guys so much and I can't wait to talk to you soon!!!

Forever and Always,

Elder beddes

PS- Just read your testimony momma! That was beautiful. I'm crying in a public library right now haha thanks so much. she's going to love it!!!

Niagara Falls!!!

Niagara Falls City

Niagara 

Niagara 

Hike I went on today!

Sweet!

'The Mountain'- Stoney Creek

Outside the apartment at night

Zone Conference- Elder Beddes???

December 14, 2015 In The Spirit of Christmas

Way to go A!!!! Good job making the jr high team. It's too bad that you can't play at Farmington but that's ok!!! At least you know that you made it! haha Good job B with more playing time!! Keep up the good work!! M that is great shot form!!! You are a good shooter!!! Keep it up!! Well this week has been a really good week!! I've been working harder than I have been and it's paying off!! We've taught over 15 lessons in a week to NC RM and INV!! We've even set a baptismal date and marriage date for Laura and Manny!!!! They are so solid!!! They are in there early thirties and they have two little kids that are just adorable. The daughters name is Eva and she is like 8 months old and the sons name is Sawyer and he's so cute!!! They want the Gospel in their lives so that they can raise their kids in a good environment. They are keeping all of their commitments. We have taught them The plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of wisdom, the restoration, families can be together forever, prophets and the book of Mormon!!! And they love it so far!!!! They only have one more lesson and that's the law of tithing!! So wish us luck with that lesson and I pray that it'll be alright!! Laura has been watching Mormon messages and has been reading The book of Mormon and another book by an apostle called Our Search for Happiness. It's a really good book!!! She also chats with other Mormon Moms and asks them questions about things!! She loves it so far. Manny is awesome too!!! He is a man of many talents. He is a UFC fighter and plays the guitar and is good at it!! They are both so kind and I love them!!! We bring members over to teach with us and they get along with them, so they are being well fellowshipped!!! Manny has come to church twice now and loves it. Laura has had so complications with the kids being up all night so she had to stay home and watch them which is sad but she is going to come to church the next three times for sure. The marriage date is going to be January 8 and the baptismal date is going to be January 9th so we are way excited!!! They came to the Ward Christmas Party last night and loved it!! Everything so far for them is running smoothly!! Momma if you could bear your testimony in email and talk about how the Gospel has blessed you and the family and send it to me as soon as possible that would be great. I'm going to get back on the computer later tonight and print it off and give it to Laura. If you wouldn't mind doing that, it would be great especially coming from a momma who has raising four kids and has a lot of experience. :) Make it all heartwarming too. ;) YOU'RE THE BEST!!!! So yeah that's what's up with Laura and Manny so far!! Keep them in your prayers cause the date is coming up quickly!!! If you guys have any advice for me in teaching this family I would greatly appreciate it. Like good Mormonmessages they would enjoy or good talks they would enjoy or just advice in general, let me know!

We have found three new investigators this last week!!! We taught Kim who we found contacting on a road. We met up last Wednesday at Tim Hortons and we taught The Restoration. It was such a spiritual experience. We asked her to say the closing prayer and she accepted. As she was praying she started to cry. When she ended the prayer I asked why she was getting emotional. She said that she had such a good feeling and that it felt good to pray to God. And I said That's the Holy Ghost telling you these things that we just talked about are true and the God loves you and knows you. I explained to her the feelings you get when the Holy Ghost is present. It was such a good experience!! She wants us to come back and teach her. She also accepted baptism so we'll see what happens! We also went to four family dinners this last week which was really nice!! There was one in particular that I liked the most. We went to a young family for dinner and the father was way cool!!! He was a bit fried and exhausted from working so much. He had barely started his own business and has to work all of the time and he has a new born baby and so he's way stressed out! But still he took the time to have us over for dinner and we really appreciated it. As we walking to our car after the dinner appointment I felt in my coat pocket money. I pulled it out and there was fifty bucks!! I immediately turned around and knocked on the door and they answered and acted like it wasn't their money but I'm pretty sure it was them!!! But they kept denying and I couldn't help but start tearing up!! The kindness and the spirit that I felt in that home was profound. And the hospitality of that young family even though they are really stressed about they're new work and the new born baby they thought about us and gave us money!! Blessings!! We didn't keep it though. We decided to put it in an envelope and put it on Laura and Manny's porch and drove away. They have a smaller house and they have really small kids and they needed it more than we did! So those were the highlights of my week!! There's so much more to talk about and I wish I could tell you every detail but I'm running out of time!! You may be wondering what kind of food that I've had to eat so i'll tell you a little bit of what I've experienced so far. I've eat mushrooms, tomoatoes, egg soup, fish chili, fish, pudding, onions, corn, beans, eggs, and other disgusting stuff. When it comes to dinner appointments with families, I pray that it'll be something good. If it isn't, it's making me a man. :) I'd like to bare my testimony cause I don't do it as often as I should. I know that my Savior lives. He loves each and every one of you. He knows the challenges and the struggles that we experience here on Earth and he wants that anguish and turmoil and heartache to be gone. All we need to do is allow him to do it. We must pray, we must have faith, we must read the scriptures, we must be a good disciple in order to receive peace, revelation, and guidance throughout this big storm that we are constantly in. I know that the Plan of Salvation is a Plan of Happiness!! I couldn't imagine the Celestial Kingdom being what it is without my three beautiful sisters M, A, and B, and my wonderful parents Kristie and Matthew. I'm so very grateful to be part of such an amazing family that supports me and loves me to the fullest!! FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!! I love being a missionary and sharing what I know to be true to those that need it. Especially to young families like Laura and Manny. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

God Bless,

Elder Beddes

P.S. I forget my cable thing for my camera so I can't post pictures right  now but I will try and do it tonight when I print off your testimony momma. :) I love you guys

December 7, 2015 Serving in Stoney Creek

Why hello there family,

I am glad that Grandpa and Grandma Berry are more at ease with moving to Utah. I love Utah so much they are going to love it. I can't believe Grandpa was in the business for that long!! Holy Cow he's had tons of practice!! Well you are probably wondering how everything is going for me here in Stoney Creek! It wasn't very hard to say goodbye to Elder Johnson but I kind of miss him though which is weird. Something about living with the kid for 3 months did something to me. haha it took about an hour and half from where Georgetown is to get to my new area! White lightning is pretty sweet!! We are getting along and we're having a good time! He is a very hard worker. We tract and contact a ton.... a ton more than what we did with Elder Johnson. I don't know if Elder Johnson was being lazy or just worn out cause he's about done with his mission but he kind of brainwashed me into thinking it was normal to particular things. Not bad things but just things we could have done a lot better. We could have tracted a lot more is what I'm trying to say. It's definitely different and it can be awkward at times talking to random strangers on the streets!! But that's part of being a missionary. Elder Ditty is a little trunky hahah he talks about home and girls a lot but that's ok. He stills works very hard. He has a fun personality. Our teaching pool is smaller than Georgetowns hahaha so the area is a ton slower than Goergetown's hahahah president must be trying to make me a man or something cause he sure does like putting me in hard area's hahah. There's only about four investigators that we have. Elder Diddy has only been in the area a transfer so he's still pretty new in the area and his old comp was in the area for six months and he found absolutely no success whatsoever which is kind of depressing but we have taken it as motivation to turn this place around!!! The area hasn't seen a baptism for two years so we are about to change that!!! I go to bed everynight feeling more proud of myself for working so hard and though we haven't found much success so far I'm taking it as a learning experience for me. I've come to learn that failure and disappointment is a passageway to success and happiness. Though the people here are crazy and the ward is about 120 people, I'm stilling keeping my chin up and having a good attitude!! It's kind of hard going to a new area and not knowing anybody in the zone or your comp or in the ward but I'm getting more used to it. I'm actually glad that we moved so much thoughout my life cause it's gotten me more used to change. Sorry had to log out and log back in again, the computer was going to shut down. Anyway, so yeah that's my area. Something funny that happened this last week- we went by a returning members house and he let us in. It was a bit ackward cause he was really quiet and he was working on something on the computer. Then he turns around and looks at me and just stares at me for a couple of seconds. Then he says "Are you a model?" hahahaha I was quite shocked and so I said no and then he said "Are you sure you don't do modeling? You are a very good lookin young man." hahaha it was quite weird. He's like in his 60's and is 300 something pounds and his house is a dump. StoneyCreek isn't the best area.. hahah lots of weird people. But it's all for the experience!!! The apartment is more ghetto than Georgetowns but it has a roof and we have heating so that's good!! Trying to count my blessings!! Niagara is thirty minutes away and we are going to try and go soon. A member has to take us though which is kind of dumb but it's a rule. So it's a lot harder to try and get someone in the ward to take us but we are going to try. Highlight of the week: We found two new investigators!!! Their names are Lauri and Manny!! They are awesome, they have two little kids that are 2 and 2 months old. They want to raise them in religion and we had a good lesson with them!! We have taught them about the Book of Mormon, the restoration, and about families and how they can be together forever!! They love it so far!!!! They have read alma 32, moronic 10, 3 nephi 11, and 3 nephi 27 already!!! Manny even came to stake conference yesterday and loved it!!!! They want to baptized and want to join the church!!!!!!!! They are not married though.... so we can't baptize them till they are married. But that's ok cause Manny already talked to bishop about it and they are going to get married soon and then baptized soon after!!! Hopefully we can get them married and then dunked in the month of December, it would be super sweet!!! So we are going to set a date for the marriage and for baptism very soon and we are going to keep teaching them the lessons and hopefully they will still have the desire to be baptized!!! Elder Diddy says that this is the most exciting thing that's happened here in Stoney Creek for a loooonggg time hahaha so I think we are getting blessed for our hard efforts!!! It's not a for sure thing though and I'm still a little hesitant because of what happened last time I set a baptismal date with Joe Thistle... but it's still something to be excited about!! So that's been my week!!! Hope you guys are doing alright!! I love you forever and always.

Elder Beddes 

New Address:
Elder Colten Beddes

90 King St. East Apartment 707

Stoney Creek ON L8G 1K7

Canada  

Oh one more thing... Sister C is in my zone...... NOOOOOOOOOOOO Hahahahah it was ackward when I shook her hand but that's ok!! haha I love you guys!! I'll tell you more details about the phone call thing on christmas next week.

New Companion, Elder Diddy from Oregon

A nice restaurant we went too last p day. my favorite now!!! it's called the mandarin

The apartment. on level seven. there's cockroaches every where in the apartment haha

November 30, 2015 Going to Miss Georgetown- First Transfer!

Hey guys!!

Pretty good week this last week!! sister tapley is doing a whole ton better!!! She's been strugglin with the alcohol addiction just because she's been drinking for a long time now. She's met with the bishop and is going to start attending church every week with her two daughters that 9 and 14. They haven't been baptized so hopefully they will get baptized soon. :) i probably won't be baptizing them though. You may wonder why I just said that, well here's why. I got a transfer call yesterday indicating that I am no longer going to be in Georgetown anymore! hahah elder j is staying in georgetown and is getting a new missionary. I'm going to be in stoneycreek!! Hamilton zone! hahahaha i'm going to be with a missionary who's name is Elder Diddy. Apparently he's pretty cool. Elder De Pieza my zone leader said that I'm going to like him a lot. He loves sports and he called him white lightning for some reason, so i'm going to be calling him that from now on! haha he's only been out for 5 transfers so we are both fairly new!!! But we are going to get it done!! I loved Georgetown. It will always have a special part in my heart since I was born and raised there. Though we didn't baptize anyone, I still had the chance to help many people out come closer to God and the Savior. Some of the highlights in Goergetown include: Helping Charles Moody receive his endowment. Helping Sister Tapley turn her life around. Helping Joe Thistle. And giving priesthood blessing to those who need them. I loved my companion Elder Johnson. I honestly didn't think we would get a long at all in the beginning of my mission but now we are really good buds. We had a good time and will miss him. A lot of our appointments were bombed which is quite disappointing but that's ok. I really wanted to see our new investigator Graham with the really nice backyard but he was busy apparently. I'm excited to see if Elder johnson and his new companion baptize anyone I taught in Georgetown!! That would be sweet!! thanks for all of the packages you have been sending me guys! I greatly appreciate it!!! and yes i'm keeping a journal. I write in it as often as possible. pretty much everyday!! So i have a couple of things to say just real quick. I'm pretty busy today with the move and all so this is going to be a short email. Where has Tara and Dan been???? I haven't heard from them at all on my mission? I mean I understand if they hate me and all but I guess it's cool. ;) hahah also I wanted to say something to meggin. if you could send me her address I would love to write her a letter. :) thanks so much for everything you have given me!! I love you so much guys and I think about you and pray for you all of the time. Hopefully everything is going alright. 

Forever and Always,

Love Elder Beddes/Beddis

P.S- B, you look pretty good out there!! I see you have Steph Curry's shoes on. ;) keep up the good work!! I love you 

P.P.S- M, I love you so much. I miss you so much and wish you were here with me doing missionary work. Everyone would be converted to the gospel if they just listened to you!! I think about you all of the time and love the pictures you have drawn for me. I keep them and hang them up!! Keep up the good work and be nice to everybody. Remember the special powers I gave you alright! xoxo love you

Doing indexing in the ward!!!

November 23, 2015 God Knows us Individually, He Really Does

Today was one of the best weeks i've had so far! Things seemed to just fall in place and miracles were happening! We had a great lesson with paul our investigator who is a very slow mover but seemed like he was happier when he said that he prayed and when he read the scriptures! So that's good, we also brought a member to come and teach with us and his name is Jeremy. He was less active for most of his life and just barely started to come back to church with his mom but the rest of the family doesn't go. He is 22 and he is a great guy. He is really debating whether or not to go on a mission. He just seems scared and just afraid of the future. So we talked to him for awhile about a mission and said why he should go on a mission. We built his confidence up and told him how missionary work isn't about you it's about others. He always was a little frightened about not knowing enough and how he doesn't feel like he qualify's but we told him otherwise. He said that he really needed to talk to us about it cause he was leaning towards not going but now he said that he is going because of the influence of me and elder j! we are so proud of him and his decision to go cause he would make a great missionary!! He was soooo excited too when he talked to him about what we do on a daily basis, some of the miracles and cool experiences that we've had! And he decided he is going to go! He's putting in his papers soon! WHOOOO!!! We also had a lesson with the philosophy minor... when we went inside his house we were thinking about dropping him if the lesson didn't go anywhere cause the past lessons haven't been going anywhere really. But we were going pretty hard with teaching, so we get in and he has a list of topics he wants to discuss! hahahah some of them were like why we wear magic underwear, turning our skin from white to black, tithing, law of chastity(that one got really deep and I wish to not talk about that one hahaha), and like other stupid false stuff people put on the internet!! Anyway it turns out that he prayed to know if there is a God a couple of times!! Which was really cool but he said nothing happened! SO we said that answers sometimes don't come all at once but they do come if we have a sincere enough heart having faith not only in God but in ourselves! SO we are going to continue to teach him cause he's somewhat going somewhere! haha We also found two new investigators this week!!!!! One's name is Graham and he has a gorgeous backyard. I show you a picture. He's met with the missionaries in the past and he is christian so we are going to work with him and hopefully get him the water. :) such a nice guy, he gave us cookies and drinks and loves to talk so we are excited to meet with him this week. Dave is also another investigator. He was a miracle actually. We were walking to his house which was like five k's away and a member pulls up in his jaguar and says hey do you need a ride? We were like heck yeah we do!! we didn't say that but we were pumped. so he drove us to dave's house and we were going to see if he was home cause he was taught in the past by missionaries and he had in old teaching record. So we get there and he's like "just intime. I needed you guys" we were like sweet whats up? He needed help putting something heavy on top of his roof which required three people!! He said I was praying for a miracle to happen cause there was no way that I was going to lift this by myself and you guys showed up!! There's a god huh? hahahaaha we said yup and that's why we are here! lol so that was pretty sweet! If we hadn't gotten a ride from that member and gotten there right on time he could have hurt himself trying to do it by himself. Also he said he had to put that up at a certain amount of time cause he something going on that was important! so he's excited for us to come and teach him more about the Gospel!! Miracles do happen!!! We also had the opportunity to go to our mission conference! Elder Perkins of the 70 talked to us!! It was so spiritual and I loved it!!! I got revelation not only for myself and how I can improve as a missionary but also for my area!! It was pretty sweet, he's a good teacher and knows the scriptures like the back of his hand. I want to get as good as he is with the scriptures and have been studying them with every opportunity I can!! I read them a lot in the car! hahah .We met with Sister Hicks!! She is the one who's father died and the family relationships were falling apart. :( she seems a lot happier though when we met with her. We have been dropping off cookies and letters to her and sending her daily scripture texts to gain her confidence and to lighten her up a little bit. we went on a walk with her and it was a very spiritual walk. we talked about the plan of salvation and also baptisms for the dead. she says that she wants to come back to church and once she starts to get back into it she want's to receive her patriarchal blessing also go do baptisms for the dead. we were like those are great goals and we'll be there every step of the way! she was actually going to go to church yesterday with her non member friend!! But it was the Montreal temple redidication! so the church was reserved for those who have temple recommends. it was a good thing we told her last saturday cause she was going to bring her as a surprise!! Sister Hicks is doing a ton better though. She said that we have played such a big role in her life. She has so much on her hands and it must be so hard for her with her two little kids and non member husband not doing anything. hahaha she's a trooper. One of my favorite experiences happened a couple of days ago. So we were going over to less active members houses(which are a TON) and we stopped by a woman who has been less active for quite some time. She opened the door and started laughing at us cause she new exactly why we were there. hahah she's like look i'm never coming back to the church. there's some things that I don't agree with and i've just decided not to go anymore. thanks for coming by but no thanks. Three days later we get a call from her. She was crying. She said Elders I need you to come over right now so i can talk to you. I hate to do this to you guys since you are so young but I need help. So I said of course we are coming over we are missionaries!!! We go over and she starts talking about her problems. She's been an alcoholic for a long while and it's been messing up the family relationship and she's going downhill because of it. She is married to a non member and everything is not going so well for her. She said that she NEEDS to come back to church and completely change her life around. She said if we had not been at her doorstep when we were she could have gone down a path she no longer wanted to take. She wants to change and will start to take addiction recovery classes. SHe set up a time to meet with the bishop and is very dedicated in changing!!!!!!!!! Holy Cow what a cool thing!!!! We are soooooo happy for her!!!!!!!! God loves all of his children and wants the best for us and wants to help us!! He may not show it the way that we want it to, but he truly does. People like that lady is the exact reason why i'm on my mission!!!! I love helping people change their lives!!!! Such a great feeling and want more of it!!!! hahaha I'll tell you one more story cause my fingers are about to fall off typing this much. we were at subway and the cashier was like "hey, you guys have a really pretty temple over there. I want to go in someday. Will you teach me more about it?" hahahah even though this guy wasn't in our area it was soooooo awesome to see how god prepares his children to except the gospel!! God knows us individually, he really does. Life may not go the way we want it, or maybe it's going the way we want and we feel like we don't need him, but I do know that he wants us back with him in the Celestial Kingdom. And he's trying his hardest to do so. He has people like me who are simple and weak and are nothing compared to the glory of him that are trying to proclaim the gospel to those that need it. and we all have that opportunity, it just takes faith. Alma 32 :) xoxox love you guys so much. 

Elder Beddes

'One of my favorite pictures so far. How great is the Temple of God!!!!'

Gingerbread cookie Ice Cream sandwiches!

'My friends'

Short cut to one of our areas. :0

Graham's backyard

Visit from Elder Perkins of the Seventy

Seems like yesterday at the mtc

MTC pic