July 4, 2016 District Leader

Well what a week! Not only for me but also for you guys apparently!! The summer is always way busy! I bet EFY was fun Brookie! I love EFY a lot, just don't go kiss someone like I did! lol waste of a first kiss! haha sounds like sports is still the common thing in the family as well! Keep it up, keep working hard! Well this week was a good week! Last week together me and elder h! I'm pretty sad. I had so much fun with that guy, so many memories. I learned a lot from him! I served the longest with him and visa versa! He's pretty scared to go to Stoney creek. he's training a missionary along with another missionary. he's going to be in a trio! I'm excited for him! I'm going to be with Elder Hernandez!! Don't know anything about him really. I'm going to be a district leader as well! So pretty nervous about that, but also excited! It's fun to serve the missionaries along with the people here in sudbury. I'll be learning lots, but hey that's what a mission is all about! Elder Bengzten is going home! He's pretty scared. He was a good missionary as well! I really was close to that guy, and I hope we can hang out after the mission! He has big plans ahead of him. I don't know the incoming zone leader but i hear he's pretty cool. So our week was pretty good lesson wise but for the participation at church was a little lackin. We were expecting 5 investigators to come (would have been our record) but only 2 showed up! The picture that was sent to you was the family that we are going to baptize August 6th. Melissa(the member) and her fiance Chris and the daughter Mckenna! Melissa and Chris are getting married in 19 days!!! Counting down both the marriage and the baptism! They are so nice, they feed us every week! They are progressing sooooo well. We have taught them every lesson except for one!! Chris has already given up word of wisdom problems and they are all willing to pay tithing! So very prepared! Curtis is already done with reading 2 nephi! It's as if he is already a member of the church(seriously, it's kind of creepy). He just has anxiety problems. We thought for sure that he was going to be able to come to church yesterday but he backed out again. :( I think he will make it out to church this week though. We've taught the first 3 lessons, and also talked about prayer and the holy ghost. He's doing really well, just needs to take a leap of faith! Fern (who hasn't come to church in over 10 years) and us went to the d's (old couple we reactivated) for dinner. Fern and the Devost's haven't seen each other for 5 years!! And they were getting along great!!! It was sooo nice to see, that Fern has reunited with his old buddies! Perfect fellow shippers for both parties. :) Well I gained a better knowledge of he Atonement this week. I was reading this little article about a dream a guy had that was really significant. He was in a room by himself and there were a bunch of filing cabinets everywhere. So he opening each of them, and they all had cards in them. Each filing desk was a certain memory that he had. Fun, funny, good, bad, scared, and so on. As he was reading some of the cards in each of the filing cabinets, having mixed emotions about them, he came across the one of the bigger filing desks. It was the filing desk full of the wrong choices and mistakes he had made. As he read each and every one of them he began to be very saddened to the point where he wanted nobody to see these cards. He tried destroying them but they couldn't be destroyed. On each of the cards was his own signature signifying that it was him that had made these mistakes. Then the door to the  room flung open and standing in the doorway was Jesus Christ. The man started to cry ever harder out of embarrassment of the many mistakes and sins that he had. He tried stopping Jesus as he walked towards him and the filing cabinet. Jesus started to cry as well when he saw that he didn't want him to see his cards. He walked to the filing cabinets looking though each card. He then walked to the one of all of his mistakes and sins. He looked through each of them. The guy didn't want to be there. He wanted to run away. He wished he had never made the mistakes. He wished there was a way that they could all disappear. Jesus Christ, feeling deep sympathy and mercy for him as he watched him cry began to sign his name over the mans. He signed every card and then gave him a hug and a kiss and then walked out the room. The man feeling the spirit very strongly walked to the filing cabinet to find that Jesus' name was written over his in red. Family and friends, I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. He has paid the price for all of us. We need to use the Atonement every day of our lives. I've experienced the love and the power for my self, and boy it truly is sweet! Don't take it for granted. Love you guys so much and remember that Christ is on our team. We can't and will not lose.... :)

Love,

Elder Beddes, Coco, jojonator        

Peter leaving on his mission:

Tucos a restaurant:

Picture from Melissa, Chris and McKenna:

The Zone leaders.... everybody watch out

June 27, 2016 Remember Who You Are and What You Stand For

Happy Happy Birthday to LeLe!!!!!!! I love you so much sweet girl you are getting so big! I wish I could have been there to celebrate it with you. You are so kind and loving. Everybody loves you and the person that you are! You are tough, loving, kind, nice, friendly, cute, full of charity, sweet, and all in all such a good sister/best friend!! Hope you had a good birthday!!! I'm glad you guys came back from Thailand safely and had a good time even though you didn't get a lot of free time! That's amazing how you found that guy! Hopefully he went to church! Nice job Amber for making the team and it sounds like you are having a good time and keep up the hard work, it'll pay off. Brooke nice job on getting the new job, hopefully you are getting in the swing of things now and you know how to make every drink ever thought of! This week was a slower week sadly but there were miracles happening and there will always be miracles happening in the Lord's work! Zone conference was amazing! I received a ton of revelation from it on how i can improve, and also how I can help the area improve. We also did a lot of practicing teaching. We call it role plays. We focused on teaching the restoration as simply as possible to people because it can seem really new to people! President gave a lot of cool and interesting tips. Some of which are Don't be afraid to be poor. Poor is good if you are working up to something and you have goals to achieve higher. Don't buy new things. haha and he talked a lot about marriage which shocked everybody but it was his farewell talk because he is leaving in a couple of days and he wanted to give us a couple of tips. I try not to think about it to much because I still feel like i'm 14! haha anyway.... got to see some old missionary friends. 3 zones went to it so it was pretty fun. Saw a couple of people from my junior high which was awesome!! We had some good lessons with Mckenna and Chris! They are excited for baptism in August. Taught them about the importance of CPR (church, prayer, read)! Brother Babin came along and bore powerful testimony of the importance of the church, it was amazing! Curtis is still solid as ever but is very hesitant and nervous when it comes to new things. He didn't want to come to church and we tried as hard as we could to have him come out but he feels like he needs to wait a little bit before he goes to church. We have told him literally everything about church what to expect but he still is scared. He said that he will come in the near future, and so I hope it's this week! Valerie (his mom) didn't want to join the lesson. :'( Hopefully she will continue to read the Book of Mormon and want to take the discussions with the missionaries again. Curtis is doing really well though we had a good lesson with him about faith and confidence! We found a Less active that elder h was working with in the beginning of him being sudbury. He had moved unexpectedly to some place in sudbury and we didn't have information so we couldn't get a hold of him and we didn't have his address! But we found him chillin outside of a store and so we got his info and we went the next day to go see him and we had a great lesson. he still knows the church is true and wants to come out to church! We had an unexpected person come to church yesterday! hahah it was pretty funny because during sacrament i was praying to have some more investigators make it out to church and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw "Cyan Pepper" walk in in shorts and a t shirt! He was the guy that was shirtless that we were playing basketball with a couple of weeks ago! He just decided to show up and stayed for all three hours!! It was sweet and now he wants to learn more! It's so exciting to see! Jose and his family are moving to Quebec City sadly so we said good bye to them the other day and they said that they will get a hold of the missionaries there and hopefully they will get baptized soon!! Another thing happened that was really cool to see! An old friend emailed me from EFY! And she was asking for advice about going on a mission because she didn't know whether or not she should go on one and so I sent her an email and this is what she said. "And then funny enough last Monday I woke up and read your email to me and your email didn't say anything special or anything but reading your email is what struck the spirit for me! After I read and opened your email that morning I was overcome with the spirit to the point where that's all I could think about ha :) so I told my parents about it that night and as soon as I said it out loud I knew for a fact it was what was right! And ever since I've just had this burning desire to go and haven't looked back haha! So that's kind of how it all came to be! So thank you for your example and goodness in my life! There's no doubt in my mind that you popped into my head to find your email and write you 2 weeks ago :) who would of thought! The lord works In such mysterious ways! But I couldn't be more excited and happy to go now!" So she sent her mission papers last week and she is excited to receive it soon! It really just testified to me how much of an impact you could have on people and you may not even know. The seeds that you plant in people could have such an impact on them. So always remember who you are and what you stand for because you never know who is watching and who's life you could touch! I've also seen how much going on a mission can bless you! Physically, mentally, and spiritually!! Now you guys may think this is funny but I find it miraculous and quite the blessing! Sooo as you may know I love going thrift shopping it's in my blood (thank dad;0) and so i've found some good ties lately!! A hugo boss suit that fits me! The best Jordans i've ever found at a thrift store. and we've been getting fed a ton and we have a lot of food in the fridge! lol Spiritually, i've been getting a ton better with teaching simply! My testimony has never been stronger! Mentally, I've been thinking about the people a ton more and how we can help them, they actually can't get out my mind! The work has been on fire lately and we a couple of baptisms coming up!! haha it truly is amazing to see! Well I gotta go guys! I love you all and thank you so much for the letters and the emails!! I wish I had 6 hours to email so that I can to email you all and write you all a lengthy email expressing how much I care and love you because I truly do! The church is true, couldn't say enough! ;)

Love,

Coco, Elder Beddes

Zone Conference!

Elder Herbert

June 20, 2016 It's The Still Small Voice That Strikes the Heart

Sounds like you guys are having fun and also working really hard! I loved the pictures so much! And that whole situation is sweet! Holy cow that would be so awesome! Do you think about your mission a lot when you are there dad? It's weird to see missionaries right next to you guys! haha How long will you guys be there for? Eating lots of good fruit? I love reading the journal entries that you send me, they are pretty funny! I can't believe you got called to go serve in your old area again! It would be funny if I got called to serve in stoney creek or georgetown again! OH by the way I just got a package today from you guys!!! thanks so much!!! I really enjoyed it, the pictures as well! The other elders looked at the pictures before I even did! lol they were pumped! Thanks for the journal as well, I needed that and the candies! Well this week was amazing first off! By far the busiest and fastest week ever! Seems like yesterday I was just writing last weeks email! We hit our record for lessons taught! 26! haha we were so excited about that! Many miracles happened this week I wish I could describe in great detail each of them! I'll try my best! So I talked a little bit about Curtis who was searching on Lds.org and thought that everything we believed it was true! We met with him and his mom Valerie! We taught them the Restoration and they loved it! Brother Walsh was there with us as well, and he is the perfect fellowship for them! They get a long very well, and he participated in the lesson very well which makes all of the difference! They have read most of 1 Nephi already! We set a baptismal date for them on July 3rd! Valerie wants to study it out more which is good but Curtis is a lot more prepared! It was cuttin it close though cause July 4th is the end of the transfer. But... they didn't end up going to church yesterday which is quite sad. I don't know if you guys know this or not but investigators have to come to church 3 times and also be taught all of the lessons, repented and be interviewed to be baptized! What were the qualifications for investigators back when you went on a mission dad? Soo they sadly aren't going to baptized July 3rd, but they are going to be baptized soon that's for sure. These guys are the most prepared people I've met on the mission, even Valerie! We taught them part of the plan of salvation and also the gospel of Jesus Christ! They are very nervous people though. Curtis has anxiety problems is what he said he hates the unknown. So we gave them a chapel tour with bro Walsh last Saturday and they really liked it, and it eased their nerves a bit! So i'm very excited to continue to teach these guys and help them towards baptism! Curtis is very smart, I totally envisioned him being an apostle! lol They are super awesome! I already love them and care about dearly and wish I could just teach them everything in one day. Next.... let's see, we met with kelly who is a native who has had some struggles in his life but has put his trust in God. When we went over unexpected he was watching Jesus Christ bible videos so that was way cool! He has a very big desire to be baptized and to go to church and to change his life along with his families! We had a wonderful lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation. It's one of my favorite lessons to teach and to testify of! We met a new less active who let us right in when we knocked on her door! Sister Brett is amazing! We had a great conversation about the Gospel. She believes in the church still but has some doctrinal concerns that need to be resolved but other than that she is solid! She hasn't come to church 21 years!!!!!!! And she said that she really wanted to make it out yesterday but she didn't know whether or not she was going to make it and she ended up not making it sadly. But you could tell that she really wanted to make it out so hopefully she will make it to church next week! But that was really cool to see, especially after 21 years! So we are excited to work with her! Chris and Mckenna are doing really well! They like feeding us every week and we have family home evenings on mondays! They are solid, and they are getting excited for baptism! And Chris and Melissa's marriage is coming up as well! Met with two Chinese people the other day for dinner at a members house. They don't have any knowledge of God or Jesus Christ at all, so it was very interesting to teach them. We talked about the God head and also prayer. They sadly didn't a lot of desire to learn more but it was a really cool experience to actually teach people like that and to plant seeds! And hopefully something will come of it! Went on exchanges with Elder Tuahivaatetonohiti. Try and pronounce that. ;) He's a very cool guy, I love him! He's so funny! he's from Tahiti, i had a lot of fun with him serving in his area! Oh i don't think I told you guys or not but me and Elder H are going to stay together the rest of the transfer! Sooo we are excited about that! I went to Manitoulin Island branch yesterday! It was actually a pretty good turn out even though have the people there were from the Sudbury Ward. It was pretty interesting to see such a small congregation but the members that are awesome and very strong in testimony! I love them to death! It was a lot of fun! I'm excited to see President Clayton one last time this Thursday before he leaves for Utah! He's an amazing man and I'm going to miss him! This week I really learned a lot about the spirit of God! There was something that really stuck out to me that a member said in a lesson about the spirit. He talked about a really nice pie that is best in the country and you take a little piece and you try it. You don't have to eat the whole pie just to see if it's good or not. You can tell by the piece that you ate if it's good or not. Same applies to the Spirit. You don't need to know everything about the Gospel to find out if it's good or true or not! It's the still small voice that strikes the heart and the mind that you can tell whether these things are true! I love you guys so much and I hope everything is alright with everyone! 

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco

 A hoarders house!

Tracting while singing and playing guitar! 

Exchanges with Elder T! 

June 13, 2016 Calm The Minds and Heal Fractures in the Hearts

Oh wow you guys are already in Thailand? I thought you guys were going like next week or something! Well I hope you guys have a good time and I'm wishing you the best and praying for you guys! Especially the girls, so that they don't burn the house down or something. I'm glad Brooke is liking her job! You'll have to give me free drinks when i get back home like everyday Brooke. ;) I hope you girls are enjoying your summer and don't forget your daily chores! ;) hehehehe don't miss those!!! lol Well this week was fantastic! Hit standards once again, so pumped about it! This area has grown so much since the time I got here, it really is a tear jerker. ;) We had a ton of great lessons and miracles this past week! Miracle #1: Fern (Inactive guy who hasn't come to church the past 6 years who is very shy) He came to church for the first time in forever!!! It took a lot of will power for him and i'm so proud of him! He really wanted to talk to Bishop about concerns that he had about the church. He just doesn't feel included in it and feels like he doesn't deserve being there. But we all sat in Bishops office and discussed it. And it was resolved! I appreciate bishops so much for all that they do! Especially in Fern's case because I feel like Bishop played such a great part in him wanting to come to church every sunday from now on!! So proud and excited! Then we received a referral from a member in the ward! Love referrals so much!! Give the missionaries referrals guys, you will make their days!!!!! Curtis who apparently was a student for bishop 10 years ago new that Bishop was Mormon and that sparked some interest. Curtis's mom also is brother Walsh's (the member who gave the referell) good friend. Curtis has been studying lds.org for quite sometime and knows that the church is true. He said that "He is already converted to it!" Wow, when i heard this I was the happiest person alive. Music to my ears to hear that!! I have Such a strong testimony of miracles and Christ preparing people for the Gospel! We haven't met him yet, but we are going to meet him tonight!! And we are going to set a baptismal date for July 3rd! So excited! We taught Chris and mckenna the law of chastity!! They have been progressing really well, there are only a couple of more lessons to teach them! Committed Melissa and Chris to obey it (p.s they are getting married on July 23rd) and set a baptismal date for mckenna and chris for August 6th!!! So they are all excited, and so are me and elder h!!! Hopefully I stay another transfer so i can see all of this!! We met another guy who is native who is pretty lost. He wanted to stop drinking and his girlfriend wasn't very fond of that so she left him. He said that once he started to bring God into his life and to his three kids life everything went wrong. So he's pretty depressed but we testified of the plan of salvation and wants to learn more and start coming to church!! He has a great understanding of the bible and he said that he feels like job. It was pretty cool cause I was studying in Job that morning and I was able to talk about it with him and testify of why we go through struggles and how we can be blessed in the end if we continue to have faith and to keep our heads up high! Funny story of the week: Me and Elder Bengstaen were messin around and i was in my office sitting down and he was karate chopping a water bottle in my hands and we both weren't even thinking at the time. Next thing i knew was an explosion of water and it drenches me! I was pretty mad, but it was pretty funny!! Anyway spiritual thought of the week: 

"Priesthood power can calm the seas and heal fractures in the earth. Priesthood power can also calm the minds and heal fractures in the hearts of those we love."
—Russell M. Nelson
Don't forget the power of the priesthood gentleman! Use it, love it, and learn more about it and how you can use it! Love you guys so much and I hope all is well!
Forever and Always,
Coco, Elder Beddes, Colten, Colteyboy 

Here is the Manatullin branch building! It's not even a church, it's just a part of a complex! 

It's finally green!

Random couch pic in the street haha 

June 6, 2016 Unwise Bee

Hey guys!

To answer your questions first! Keven and Ashley are still planning on getting married in July! They have been having a hard time coming out to church but they are still interested! Jose and his family are doing good, they also are having a hard time coming out to church but we are going to have a great lesson with them today!! We found him contacting around a lake! I haven't had any serious illnesses yet. No throw up or anything! And I don't think I need anything except more pictures! lol also if you could send some more printed pictures to me that would be great! Sounds like you guys are doing really well, and I'm sorry about the illnesses in the family, it's always a bummer being sick! Sounds like the waterfall is turning out to be a success! And I hope you guys had fun with Atom! It's seems like yesterday she was being shy on the first day at our house! How time flies. This week was a slower week for us but there is always going to be those weeks. The events that stuck out to me were finding Wanda, playing basketball with Cyan, and elder h's hair cut! Yesterday there was a random woman who was being lead by a member of our ward showing her around the church. She apparently was cold and wanted to come inside to get warm. So me and Elder Beng went up to her and starting talking with her. She apparently was excommunicated as a JW 6 years ago. She's very kind and said that our chapel was very beautiful and that she wanted to learn more! So we are going to see her tonight! She stayed for Sacrament but had to leave after. Something she said that was funny when we were talking was when I was testifying to her she stopped me and looked at me and Elder Beng and said I know I'm not supposed to say this but you two are just Gorgeous! haha it was pretty funny! We've had some great lessons this past week. One of them in particular was with Fern (our newest Returning Member) we had a wonderful lesson about church. We were all feeling the spirit so very strong. And he had a change of heart to start coming to church after the past 5 years he hasn't! He's still pretty scared but he said that he was going to try and make it out next weeek! After we ward coordination we walked outside of the church and we found this shirtless dude on his bike. He came up to us and was asking all the questions. "Why are you guys dressed up?" Who are you guys? What do you guys do? What's in the church? So we tried to teach him as much as possible! He was either really outgoing or high, I couldn't decide? Either way he was a nice guy, and he asked us if we can play basketball, so we went to go play at the court next to the church. He's a pretty big fella and pretty good at basketball too. It was pretty fun, playing basketball attracted other Sudbury gangs to come and watch and play too so it was a cool experience. Especially to hear "the white boy with the sick tie is breakin ankles!" haha it's nice to see people realizing that we are normal people but represent something much grander. Then we went to the J's family and had a wonderful spiritual experience there and then Elder Herbert wanted his haircut so Sister J gave it! Hahahah it came out a lot worse than what he was expecting!! lol It's all uneven around his head and it's a lot shorter then what he expected it to be! So he's been wearing a hat all day today! hahahah it's super funny but I feel bad. He's never had such a bad haircut, as soon as we got out of the Js' house he just started fake crying! lol something that stuck out to me all day were the three parables that James E. Talmage wrote. The one in particular that stuck out to me was the unwise bee! He was studying in his office with the window open and all of a sudden a bee flew in! The little bee was flying everywhere and wanted to get out into the open fresh air. So he decided to help the bee out by guiding it to the window so it could escape. But the bee was hesitating and just getting more and more angry until it stung him. Three days later he returned to his office and found the bee dead on his desk. He learned a lot from this experience. Sometimes we are like the Bee. When God is trying to help us we sometimes don't realize it and we are stubborn and not willing to change because we think we have it all under control and think we can do it all alone. But in reality he is just trying to help us reach our full potential. Check out the other parables, they are quite nice! It is my prayer that we continue to be submissive and humble despite what doesn't seem to go our way. Everything we do and everything we experience is all for a purpose. So let's have a good attitude about it!

Love you all,

Elder Beddes, Coco  

Breaking some ankles with some random people on the court!

Reminds me of The Iron Giant!!

May 30, 2016 The Lord's Hand is Truly in This Work

Wow well well well what a week!! So first you know how I said that we were staying? Well that was what we thought... lol because we didn't get a transfer call. Then that Sunday, President called us and said that we are getting transferred so pack up! So I am staying and i'll be getting a spanish companion his name is elder hernandez! Then elder herbert is going to stoneycreek my old area!!!!! Lol it's pretty cool to see and i'm excited for him! So elder herbert was all packed up then that morning we were supposed to leave we get a call from the AP's saying that Elder Herbert is staying another three weeks with me since elder hernandez has a dentist appointment he has to go too! But we are excited to serve another three weeks together! This week was a good one! We had the best week we've had here in Sudbury! We taught a ton of less active lessons and a ton of investigator lessons as well! We found four new investigators that are wanting to learn more and also three new less actives that are wanting to start backing back to church. One that I want to share about is Fern. He was offended and doesn't do well with crowds of people and when he had a calling in the church it required him to go to much out of his comfort zone and so he left. It has been four years since he has been to church. He said that he didn't want contact with the church or even the missionaries. But he had a feeling a week before that the missionaries were going to go see him, and then we show up and he is working in his backyard. So he tells us his stories about his past. His conversion story and also what he thought about the church and the gospel. He loves it so much, but just is plain scared and nervous. But we told him who the bishop is and he got very excited about it and wants to start coming back to church slowly. He wants us to start coming back and teaching him. So he's takin a big leap of faith which is amazing to see!! Seemed like a long things went our way this past week, the Lord's hand is truly in this work and their is to many miracles that I have seen for this not to be true! It's truly amazing! Me and Elder Hervert have found 23 investigators and have reactivated 9 less active members in Sudbury!! We could have not done it whatsoever without the help of the Lord! I love to see the progress of these people and also to see people start recognizing the Gospel! Sister Houston and her nonmember chris and also the nonmember daughter mckenna came up to us yesterday at church and said that they want to be baptized before Elder H leaves!!! But Chris and Sister H have to get married first but they both set the goal of getting baptized right after the marriage on July 23rd!!!! These are soooo awesome! Mckenna asked me to baptize her so I thought that that was pretty sweet! They have us over for dinner every week, they are so great! We gave Jose a chapel tour the other day, he loved it! We played some basketball after it was really fun! He really is liking the church and the gospel and they said that they are reading the BOM so AWESOME!!! Jamie (the hell's angel) is feeling alot better, but we never seem to catch him at a good time but he said that he wants to 3 nephi 11 with us tomorrow. If you haven't read that chapter I would recommend it!! We are working with like 3 couples who are interesting in baptism but first have to be married first but they are all having their marriages in July so pumped about that. I hope I stay until then so I can see it all!! We had 7 dinner appointments last week! #gettingfat. And get this..... Friday and Saturday we had two dinner appointments each day... wow i wanted to puke. So much food, i wouldn't advice doing that! It was fun and a cool story to tell! Well there is so much more to talk about honestly but running low on time!  Remember the purpose of life! Remember why we go through trials and challenges! Remember their is a God and a Son who are on our team and want us to succeed through those trails and challenges. Live to make the Lord famous! 

Love you all,

Elder Beddes, Coco, Colteyboy        

 Helping someone move.

 Eating out with some less actives.

BBQ with the Devost's family (less actives we reactivated)

May 21, 2016 Wrestling Before God

Hey guys! Soooo first I think I should start with transfer news! drum roll please...................... I'm staying and well since Elder Herbert has been here for 8 months you can pretty much assume that he's leaving!! But he's not.... he's staying another one with me here Sudbury!!! We were all really surprised and it's really unheard of that you stay this long in an area but there is unfinished business that needs to be done here! Baptisms!! We really do think that we will have two for sure but hopefully 5! We met with Kaitlen (the 12 year old who wants to be baptized) the other day and she is very excited about it! She has a less active mother but she is all for her be baptized! And also Mckenna ( Sister Houston's daughter) was asking her about baptism so that's exciting! She's been coming out to church and activity days and she's been loving it! Chris and Sister Houston just have to get married and then Chris will be baptized too! Then we have Jose's family who are sincerely interested! They are awesome they want to have chapel tour and play some futbol and basketball! So we are excited about it! Sister Mills has cancer, stage 4 cancer actually, and she isn't doing so hot. She's been in the hospital for quite some time. She is struggling to find someone who is willing to do the surgery and she's in extreme pain so i had the sacred privilege to give her a blessing. Two day later, she's feeling better and she has found someone who is willing to do the operation so she was very excited about that!! The Priesthood is for reals!!! So funny experience that came to my mind (really random, I know) is when I was in district meeting in Hamilton. And I was leaning back on my chair and I leaned back a little to far and baaaammm I fall backwards and land on my back. I get up and just turn my back on everybody for a couple of seconds and then get back into my chair and act like nothing happened while everybody was laughing at me. Yup Typical Elder Beddes. It was pretty funny! Jamie (the hell's angel) is feeling a ton better. We met him outside with like 6 other guys just sitting there with him! They were all of his friends and so we taught all of them. Felt like Dan Jones soap boxing it was sweeeet. Got two people who were really interested and want to sit into our lessons with Jamie now! We also got a media referral from church headquarters about a man who requested a Bible. His name is Serge and he is from Haiti and he wanted a Bible to learn more about Jesus, so we gave him one and bore testimony of it and also the Book of Mormon. He is very interested in that and wants us to come back! We also got in contact with a Less Active who has only gone to church once since Elder H has been here. She is awesome, we had a wonderful conversation about her conversion story and what she's gone through. She's going through some rough times right now sadly but she said that she needs help and wants us to start coming regularly. It's really cool to see people wanting to change there lives! It really is a blessing to see. Met with Sean and Franchessica finally! They had a campfire going in the back and so we taught a lesson back there. It was really awesome! We talked about family and marriage with them! They really enjoyed it and agree with the doctrine that we taught and they want to continue to have discussions so we are excited for that! Something that I've learned on the mission is that it isn't about me! As I've thought about myself and wanted the best for me and I wasn't ever happy! But I've come to know that true happiness comes from making others happy! Losing myself in the work and as the scriptures describe it "wrestling before God" in prayer about the people that i'm working with it's brought me that joy and happiness! As can it for you! Remember what's truly important in the life, this is my hope and prayer. I love you guys so much and I hope you have a wonderful day and week!

Forever and Always,

Coco, Colteyboy, Elder Beddes  

 Eating lunch with a member!! 

 Chillin on the couch drinking soda pic (Yes, collecting bottles)

 The Ice Castle

There's that hospital, it's huge!!

May 16, 2016 YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So many miracles!! I love Sudbury so much, it has so much potential and I've never seen so much success! I want to start off with Elissa (the less active who didn't know that there was an lds church here) she is doing amazing! She's been coming out to church every week, loves the scriptures, and has made some really good friends in the ward that are fellowshipping her! We had a cake off the other day and we had to be the judges! The girls won in the ysa! the guys were pretty bummed! We've been meeting with our native american less active friend Luella and she's pretty progressing a lot! She's been coming out to church for the past 3 weeks and elder h said that she only went a couple times before the whole time he's served here! So that's amazing! We had a hard time with meeting with a lot of our investigators. Jamie ( the hell's angel) is very sick and is living his last couple of breaths sadly.... :( so we haven't been able to meet with him. We are planning on introducing priesthood blessings to him next time. Evro (carribean dude), has been in Toronto but said we can meet with him this weekend so we are excited about that! Keven and Ashley are doing really well as well. Keven has come a long way. He was in a gang for a long time and was a drug dealer. He had a hard knock life for a long time but is now understanding the love of christ and peace of the gospel. They came with their three little children to church! Such a good sight to see. They are getting married in July so they are well on their way!! So proud of them! Alright so the miracle of the week! We were park contacting and we see this mexican family and the parents are sitting down with their new born baby cheering on their ten year old daughter while she is doing gymnastics! They are from mexico and they are here for school! They are really interested in what we have to say and they said that they saw missionaries in mexico but never got the chance to talk to them. They even have friends and neighbors who were mormons! They invited us over for tamales the next day which has never happened to me before! Investigators telling us to come over for dinner! Anyway we went over and we had a good chat with them!! And the tamales were really good, i had 8!! holy cow it was soooo good, they made this mexican hot chocolate, best thing i've ever drunk. wooooowww!!! The daughter is sooo cute, totally reminds me of Amber! Has the same personality and everything, you would make such a good friend for her amber! Something funny that happened there was i had to pee soooo bad and I hate asking people to go use the washroom during dinner appointments but i absolutely had to so i asked if i could use their washroom and jose the father said "yeah I would too if i ate that me tamales!" hahaha and everybody bursted out laughing! They even invited their friend and her son over and they also enjoyed the message of the restoration! They said that the whole thing makes since and they can't wait to learn more. They told us that we can come back anytime and that they will start reading the book of mormon and start praying to know if it's true! I love these people so much, i love finding families!! We also found George who loves what the mormons teach!! He loves how mormons center around families and that what he says he really needs! We had a good chat with him and he has a couple of concerns, but he said that if we can resolve those concerns that he will get baptized and i can really see this guy and his family getting baptized! I love the work so much!!! This is what an elder told me in his email today who is serving in stoney creek right now. "yeah jeremy he will be baptized next transfer for sure! And Shannon B who you guy's were working with who is in the part member family is getting baptized this week too!" YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeremy is the one that was addicted to drugs and wanted to change his life around for his family and especially his young son. He went to his cabin for a month to abandon the worldly things for a while and now he is doing great!!! Holy cow i'm so pumped right now!!! I love you guys so much! Something that really hit me this week was the letter that you sent me momma about the missionary who had a dream about his friend. We are all out here trying to rescue our friends!! And the sad thing about it, is that a lot of them don't even know that they are lost and it is our duty and our obligation to reach out and save them and bring them back to the familiar taste of the fruit!! Have a good week my family and friends!

love,

Coco       

May 9, 2016 Work Will Win When Wishy-Washy Wishing Won't

Great pictures and i absolutely loved the skype call! I wish I would have had the chance to talk to you all one on one but obviously time permitted! So i'm very sorry if you felt like I needed to talk to you more! Just know that I love you and could talk to the each of you for days on end! Well we have had the best numbers that Sudbury has seen since it's reopened! Hit a record for investigators at church! It's so great to see the area growing. There were some fantastic miracles that happened this past week! We went by a referral that a member in the church told us to go by. So we went by and this younger mother and her 13 year old daughter opened the door! And they let us right in and they were telling us that they haven't seen missionaries in forever! We had a good talk with them. sister Koirber went on a mission to France and she absolutely loved it. They haven't gone to church for a couple of years now and from what it sounds like it's because of non member boyfriend that she has and also the not so great welcome that she got from the ward. But after meeting with them they said that they want to start coming out to church and they want us back over to start teaching the 8 year old daughter who was actually wanting to take the missionary lessons so that she could get baptized! So it really surprised her that we knocked on her door cause she was literally talking about that the same day. She's been 8 for awhile so we are excited to start teaching her so that she can get baptized as soon as possible. The 13 year  old really wants to start going to church and activity days! It was such a cool experience! I've only met them once and i already love them and care about them! I can really see this family getting reactivated and going for in the gospel. Speaking of reactivation, Nketiah (Daughter in the jones family) has been coming out to church a lot and she recently went to the temple!!! She's been working towards that for a long time since she had some problems that needed to be fixed in order to go to the temple! It's so great to see that she has made it and she loved the experience that she had! I'm so proud of her and her hard work. Kind of sad that we don't get to teach her anymore but extremely glad that she has come so far! So we were going by some of investigators and we see this family walking down the sidewalk and this girl around the age of 12 turns around and says "Hey Elders, how's it going?" so we were pretty surprised that she knew us. She came up to us and said that she had met with the elders two years ago but she felt like she wasn't prepared for baptism. But now she wants to have us come and teach and baptize her! So she took my planner and started writing down her information in it so that we could get a hold of her and we have an appointment with her this week!!! That was just shocking and awesome at the same time. I just say to Elder Herbert after that whole experience, " Did that really just happen? Did she ask us to baptize her?" hahaha it was sweeeeet! So our new investigators kevin and ashley came to church! It was such a nice sight to see as they walked in with they're 9, 7, and 5 year old following with them! haha we need more families in the ward and it was a great sight to see! Taught a lot of great lessons, a ton of spiritual experiences! I love this mission and i've grown so much! I know this gospel is true, no doubt in my mind it isn't! Here is a quote that i absolutely loved by the prophet! "Work will win when wishy-washy wishing won't." Put in the work, and stop wishing your wishes and turn it to reality! 

Love,

Elder Beddes, Coco, jojonator       

(From a Ward member)

 The Ice Castle Missionaries

Mother's Day 2016

May 8, 2016 Happy Mother's Day! (Handwritten)

Dear Momma,

There is so much to say about you, Momma and so much to be grateful for. There is so much I've learned from you! From learning how to pee in the toilet to learning how to truly help someone in need. You are a part of me, and I a part of you. I can feel your thoughts and your prayers each day and it is a motivator for me to keep pressing forward despite the harshness of the world. I've been well prepared to take a big leap into the real world because of the love, patience, and selfless attitude of yours. When I feel like I'm being cornered, I can always count on you being there waiting and wanting to do all that you can to help me. It was your hand that perfectly fit  in mine as a child that would make me feel safe and loved. It was your prayer that I felt safe and watched over during the Hurricane that hit Mississippi. It was you that put your arm around me and would scratch my back as I wept over the start of my 8th gd year. It was you that would drive me to the temple and would talk to me about its significance as we sat in its parking lot. It was you that I would count on greeting me every morning before school and would tell me you loved me. Ant it was you that whispered into my ear as we said good-bye before I walked into the MTC, "I'm so proud of you! You are going to do great things!" Memories such as these I will never forget. You have been here for me every step of the way! On this Mother's Day and every Mother's Day in the past I always thing of the Primary song "Mother, I love you" I love the words that are contained in this song. "Mother, I love you, Mother I do, Father in Heaven has sent me to you. When I am near you, I love to hear you singing so softly that you love me too. Mother, I love you; I love you , I do" Words can't adequately describe the amount of love and care I have for you. You are my best friend Momma! And you always will be. Forever and Always, Colten