August 2, 2016 Turn To Him

It sounds like the Beddes family reunion was a good one!! Like always! I wish I could have been there, I honestly love those so much! That video was hilarious!!! It seems like yesterday when I broke the ramp for the swing! Man I think about that every once in awhile! haha I remember when the whole thing was falling over and it looked like it was going to destroy me but it didn't and then Aaron running over towards me like he was superman! It was legit. I will never forget it! I didn't know Grandpa Beddes liked Ping Pong! I want to play him now! Well this week was a week to remember! Lot's of memories and experiences! Apparently i've been teaching the discussions in my sleep a lot! #consecratedmissionary! Speaking of sleep, we pulled a prank on the zone leaders the other night. Elder Hernandez has this blue tooth speaker and he is able to record sounds on his ipod! And so we made these creepy sounds like banging on a door, whispering, yelling, crying, talking, and so on. And we put it in a dresser in the hallway and closed our bedroom door. And so we are in our beds and elder hernandez starts playing the sounds. And I start acting scared and saying "man what was that." stuff like that, just freaking them out!! lol and so they wanted to go check the whole house. They found nothing hahah and so we went back to bed. And he played some of the sounds again, I was acting like I was going to start crying, and it just made them more freaked out and we all ended up being in a corner in our room! hahahaha it got to the point where one of the elders wanted to get in the car and drive to a different elders apartment to spend the night! hahah and so we stopped it and they were soooooo relieved! One of the funniest experiences of my life. They said they have never been so scared in their lives! Hopefully they don't get us back! lol So we pretty much biked this whole last week.... my legs are like Michael Jordans now. I'll show you some videos just to prove it. But seriously my legs are so sore, it's a good work out. It's not until you ride a bike up hill when you fully appreciate how blessed you are to have a car! hahah you could relate that to the Gospel too if you think about it! ;) We biked so much this past week and we were still able to hit our record for member present lessons and investigators other lessons! So blessings being poured upon us! The people we are working with are awesome! Miracle of the week: Jamie is going home! His health is getting a lot better, and the doctors thought for sure that he was dying in the hospital but I guess not! But he says that he's going to stop smoking and he's coming to church this sunday! I love this guy so much! He's not afraid to tell everybody too that he has Mormon friends and that he's going to join the mormon church! hahah it's pretty funny, he's a funny guy! We spend a lot of time at the hospital surprisingly. We found a lot of investigators there just talking to people! Have some less actives there as well, so it's a great place to teach! We had some patient come up to us in the hospital hall way, she thinking we were cops, started to say sorry and stuff for pulling some alarm the other day! She thought we were going to arrest her or something, she was so scared! So with my cop voice I said," No need to worry Mam, everything is under control." hahaha it was awesome, she was freaking out, but once she realized everything is alright she calmed down! MCKENNA AND CHRIS PASSED THEIR BAPTISMAL INTERVIEWS WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO I excited about that!!! They are amazing, and they are going to be baptized this Saturday! so I will take lots of pics and send them to you!!! We went Manatullin Island branch last Sunday and gave a 30 minute talk about The Plan of Salvation! My favorite thing to talk about! It was awesome, I love the branch there. They are so strong in the faith, and their testimonies strengthen mine! They have some great referells for us too, so i'm excited to meet them!! I don't remember if I talked about Tiffany and her family of six last time but they are awesome! Tiffany's son who is 17 is awesome and wants to baptized! He loves basketball so we often go play outside of his house and then teach him the lessons. My type of missionary work! lol he's very knowledgeable about the gospel already!! He's very golden, we invited him to be baptized after we taught him the Restoration and he says that he wants to but he has to get permission from Tiffany, so we hope all will be well! Other than that the week was the usual. Met lots of drunks and people that were high. Taught great lessons. The spirit is felt all of the time! Working a ton, and having fun at the same time!  I love this quote! 

    

Don't give up! Don't lose hope! Turning to Him may seem easy or it may seem hard, but it is worth it. I promise you that. HOORAH HOORAH HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!

Love Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco, Uncle Drew, Jojonator

Hi Lele! I'm getting beat up just like you used to do to me when we fight!!! (See picture) I love you and miss you! I love you all and I'm thinking of you constantly! XOXOXO

Dear Colten, How how you doing in Canada? Do you eat dinner a lot with people? I lost 6 teeth. I hope you're having fun! Do you play basketball a lot? When you get home can we play hide and go seek, wrestle, and fox and the hound? I have a new movie called the Pagemaster. It's about books coming to life. Be a good missionary! Love, Maleah

 

Manitoulin Island

July 25, 2016 He is Willing to Help Us and Bless Us

Well well well!!! Those pictures are awesome! Looks like you guys had a ton of fun! I did get the message from Maleah, it was super cute! Melissa was in tears lol! That temple picture is beautiful! Man I can't believe that they got in a fight on the bus! That's crazy!! Man I wish I could have been there with you on your mission experiencing what you were experiencing! I tell people all of the time that you went to Thailand on your mission and people are in aww about it, it's pretty funny! I've been learning a ton let me tell you! Being district leader you learn a lot, it's a different perspective any away. Not only are you thinking and caring about the people you are working with but now you are thinking about the missionaries in the district and how you can help them with their work! It's pretty fun, can be pretty stressful at times! This week was a slower week sadly, we still taught a lot of investigator lessons which is good but didn't find any new! :( People weren't as receptive as we would have liked but that's ok! We still met a lot of nice people who we planted a ton of seeds with! We have been working pretty hard, it's a really nice feeling to know that you tried your best! Something I made up the other day that others liked: "If you don't smell like cigarette smoke or marijuana at the end of the day you didn't work hard enough. If you didn't get cussed at or shown the finger you didn't talk to enough people! And if you don't go to bed exhausted then you need to work harder!" We did go to 2 weddings the other day! It was pretty fun. My favorite one with Chris and Melissa's! They are so awesome, they are like family! I have grown such a strong relationship with them! They are getting excited for baptism! They have interviews this week!!!! Soooo pumped! Had my first district meeting the other day! It was really good, pretty weird doing it over skype but it was good. Lots of participation, i have the best district in the mission! We talked about Revelation through prayer! I shared the experience of momma praying right before hurricane Katrina hit. Such a sacred story I hold dear to my heart. It touched everybody, i don't share it often! But I loved hearing other people's experiences about prayer. And I detoured the discussion to how investigators can and will have experiences like those we have, but first we need to do our part in teaching the doctrine as simply as possible so that they understand! Jamie (Hells angel) is dying. He loves visits from us in the hospital. The doctor said that he will stay in the hospital until he dies.. which is really sad. Jamie said that we are some of the few of his only good and true friends. I was honored. Well count your many blessings name them one by one!! My testimony has been growing and growing as I experience the good and the harsh times as a missionary! It's wonderful. I think about the missionaries all across the world and how they are doing and how their missions are different from other missions and how they are learning different things! The mission is amazing, it blesses you, family, and your friends. The other day I found a Bugatti suit that I had to get.. yes I know mom i'm sorry! lol it's the last one I promise!!! But.... when I returned home and checked the pockets and I found $185! I was moved... the first thing I did was drop to my knees and said a prayer. It's amazing the blessings that you can receive. I'm not saying that you will receive money from out of nowhere because money really doesn't even matter, it's a material thing, but what I am saying is that God loves us so much and he is willing to help us and bless us in our everyday lives. We just need to continue to be thankful and faithful! I love you guys so much and I hope you all have a great week! xoxo

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco       

 Jamie at the hospital.

 Chris and Melissa's marriage.

July 18, 2016 Let Us All Do a Good Deed

Well this week was a good one! Sounds like you guys had a good week as well! I wish I could have been there for the 50 anniversary! Sound like you all had a fun time and i wish i could have been there! I still remember the memories at the beach house in Cali! That was so fun! I remember Grandpa Berry and Dad going at it playing ping pong! I remember Dad pouring ice cold water on momma too! I remember the good food and the fun we had trying to body board the waves! Good times, we need to have a reunion every six months or something when I get home! ;) I wish I could have heard Brooke's beautiful voice when she was singing grandma and grandpa's song as well, she is very talented! Ok well where do i even start? Me and Elder Hernandez have been working so hard here in the dtown of sudbury! We've never had so many investigator lessons before, and it's great! We found five new investigators this past week! It's fantastic! One is from Czechoslovakia and was very humble and would love to learn more! We found a man who was interested as well who said that he had six young kids, so we are excited to meet all of them and share with them the glad tiding of the Plan of Salvation! Speaking of the Plan of Salvation, I watching a short video at the ice castle called "On the way home", it was soo good! I would watch it if I were you, it was a good video especially for FHE! We found a man who was really nice and wanted to learn more about mormons cause he dated one awhile ago! haha he said that he smokes crack everyday, but he wants to stop and we told him what could help him! I love how the spirit can tell someone that he or she needs to change! This work couldn't move forward without the Holy Ghost that's for sure! Met with some others tracting that said that they would love to learn more, and the people who we found said that they had little kids so God blessed us with finding families this week! It's amazing! Being District Leader is pretty good! I love my district! Sister Wheldon, Kehrer, and Detler, Elder Paul, Saunders, olson, lundburg, and hernadez are amazing and hard workers! Haven't had district meeting yet since we've had some big meetings but we'll be having one this week so i'm excited! It's been fun calling everybody every night following up and helping the missionaries out! We met President and Sister Shields finally the other day! They came up to do a big meeting for the Sudbury Zone! President is so sweet! I love him so much, I relate to him so much! He is very personable and loves sports a lot. He played football and basketball in high school and college and he was a lawyer for a long time! They are both really nice people, i'm glad to have them in the mission! So we've been meeting Jose and his family this past week and they have been doing really well. They said that they were going to try and make it to church last time but he got sick the night before..... ughhhh. but they said that they were going to try and make it next time! They have been praying for the first time and they love it! They feel awesome and so much better when they do! I love it when I teach people about prayer and they experience it for themselves, it's one of the best worthwhile rewarding things as a missionary! So some bad news... opposition in all things! Curtis said that he doesn't wanted to meet until he has read the Book of Mormon for himself and has learned a sufficient amount of knowledge about the church.... so hopefully he will get back to us soon cause he is very solid! We are dropping off some material for him such as the restoration video and trying to explain to him as best as we possible can that he doesn't need to know everything but he feels like he does. Kelly doesn't want to meet anymore either, and Kaitlyn who wanted to be baptized doesn't either! All for various reasons that I wish I could resolve right now on my own but that isn't what I think God wants at the moment. Patience is a virtue! So it's sad to see that all of our potential baptisms aren't doing so well but I faith that they will come back! Some good news! Kevin and Ashley are getting married this Saturday! They are excited for that! And hopefully we can start meeting with them regularly and set a baptismal date for them! Melissa and Chris are getting married this Saturday as well! We have been looking forward to that the past three months, so we are all excited for that! We are pumped for Saturday with these weddings! Chris and Mckenna are doing really well for baptism on the 6th! They are excited! And I can't stop thinking about it! I never thought I could love this family so much. They are like family to me!! I'm so proud of these guys! The Gospel is true! It can change lives. It can heal the broken soul. It can sound like heavenly music to the ears. It can be filling to our spirits. And it can be rewarding! This clip really touched me! Let us all do a good deed for someone in need! You never know how much of a impact or how much it could mean to someone! I love you guys!

Elder Beddes, Coco, Duder  

     https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/gordon-hinckley-lessons-i-learned-as-a-boy-1

I GOT MY MIND ON MY MISSION AND MY MISSION ON MY MIND

Shopping at the Mall

Sports

A bridge in Sudbury

July 11, 2016 Doubt Not, Fear Not

Wow sounds like you guys had an amazing week! I love the pictures you guys sent! Mom you are beautiful as ever, Maleah you are soooo cute with your white dress!!!! Brooke and Amber Pretty as always and Dad keep swaggin my friend. :) And happy birthday Jonlie!!! I miss you guys a ton and hope you guys are doing alright!! I love tubing so much, good memories of us floating down the river.... freezing! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully you take that email I sent you seriously cause it's 110% true!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have a lot of time today sadly cause we have some things planned for p-day so it's going to be a little short.  Elder Hernandez is a funny guy! He reminds me a whole lot of nacho libre so if anybody knows me, I love nacho and i quote it all of the time!! He's soooo funny, I haven't laughed this hard for a very long time, so it's really nice!!!!! He's been out for 8 months. He's from Calgary and was born in Mexico. So he still knows English. And guess what!!! Miracle of the week: Jose and his family didn't end up moving to Quebec and are staying for a couple of more months!!!!! So that's awesome!!!!!! They are so nice! We met with the Hells Angel guy, he was pretty nervous about not liking elder hz but he does so it's all good! Mckenna wants brother babin to baptize her in august so that is sooooo goood!!!!! Chris want's me to baptize him to as well, so i can't wait!!! Keven and Ashley and Chris and Melissa's marriage is coming up in a couple of weeks so i'm pretty excited about that!!! We found two investigators contacting in the streets that have a great desire to learn more!!! Met with one of them and she loves "the mormons". It's always nice to see that people really care about the purpose of life and start recognizing the spirit. :) Everything is going well here, I'm a ton of fun doing missionary work. It truly does bring you true happiness! My district is amazing, some of the hardest working missionaries in the CTM!!!!! We are all going to kill it!!!!! 3/4 companionships hit standards this week so it's going great!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 15 lessons with investigators this week a  new record for me!!! So it's going really well! I know this Gospel is true and that it does matter! It feels the holes in our hearts and makes it shinier! I love it so much, and I love proclaiming it to the people here in Sudbury!!!! Doubt not, fear not!!! Love you guys so much!!!!!!!!!xoxoxoxoxoo

love,

Elder Beddes, coco  

Zone Conference (take half of this group and that's my District)

Saying good-bye to Elder Herbert and Elder Bengstzen- Transfers

 Elder Hernandez- New companion from Calgary, born in Mexico.

This could be a sports card :)

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