May 23, 2017 Pondering and Revelation

Hey Family and Friends!

My week was a fast and good one! Seems like I just talked to you guys over skype yesterday! I'm doing really well. Enjoying the mission a ton and sad that I only have a little time left. It's crazy to think that summer is almost here! It's getting really hot here. Me and Elder Roundy got pretty sunburned the other day from service at the Cepeda's. I'm pretty burnt haha I got called a tomato a lot at church! Hopefully I'll be able to be somewhat tan when I get home! But knowing my skin... i'll probably be more red! haha 

I think the highlight of the week was the lesson that we had with Steve (the rapper) and his girlfriend Sam. We taught them the full Restoration the other day and they absolutely loved it. Everything went exactly the way you would want it to go. Steve's mother called him and told him that Mormons were a cult and that he shouldn't be meeting with us. I honestly wasn't even surprised that someone told them those things and so they were pretty confused about what to believe. So we taught them and their concerns were resolved and they kept saying over and over again how it makes since and how we aren't a cult! haha they were so excited about it. It was honestly one of those lessons that go so smoothly and the spirit is so strong and you come out of the lesson on cloud 9! It was glorious. I'll remember that lesson for a long time. 

Did some more service this week. This is definitely the area where I've done the most service. It's funny how different each area can be.

I got to keep it short today since we have a lot planned! It was a holiday yesterday and that is why I couldn't email. Thank you for the emails you guys sent me.

I learned this week about pondering is so important in receiving revelation. If you think about it a lot of the visions or revelations that are received by prophets, they are pondering and thinking about what they are wanting an answer to. It's really interesting!!

I love you all!! Thank you for everything... and I will be seeing you soon!!

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes  

 

 

 Service @ Cepeda's Farm

 

  

 

 

 

May 15, 2017 "Not a Monastery for Perfect People"

Hey guys! First of all it was so good to see you guys over Skype on Mother's Day! It was a great surprise to have Grandma and Grandpa there as well! I had a great time and it was good to hear from all of you! It's really strange for missionaries to talk to their families after not hearing their voices for a long time. It was such a great idea Amber about the questions in the bowl! You always come up with great ideas!

This week was pretty good! It was a slower week sadly but we all have those as missionaries. We helped the Cepeda's a lot with service on the farm. It's always nice to help them, they feed a ton! They are one of the favorite families throughout all of Ontario, they are mission famous haha. 

Funny story... I was herding some sheep over at there farm with elder roundy and there is a ram that is pretty vicious and has a history of ramming people unexpectedly. So I thought I would give this ram some competition. So this ram sees me and ducks it's head and charges full force at me. I got pretty scared I'll be honest... but I faked left and spun the opposite way and ram went zooming by!! My basketball skills come in handy!! Then after that I got pretty scared and started sprinting the other way!! haha people said it looked pretty cool!! Elder Roundy wanted to give a try and do the same thing pretty much but he slipped and fell over and then Ali Cepeda came to the rescue and caught the ram at the perfect moment!!

More funny moments! We were having a stick war and so we were just chucking sticks at each other! haha yeah I know, the inner kid in me. I got Elder Roundy right in the face and I chucked it pretty hard! haha he was paying attention to the flies swarming around him! It was pretty funny! Then Elder Roundy has a light sabor and he wanted to practice his jedi moves. So, I was throwing rocks at him and he was doing pretty good! And then this one that he thought he had hit him straight in the forehead and he just dropped! haha he has a big goose bump now! haha it was pretty hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

It seemed like just plain bad luck this week with trying to see investigators and less actives and finding new. But I have a feeling it's going to be a good week this week! 

Me and Elder Roundy are getting along great! He's so much fun, one of my favorite companions for sure! We hope we stay together another transfer! Owensound is great! In the Boonies with a lot of older people! Lifes good! hahaha

I love you all! I love this quote a ton! 

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes

"If you feel too spiritually maimed to come to the feast, please realize that the Church is not a monastery for perfect people, though all of us ought to be striving on the road to godliness. No, at least one aspect of the Church is more like a hospital or an aid station, provided for those who are ill and want to get well."

—Jeffrey R. Holland, "He Hath Filled the Hungry with Good Things"

May 8, 2017 Happiest Times in Life= No Guilty Conscience!

Hey guys!

Happy Birthday Brookie!! Shout out to her, she's all grown up. :'( Hope you have a wonderful birthday! Good to hear that everybody is doing well! Great pictures by the way! Oh and Happy Birthday to Grandpa Z! I can't believe he's 94! Old Fello! 

My week was really good! Boy it's been raining a lot over here. I've never seen it rain for this long! It was like a whole week all in a row! I guess Owensound needed it though! We did a ton of service this week! I don't know what it was but so many people needed our assistance! haha we did a ton of painting and helping people move! It was good though. I haven't done a lot of service on my mission especially compared to Chase! People really appreciated it and I felt good doing it! Me and Elder Roundy are doing really well! I really like him, he's really cool! He's hilarious too! He knows how to make me laugh! He's from North Dakota. It's pretty crazy there! He didn't really like it! haha We're having a lot of fun and working hard. We found two investigators!! Haha we were really pumped about that. The guy is a rapper! He showed us some sweet songs and he's actually really good. He's not doing so well money wise right now but he plans on "going to the top". He let us right in when we knocked on his door and he has a girlfriend that's really interested as well. They were fascinated about the Restoration and they loved how their is a prophet nowadays! They were so excited! They wanted the lds.org website and the Pamphlet! So that's really cool. We are going to be seeing them this week! As well a member of the ward here who is on fire with missionary work has a grandson who is coming to live with them. He is 14 and has already expressed his interest in being baptized! So WHOOP WHOOP!!! I'm so excited about it! 

Stake conference was good! I really enjoyed it! As a missionary you look forward to church!! I hope it stays the same for me after my mission!! 

Owensound is great! A lot of land and not much to do here haha! Reminds me a lot of Napanee!! Lots of work to do here! 

I read something that Pres. Monson said. I really enjoyed it and it's so true. He asked somebody when the happiest he's ever been was. And he said the happiest times in his life is when he doesn't have a guilty conscience! Amen and amen!! I testify of that 100%!

Love you all!!

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Cocojo, Jojonator

"Hey wanted to show you how hard Colten has been working on his mission!"

 We visited an abandoned house... it was pretty cool. it burnt down a while ago!

 

 Went to go throw axes and shoot bow and arrows! pretty fun!

 

 

May 1, 2017 Bigger, Better and Stronger

Well here I am in Owen sound! It's a great place, it's the boonies for sure!! Our area is huge! So lots of driving! The members are great here. I think this place has been the most welcoming in my entire mission! The members here are fantastic. The Jones family that I helped reactivate are here and they are doing fantastic! They are actually some of the strongest members in the branch here haha! Nketiah the daughter is working on her papers for her mission as well!! So excited about that! She's come a long way in life! 

There are couple of families in the branch that missionaries that have served here have told me about. They are super awesome and I love them so much. The Cepeda's have their own farm and we do service over there and they love missionaries. They feed the missionaries like 4 times a week! hahaha they are such an awesome family! Missionaries are pretty jealous of me going here! haha 

There is about 70 average attendance here! It's a great branch with a lot of old people! haha but they are awesome and extremely nice! 

Elder Roundy is fantastic!! He's so funny! He's been out for about a year. He's gotten a lot negative things said about him by missionaries. Just a bunch of rumors and stuff. He's a great guy. He's had a rough life. A lot of things that no guy should ever go through. It's taught him a lot that's for sure! 

The teaching pool is pretty low right now. They just had a couple of people baptized which is fantastic cause the area hasn't had a baptism for 3 years!! So i'm excited about that!!  

My district is great! One of my favorite missionaries elder talbot is in it so that's great! Then we have sisters in it as well. They are really quiet but really nice. One is from Belguim which is cool and she is still working on her english! 

There is quote that really stuck out to me this week!

"There is no losing, only learning.
There is no failure, only opportunities.
There is no problems, only solutions.
Failure is the mother of all success. All you can do is learn and come back Bigger, Better and Stronger. If you're always winning then you don't really understand what it is to win!
And not only that, it's never about making it, it's always about maintaining it!"

Good motivation for me! The Gospel is true!! Jesus is the Christ! The Plan of Salvation is fantastic!!! I love you all so much!!

Random: Some people randomly told me that I look like the singer from the panic of the disco, and Ferris Buller haha

Love,

Elder Beddes, coco

The Jones Family welcoming me to Owen Sound.

Owen Sound, Canada

 Elder Roundy

 

 

April 24, 2017 Transferring Kitchener to Owensound, CANADA

What's up!? 

Well transfer calls were yesterday and we got a call 5 minutes before 10:30. President... cuttin it close there! I'm going to Owensound in the Barrie zone! I'll be with a missionary named Elder Roundy. I've met him and talked to him a little bit and he's really cool. Elder Hafen really likes him so I think we'll have a good time! Plus a family that I reactivated and helped to get sealed in the temple is living there too!! So i'm excited about that!! I'm not going to be a zone leader anymore. God wants me to be a district leader now for the last part of my mission. So honestly I'm pretty happy about that. Some stress is being lifted off but wow did I learn a lot being a zone leader and I'll be forever grateful for the things I've learned these past 6 months. I've been a district leader for 6 months before I was a zone leader.  I'm going to miss Kitchener YSA though. It was a great area! I made some really good friends here and I'm going to miss them a lot but we will keep in touch! Hopefully some of the people I've taught here will end up getting baptized! I think one of the reasons I was sent here was for Sephora! She's come a long way and she's going to be a powerful saint for building the church up! She's been coming to activities and to church and you can literally see improvement and the progress she is making. It's great to see! 

Well it's been a great learning experience for me! I learned a lot this past transfer and I'm sad to be leaving. But i've heard some great things about owensound. Some of my favorite missionaries are going to be in that zone! I learned a lot of the second coming this week! It's pretty cool to learn about the signs of the coming!! I've read some great books about it! There is a quote that is out there that I really like I don't really remember where i heard it but it goes something like this, "Well I've got good news, the Savior is coming and I've got bad news, the Savior is coming. Just depends on what side you are on!" Haha it's great but i'm looking forward to it if it comes in my life time!! Sorry the email is so short but it's been a hectic day! I miss you all and love you dearly!

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Cocojo

Brother Takahashi from Kingston came to visit!

April 17, 2017 Become the Architect of (Your) Destiny

Hey hey hey!! 

Thank you so much for the package and thank you all for wishing me a Happy Birthday and sending me letters! Very kind of you all! I had a pretty good week actually. Yeah... i'm pretty sure i say that every week but it was good! We had a lot of district meetings that we as zone leaders have to go to. The district leaders are great Elders, they work hard and they run good meetings! We went on exchanges with the Portuguese Elders... they are some of my favorite missionaries. I went with Elder Gomez who is from Paraguay. He's probably in my top 5 favorite missionaries I've met. He's got quite the story. He's been in gangs, been shot several times, he's done some pretty crazy stuff. I really respect him a ton and we see each other being really good friends for the rest of our lives. I look up to him. Anyway, we've had some success finding new investigators. A select few of the members here are on fire with missionary work so they refer us to them and it's buckets! Member referrals are the best, always remember that! 

The Hobb's family took us out for dinner for my birthday! I love that family so much! I had a lot of fun with them and they baked me some treats too! So celestial! I got a bunch of junk food to help me with diet and work out to jacked again from my family so that's good! lol I've been sharing a lot of it and munch on a lot of it too... Landon bought some pizza for my birthday too got me some cologne and a tie. Such a nice guy. We are probably going to meet up again after the mission some how! 

Easter was amazing! Jesus died then Jesus rose! How grateful I am for him!! I know the he died for us because he has a perfect love for us and I also know that he rose for us as well so that I can live with him and my family and my friends!! And that gives me greater joy than anything ever! 

There was a great choir performance given by the stake and it was amazing!! Felt the spirit so strong, probably the best church choir i've heard! We didn't have Easter dinner though which was kind of sad but thats alright. I didn't mind macaroni and cheese until i found out there wasn't any milk... so that was awesome. SO i just ate chips and candy! lol it was great! 

People that we are working with are doing great!! Sephora has been coming out to every activity and coming to church as well. The YSA are fellow shipping her great, thank heaven for that! So she is transitioning great and she has a great future ahead of her! Some unexpected people that were potential investigators came out to church with us as well! So cool! Taught Gospel principles which was good! It was a good week! 

So something that stuck out to me this week was our thoughts and how that ultimately effects our actions. There is a quote that I read but I don't remember who it was by, "Destroy the seed and the plant will never grow. Man alone of all creatures of earth, can change his thought pattern and become the architect of his destiny." Oh never mind, it is from the book Miracle of forgiveness!! Great quote. Keep your thoughts clean! Be Virtuous and people will see how lovely you are not only because they can see it physically but also they can see it spiritually, its the light that you have! Love you all. 

Love,

Elder Beddes 

 

 Brother Ince (Mission Leader)

Bday lunch

The Hobbs Family from Stoney Creek

Bday dinner

 

April 10, 2017 Strengthening My Testimony

What's up! This week was another week that flew by! There is so much to do, it's crazy. Especially as zone leaders it seems like you are always on the run! We had mission leadership training the other day. It was a good 7-8 hours... I got to see Elder Bybee!!! Man I love that guy so much. Serving with one of your best friends for 3 transfers is a good thing and a bad thing! So we caught up. Kingston seems to be doing alright! The zone changed a lot for him and a lot of his good friends got transferred out so it's been a weird adjustment. The members are doing amazing! I miss them a lot. Probably my favorite branch/ward I've been in. 

A couple of families are coming up for my birthday apparently! So that's really nice! The Hobbs and then the Wynes are coming as well! Landon my branch mission leader wants to take me out as well. It's going to be a celebrated birthday that's for sure. I'm blessed to have these people in my life. Such great friends that I can trust for the rest of my life. Zone Council was great! Elder Myers first time instructing. He did great. It's a big old zone! 11 companionship's! Biggest one i've been in my entire mission! Great missionaries! Some of my favorite missionaries in the zone are the Portuguese elders. They are so funny and real! I love it. They are great guys! 

We had stake conference as well! Great talks! Some of the YSA here talked and they did an amazing job. Some of the talks were about their missions and how much they loved it. I started to think about my homecoming talk and my setting apart which is no bueno cuase I started to tear up with sadness lol. Not going to try and do that again. haha 

So we had a miracle happen the other day. So I don't know if I told you this or not but a less active showed up to the church while we were having zone conference wanting to know where we were. Her name is Sophora. She is from the Congo. She was baptized in 2012 there and she has been In active ever since she moved to Canada. She is in school to be a nurse and she's just got really busy and caught up in school. She says that she is feeling really guilty lately and feels like she is missing something. So we met with her a couple of days ago finally and we had a super spiritual lesson. She is great! Taught her about repentance and faith! She was blown away. She thought she knew about it as best as she could but she learned a ton. She's one of the most spiritual people I've met. She wants to come to church every week now. She wants the be a missionary and she wants to go to the temple as well! So lots of Goals and I truly believe she can do them. She came to church for the first time in A LONG time the other day and absolutely loved it!! She's so awesome!  

One of the members here has a friend that he referred us too! So we went over to his house and we talked about the Gospel with him. Turned out he wants to be baptized and come to church! So whooo!! He's a good guy! Wants to change some stuff around in his life to be able to get to that point but he will be able to do it I think!! 

There is so much to talk about. And I wish I could give you every little detail but it's hard! haha I learned a lot about Joseph Smith. You'd be surprised how alike the prophet Mormon and Joseph Smith are.. I found a lot. Some are: Both saw God at the age 14. Both moved at the age of 11. They were both visited by angels. Mormon is the author of the Book of Mormon. JS is the finisher. They were both strong mighty men. Both assassinated by enemies of God. Gave their hearts to the Gospel. Both Captains of Armies. Much much more that I've found. Really neat stuff that just keep strengthening my testimony of the divinity of the Book. Learned a lot about the Atonement as well. It's one of my favorite things to learn about. Jesus didn't just perform the atonement to make it possible for us to be forgiven of ours sins and make the Resurrection possible but I've found that another big part of it is that He made it possible for us to obtain divine powers and gifts. It's really neat! Glory be to the king of kings. MY LORD!

Love, 

Elder Beddes  

And Shawarma haha it's super good!

 Apartment cleaning check ups! haha

London/Kitchener Conference

April 3, 2017 General Conference Was Amazing!

Well Hello family and friends! 

This week went by extremely fast! The transfer is already half way over.. it's crazy how fast the time goes. I'm doing great, lots to do. Lots happened. Went on exchanges with the AP's. Elder Taylor is great I really like him, we are probably going to hang out after the mission honestly. We get a long really well. Kitchener is his old area. He served there one year ago and he was nostalgic the whole time! Haha it was a fun exchange we were able to see some of the people that he worked with and it was good for us because we haven't been able to see them and there is more people to start teaching! We got some shwarma and bubble tea... some weird food to be honest but it was pretty good. There are a ton of colleges here and so we went contacting and talked to some people. They are all pretty nice! Found some new potential investigators and a new inv. which is great! General Conference was amazing! I really like Joaquin E. Costa's talk and Palmer's as well. They really spoke to me. Even though Costa's talk was directed to investigators it still really touched my heart. And plus Izzy was there watching conference as well and she couldn't stop crying hearing that talk so it was great! Holland always speaks to me as well. Sunshine in the Soul!! Ohhh and Elder Clayton's talk as well. It was really weird to see him speak. I miss his voice! The power that is in his voice is outstanding. I love the Plan of Salvation as well, so it was just a great talk all around. The branch is awesome! Making a lot more friends now! Izzy is doing really well, just the mother problem. It's extremely hard to deal with. The zone is doing amazing! I love the missionaries here, they are hard workers! Me and Elder Myers are doing fine. Lots of people have been asking about him lately. He's definitely nothing like me but we love the work and really that is all that matters!! He's a nice guy too! Landon Ince our branch mission leader took us out to wings the other day. Really good, i really like that guy a lot. Another member that I really like took us out to lunch as well. It's pretty rare that YSA take missionaries out sooo we must be going something right! haha we are blessed here it's great! We have kill ball today for sports and there has been trash talking amongst the elders. Kill ball is dodge ball pretty much but it's everybody against everybody and it gets intense. So today i'm going to take it to the elders which i've never really done. Sometimes you just got to prove yourself of being the king. haha jk it's going to be fun though.   

Went to the temple the other day as well!! I loved it so much! I've only gone like 4 times in my entire mission! I saw my son Elder Hafen as well. SO good to see him again. I miss that guy so much! Saw some other friends I've made in the mission as well. Lots of fun!! Well I think that's about it honestly. I love you all and I love Jesus! 

Love, 

Coco, Jojo, Elder Beddes   

Please post this on the blog momma! :) so nice of AMber

Hi Coco!!! Sorry I haven't sent you much emails. I have been busy just like you. I just want you to know how much I love you. You are the best brother I could ever had. You are an amazing example to me. I plan on going on a mission just like you! I miss you so much. I can't wait till you get home! I'm so excited to see you! I'm also excited to go to Missouri with you. I also can't wait to bake something for you. Haha, I've been baking a lot lately. I like to make treats. Only if I can send you some! lol

How tall do you think you are?? I don't think that I'm going to be as tall as you! I'm about 5 Feet 8 Inches. :) Great height to play some Bball. Can't wait to kick your butt playing one on one. Haha! Dad and I play one on one sometimes. He misses playing with you. I do too!

I'm thinking about going to FJH next year. I'm not quite sure yet though. I feel as if I should go. I think that school will really benefit me. 9th graders over at my school have to do early morning seminary and walk to Ascent every day. I won't have to do that if I go to FJH. Ascent is probably too easy for me. FJH will probably be more challenging. The sports will be sooooo much better!!!! If I can convince my friends to go, then I think I will go.

I love you a ton

 From the Hobbs Family