Nov 28, 2016 Let's Do Work, Ey?

Such a good week!! Seems like you guys had a wonderful week as well!! This past week was very revelation filled and the Spirit was so strong!!! I have to first bring Bryn's baptism!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of this guy!! Think of the most solid and golden investigator... and Bryn will fill that description. This guy is the most prepared person I have ever taught, he is so sensitive to the spirit.. it's amazing. Me and Elder Bybee talk about the lessons that we have all of the time and they don't seem real cause they gooo so well. We are just waiting for some people to come out of nowhere into the room and point at some camera and say, "You've been on a tv show, this is not real!" or something like that! It's seriously what it feels like!! The baptism went so well!! Most of the YSA showed up to it and Bryn's mother and friend came to it as well and they want to investigate the church!! When he came up out of the water he couldn't help but cry tears of joy!! He's come a long way! From drugs and partying to the gospel!! This guy is awesome! I'm so proud of  him and the decisions he's made!!! Me and Elder Bybee are getting along so well! We joke around so much and have a good time, but we work extremely hard!! I don't think i've ever been so busy on my mission!! So many appointments and talking to people, so much paper work, and meetings!! haha we had to plan a zone council kind of last minute for the benefit of uplifting and encouraging the zone to work harder, because the zone isn't doing so hot. But it was a very good meeting!! President Bailey of the district presidency attended as well and loved it very much!! He took us all out to pizza hut after.... haha what a fat bill!! Anyway we based the zone council on the fourth missionary.. i don't know if any of you have read that or not but it's changed my mission. It talks about four different types of missionaries and how it's best to be the fourth missionary! He talks about how the difference between the third and the fourth missionaries is quite small but 80% of missionaries are the third missionaries. He says the difference between the two is the amount of love and charity each one has. The third might be exactly obedient and reap the blessings but he does what he wants to inside of his heart. The fourth does what the Lord expects of him, is obedient, and has charity! His whole heart, might, mind, and strength is in the work. He let's go of "passions", puts it in a box and back onto the shelf for the time being. The fourth missionary is changed and benefits greatly from his mission while the third isn't changed and has guilt. 

It was a good eye opener for a lot of people! It was a great meeting and I think it motivated a lot of people including me and Elder Bybee!! I love the Gospel so much! While I was reading the talk it really make me think of the eternities. And how everything we do really plays a part in the rest of eternity. I have the rest of my life and the rest of eternity to think about my two year mission..... let's do work ey? 

Love you all so much!! xoxox

Love, Cocojo          

 Bryn's baptism!!! 

He is the one next to Elder Bybee! Emerson is a ysa going on a mission and he baptised him!!!

Good old Elder Bybee

November 21, 2016 Utah Mormon Friends

Looks like you all had a fun time on Thanksgiving!! i loved the family get togethers!! I'ts something i've grown a better appreciation of out on a mission knowing that we have family so close that we are able to do that kind of stuff! Thank you so much for the tips about college and life in general! It helps a ton! Regarding the whole rice, cereal, pasta and food like that.. I'm ok with that! haha it easily satisifies me! Macaroni and Cheese is what i grew up on anyway! Oh by the way, i've been teaching Elder Bybee the skills and techniques of making a wonderful meal of mac n cheese. He loves it so much! Well this week was AMAZING!! I don't think i've ever been so busy in my life! Life as a zone leader man... it's a roller coaster!! Seems like we don't even have time to breath! There are days where we literally have to skip lunch!! It's been so much fun and it's been quite rewarding! me and Elder Bybee are having so much fun! He's so awesome! We have become really good friends! He's hilarious and he's seen nacho libre so there isn't much complaining necessary! Well I'll go ahead and share my favorite highlight of the week right now! Bryn passed his baptismal interview!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's going to be baptized this Friday! He's so ready and prepared, it's crazy! We were going over the baptismal questions with him and literally every question we asked him he started crying! The spirit was so strong! I've never experienced such a spiritual baptismal interview ever! This guy is so awesome!! I can't wait to show you pictures. I love Bryn so much and am so proud of the decisions he's made!! 

We were contacting on the streets of Queens university and we ran into a guy who was part of this christian group called power to change! They had this stand outside asking people what they thought of God. So we started talking to him. He's so cool. He invited us over to his place that night and there were about 8 others that were staying in his apartment. They were all part of this group! They were all sooo cool. They were all so friendly and they were just askin us about what we do as missionaries and askin questions about the church!! Man it was such a cool experience. Just 2 mormon missionaries with like 10 guys just chillin on the couch talking about the gospel! It was sweet! And they invited us over to this ugly sweater Christmas party with all of the power to change group for a couple of minutes! It was soo fun! you would expect all of these people to be mormons! hahah they were so kind! It was funny to see everybody's faces when we went into the house of like 60 people in it!! But Ebe and Sam were introducing everybody to us. It was pretty funny, Ebe was like," yo this is our utah mormon friends, they are so sick!!" I felt so welcome it was sweet! Now Ebe wants to go see how good my basketball skills are. Elder bybee is good too! We go sometimes early in the morning and he's given me some competition!!! He's good! Found a couple of investigators just talking to random people on the streets and knocking into them!! People have been really kind here, it's been such a fun ride!! Kingston has 160000 people i think. Branch has about 150 people in it! YSA here is about 10 so it's been fun to be around them! We have FHE with them tonight they are really cool! The branch is soo kind! Everybody is excited about baptism coming up!!

Man me and Elder Bybee are having a blast! We are teaching a bunch of lessons, so it's really nice!! One thing i love about elder bybee is that he teaches from the heart. The lessons that we have been teaching people i feel like they are more meaningful and more spiritual. I feel like missionaries focus to much on just covering each doctrinal point in the lessons rather than trying to apply it to the person you are teaching or sharing experiences with people for example! And I feel that we do really well with teaching with the spirit, and people feel the spirit a ton more too!! 

I love you all!! 

Forever and Always,

Colters   

Elder Bybee

 

 

November 14, 2016 The Farmington Boys Killin it in Kingston!

Elder Bybee thought it was hilarious that you did that on your mission! He remembers getting injured while he was pitching one of the games, he got hit in the hand or something and he went up to talk to him and you said, "Can you still pitch?" hahaha he tried and he couldn't. Elder Bybee loved you as a coach. It's pretty cool to talk about baseball with him and past memories at high school and buddies we went to school with. It's pretty weird to talk about. Who knew I would be serving with Elder bybee? Small world ay? The farmington boys killin it in Kingston! It's been a good week! It's been different for sure but it's been good! I don't feel any different as a zone leader to be honest. Just more responsibility, but i'm grateful to have the opportunity to be one! I love serving with Elder bybee, i'm bummed we didn't hang out at all before the mission cause we are exactly the same, such a good guy! He's a really hard worker too! So we both came into the area with horrible white wash notes(thanks missionaries who served before us) so lots of running around with our heads cut off, but we are settling in. Just trying to get to know everybody by calling them, dropping by, etc. The branch is awesome!! They are so kind, they love feeding the missionaries so that's a blessing. They are willing to come out teaching with us too! I love that! So many miracles happened this week. Holy cow i'm tearing up just thinking about it. First and foremost Bryn. 

We got a referral the other day from Halifax for a dude named Bryn. He has been being taught a little from missionaries out there but recently moved out to Kingston for work. HE is so solid! What a miracle! He was bearing testimony of the gospel in our first sit down lesson with him! He agrees with all the doctrine and is already saving for a mission because he is only 20. But something that he is experiencing that i related to well and really hit home for me is when he was talking about changing our nature. He talked about being in college and getting kicked out for partying and just really not caring about school. He talked about the parties and the drugs and alcohol that just float around. He was talking about if the gospel can change his nature, he will do anything for it to help. He wont go back to college until he is strong enough to withstand the parties and everything. He knows he isn't strong enough right now because he doesn't have a foundation of Christ. He's so awesome. We taught him everyday this past week hahaha that's how prepared he is. He loves the gospel. He's probably one of the most prepared people that i've taught. He has a date for the 25th of this month! 

We found 3 new investigators!! The YSA here are so awesome! They just bring there non member buddies to activities and it's great! The apartment is trashy, not the best but's that alright. There is a roof over our heads. It's an apartment complex. 

The zone is full of amazing missionaries. They all are special in there own way and they have there individual talents and abilities that combine to make a powerful zone! We have two of the funniest missionaries in the zone so that's fun! Everyone did well this week missionary work wise, i'm excited for the future and the work that is going to be put in! 

I know that all of this matters. It's making a difference. The Gospel is capable of doing that. As a missionary you are part of so many lives, it's crazy. I was thinking about this the other day about how members, missionaries, friends, etc play such an important role and you can impact so many different people. The master teacher and follower impacted me and I love sharing that. I love teaching with Elder Bybee cause everything that comes out of his mouth is from the heart. He's such a sincere missionary and I look up to him for that. I love this guy so much, we are having a blast! The mission is the hardest thing I've ever done. But oh is it worth it!! Love you guys, I'm sorry if i didn't answer everybodies questions. My brain is on overload everytime I get on to email. hahah so if you have any questions for me ask me again and i'll try to answer them! 

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco, (some new ones i've obtained on my mission) slappy, ferris bueler, ranoldo

Toronto!

The Farmington boys killin it in Kingston!

November 7, 2016 Baptisms, Transfers, AND Zone Leader

Well well well where do i start off this week!? Oh i know, 4 BAPTISMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooooo excited that I got to experience that in this area, i have been so blessed!! I love these two families so much!! Zana, Dominic, Spring, and Cassie all got baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday!! This is what Elder Hafen said(He summed it up pretty well):
"This week was super busy and exciting! We spent most of the week getting Cassie, Spring, Dominic, and Xana ready for baptism. Lots of Preparing. I didnt get very much sleep Friday night because I was so excited for the baptisms! Saturday morning finally came and we got delayed for 30 min.  Cassie and Spring didnt bring white clothes so Sister Lee ran to Walmart to go and get them white underwear. While she was gone, we tried to set up a movie for everyone to watch, but no one could get the tv to work. We finally got the tv to work, but then sister Lee came back. So we proceeded with the program. I went first baptizing Dominic and Spring. I had to baptize Dominic twice since his legs came up. Spring came down and she held on to my arm so it was out of the water, and her hair came up also. I held her under as I tried to put her hair in the water and then her legs came flailing up since I had her under too long. The second time her legs came up again. So the third time I got smart and stepped on her feet so her legs wouldnt come up. I kept her under and looked at the witnesses to make sure it was done correctly this time before bringing her back up. A few people starting clapping when I brought her back up. Elder Beddes only baptized Cassie and Xana once each. At least I can say I had 5 baptisms instead of 2!" 

Haha so it went really well, it was such a spiritual time for everybody! Most of the branch came out to support so that was really good to see! We had lunch after as well, lots of food! It was a good time!! 

I love these two families with all of my heart. Cassie, one of the girls i baptized, said this in a text just a couple of hours ago, it made me tear up. "You are an amazing missionary. I know you will make so many more ppl happy! You made me smile a lot! I am so thankful for you entering into my life. I'm so grateful you taught me so much and I couldn't ask for anything better! we are all gonna miss you beddes. I'll see you again sometime maybe. Just remember keep on smiling because your smile can brighten ppls days. I will read the book of mormon and pray each night. I've gotta go to school now but thanks again and i wish u luck on your mission." Ohhh i guess i better tell everybody now lol i've been transferred!!!!!! To the next city over hahaha! Kingston and i'm going to be a zone leader with Elder Bybee an old high school buddy of mine! So small world! I have a couple of my favorite missionaries coming into the zone as well, so it's going to be fun!!! It's hard to say goodbye to everybody here and to Elder Hafen but i'm not to far away ay?! Now, when I baptized Xana, i'll be honest i started to tear up! lol there's only been a couple of times I have felt the spirit so strongly and this is one of those experiences. Xana is 8 years old and everytime I look at her it reminds me of Maleah. So when I was baptizing Xana it was kind of like a re-inaction of what it would have been like for me to baptize Maleah. It made up for it in a way I guess is what i'm trying to say! It was an amazing moment for me! Anyway, I loved Napanee! I learned so much! One of the biggest things I learned was that God pays close attention to branches. Who would have thought that a branch of 30 could have 4 baptisms? Lots of people lost hope honestly and coming into this area there wasn't much haha but with the Lord's help it got picked right back up to it's feet! I love this area with all of my heart! I'm going to miss it a ton!! I love you all and hope everything is going well for all of you!!

Love you Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco, Colten     

"I'm headed East to Kingston, whitewashing into the area and training a new Zone Leader from my hometown, Elder Beddes!!!! He's a stud, and I'm stoked. I've never whitewashed before, so we'll see. I'm excited though, we're gonna get it done. (Kristie Berry Beddes! How exciting is this!!!??? Just got this email from Cale.)"

Dear Xana,

Hi! When I got my baptism done I felt special and the water was really warm. It felt nice to get baptized. I'm happy you got to get baptized too. Now we have the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost helps you feel better and helps you make good choices. I loved my baptism! I hope you remember these good feelings too.

From your new friend,

Maleah

Dear Maleah,

Thanks so much maleah!! you are the best, she is going to love it!! i'm glad you had fun at halloween, i think of you guys a lot!! I'm excited to play with you!! they do have trick or treat in canada! lots of questions to answer haha but a mission is hard but it's fun!! I love you!! Of course we can do all of that stuff! I can't wait!! I want to play sports with you too!! Stay cute lele,

Love you more,

coco

Nov 5, 2016

Cassie and Spring (Evelyn Lovett)

Xana and Dominque

 

 

 Elder Moffat (going home tomorrow)

 Napanee, Canada

Oct 31, 2016 Accomplish All Things With the Help of God

First off those Halloween pictures are awesome!! The gang! I remember dressing up as an old man and going trick or treating with Chase before we left on our missions! So fun, I can't wait to go again! ;) Thanks for putting my name in the prayer roll, much appreciated! The whole family is doing well it seems like! Volleyball family that's for sure!! Those pictures that you received were from Evelyn Lovett who have kids that are going to get baptized, Cassie and Spring!! The whole family is awesome, they have progressed so much! We've been teaching them a ton! The Fordham's(other family that is getting baptised) are doing spectacular! Katherine is getting in the hang of things; coming to church, reading scriptures with the kids, watching mormonchannel, and even being a great missionary to her non member husband Mike! She's doing such a good job that Mike has been asking a lot of questions about the church and the baptisms of his 2 kids, Dominique and Xana! He even came to a church party for the first time and loved it! He should be investigating pretty soon! They watched meet the mormons together and they both loved it! Dominique and Xana are doing really well! I'm so proud of these two! So there should be 4 baptisms this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!! Lot's of preparing to do for this great day!! Maleah I was wondering if you could email a short letter for Xana talking about how your baptism was! She's pretty excited and she reminds me a whole lot of you! I think she would really like that, i sure do talk about you a ton with her and she wants to say hi! Well, Canada is starting to look like.... well Canada! haha we had our first snow a couple of days ago. That made Elder Hafen cringe, it made me really happy! I love the winter! It's been getting pretty cold too, no more AC anymore! We had a great last district meeting! It was an interesting one! I've learned a ton from being a district leader and preparing for these meetings! This last one was a fun one! I had everybody come up with a deep doctrine questions, very deep.... hahaha and we practiced answering as simply as we could. So it was a good practice and reminder that deep doctrine questions could be brought up by our investigators and others too and it's our duty to answer as simply as we can, teach the doctrine pertaining to that question as simply as we can, and then testify! I came up with a bunch of deep doctrine questions and had everybody practice role playing! hahah it was pretty funny to watch and listen!! It was fun, and then after the senior couple had us over for tacos! So good! I love those guys so much they remind me of my grandparents! We had to give talks yesterday! I talked about 1 Nephi 3:7, related it to gaining our own testimonies!! Elder Hafen spoke first, talked for a good.... 12 minutes. lol so that was awesome that I had to speak for 35 but somehow I did it. Cried in front of everybody, I usually do and it's embarrassing. Haha we met this sweet woman tracting in the boonies! Her name is Melissa and she teaches Catholic school and she was quite interested in what we had to say!! I can't wait to meet with her again! Anyway, ALL is well in God's country and we are balling it up here and having fun! 

Spiritual thought of the week:

Referring to that scripture 1 nephi 3:7, Nephi pretty much bore a small testimony about how he can accomplish all things with the help of God! The trust and the confidence he must of had!! If we had the same attitude that Nephi had when he needed to go back to Jerusalem, build a ship, etc then we would be much happier and would be more blessed! Love you guys

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco, Jojonator    

 Praying over my food and how delicious it will be!! haha best breakfast place i've ever eaten!! 

Me and Elder Hafen

District Meeting!

October 24, 2016 Practice Makes Perfect

Those pictures are awesome!! You guys all look so good!! The nature looks beautiful as well!! My week was a good one!! Our potential baptisms are looking really good so far!

Zana-Nov. 5

Dominque- Nov. 5

Spring-Nov.5

Cassie-Nov.5

So we are pumped about that!!! Spring is very jumpy and figity and Cassie is the shyest person i've ever met so combined... it's something to see! The lessons are definitely not the typical lessons we have but that's alright they are learning and coming to church!!They are awesome! Zana and Dominque are golden!! They just sit down and listen to us and they are happy to be there! They are awesome! I absolutely love teaching them! They are opening up a ton more and the lessons are just so fun!!! They all have been coming to church so that's good!!! We've been hitting records here in Napanee missionary work wise so we are pumped about that!! I can't wait to see these children baptized! It'll be the first baptisms in over a year! So excited!!!!!!!!!! We've had a good week! Me and Elder Hafen have been killing it and having fun! He's so funny i love him! We were at our returning members house who is going to be going to the temple soon (so excited about) and he smoked us some ribs and they were the most delicious ribs i've ever had!! Me and Elder Hafen had three each... yeah we felt pretty gross after but they were so good. We went over to Smith Falls to work their area for a day... that was brutal but fun. It was raining literally the whole day and they had planned for us to tract and contact all day... so that was sweet to be in! No one was really receptive sadly but it was fun to be around different missionaries. Let's see... we had to help out at this Couples conference that was Paris themed. And so the zone leaders, me and elder hn were the waiters!! It was fun and enjoyed it... it was pretty tough to hear Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin music in the background though... holy cow. That was tough! I dared an Elder in my district after my district meeting to eat two large poutines and I told him that I would give him a tie. I honestly didn't think he could do it, but he did... he puked after but it was a good show! ;) lol he's really skinny too, I honestly don't know how he did it. We've been hearing a ton about Trump and Hillary..... holy cow it's so annoying. I swear the Canadians are more into American Politics than what Americans are. People always ask us about it, and I have none of it. I don't even know anything about politics so it's good for me. :) It's getting pretty cold now.. i have my jacket on. Elder Hafen isn't used this Cold weather so it's pretty funny to see him suffering and experiencing the exact opposite of what Neveda is like! well that's all for now... it was a good week! My district is doing amazing! I love them so much!! The zone is awesome, napanee is spectacular!! To answer these questions: So, have you heard of any new missionaries from our area being called to Canada? Any old friends? Ever hear from Alex from Idaho? How about fellow missionaries? Hear from Chase or Jake? How often do you report/visit with Elder Shields? There are a couple of friends that went to viewmont that are here in the mission!! Some good friends too,but i haven't seen them!! jake and chase are still planning on byui!! Alex is doing really well!! He's still body building!! We report to president every time we email so once a week! He's awesome! Just had skils and interviews with him and we had a good chat about deep doctrine and future plans and how things are going in the mission! haha anyway here's the spiritual thought of the week.!

"For some, serving or ministering one by one, following the Savior’s example, doesn’t come easily. But with practice, each of us can become more like the Savior as we serve God’s children."

—Linda K. Burton

Love this quote!! perfect practice makes perfect!! Love you all!! 

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco   

A member in Smith Falls showed me his collection! He puts me to shame compared to mine! haha he let me keep one which was cooL! 

We encountered this while tracting... scared me half to death.. I stopped dead in my track and then realized it was decoration. I was about to sprint the opposite way! haha

 Service for an active member!!! Gettin it done!!!!!!!!

Chef Hn

 sleepin on the job

I didn't know Elder Hn did modeling 

  Meeting with one of our Less actives!! :0

District meeting in paris!!

 Helping out with Couples conference

 

October 17, 2016 Elder Beddes, is Everything Alright?

Well looks like everything is going well with the family!! That's super cool that you got to ride those things, where was that? That's a sweet picture of everybody in the volleyball picture!! Nice job!! Well this week wasn't to exciting! Kind of a mellow week, not a lot of people seemed to receptive this week but that's alright, the more seeds planted the merrier!! We've been having some awesome lessons though! I love teaching, especially when the people you are teaching feel the spirit! I've especially liked teaching Kathy and her children that are getting baptized! They are so kind and funny! They listen and learn very well! I love teaching them the basics such as prayer and God! They just get so excited and want to try it out and learn more! They are getting excited for their baptisms in November! They have already invited family and friends to it! Shelley's worker that was supposed to work for her bailed out last minute and dissappeared and so she wasn't able to come to church for the first time in years. But she says that she is trying her best to find someone else cause she really wants to go! So hopefully soon!! Scott is hilarious! I love teaching him. He always teaches us martial arts after so it's cool to learn about the gospel and then how to kick somebodies butt! lol We had District Conference!! That was cool and I loved the talks! The amount of people there was about the same in my home ward in Farmington lol! I almost died at a dinner appointment the other day, that was cool. Something funny happened and I tried not to laugh and hid it as best I could! But then I saw Elder Hafen laughing and that made me laugh even harder and so I just decided to drink my drink to try and stop me from laughing but I just started drowning myself really! haha and so Elder Hafen was like "Elder Beddes is everything alright?" haha i'm like yup yup everything is just fine thank you! We are getting fed pretty well here, so that's nice! The members like us so that's good!! I love missionary work! You just got to have fun with it! It can be a drag really when you aren't having fun and being yourself! I love recieving emails from past families that I've taught here is one that was sent to me!

"Hi Elder Beddes,

I have been thinking about you a lot lately and wanted to send you a quick email. Sending Thomas out has given me lots of time to reflect on people that have made a difference in his life. About a year ago I started praying for a missionary to arrive in our ward that would connect with Thomas and make missionary work seem great. Not that we hadn't had good elders but nobody that Thomas was connecting with. So when you arrived in December you really were an answer to prayers. Our family connected with you right away and we loved having you in our home. Thomas' mission prep started moving on and he was definitely on board with serving a mission. I know there were lots of reasons for this but you definitely played a part. When he got his call he said he really wanted to let you know so as you know we found your number and he was able to share his news with you. Sending him off last month was honestly the hardest thing I have ever done but I am so grateful that he went. Does that make sense? The boys and Abby had such a hard time saying good bye. I remember you saying being away from your little sisters has been the hardest part of you mission. Thomas seems a bit homesick right now. The MTC is getting to him but he leaves for Uruguay on the 25th so then a whole new set of challenges await him. I am sure he will succeed, he just needs to work through everything he is feeling.
I won't write much more since I am not even sure if you are allowed to receive emails from members in the mission. We are all doing okay. Abby is driving now. She dumped the Pentacostal and is sort of living the single life, and loving it! So no boyfriend to baptize. Andrew is still a crazy kid and has fun with the Elders whenever they are over. Elliott is missing Thomas so much, especially with all his sports on. He misses his watching buddy. I have been feeding the YSA missionaries lately because they never get appointments. Elder B just loves Andrew. We love him too! He said he went to high school with you.  He is with Elder H so it kind of feels like you are at dinner when they are over. We also have Elder G who is awesome and Elder T who is new. They are great elders. I  feed the four of them every week. Your name comes up all the time. The kids still talk about our Christmas carolling last year and how much fun that was. We did have a lot of fun with you when you were here.
So I will say good bye for now. Maybe we will run into you again before you leave next year. We are planning a trip to Utah next summer but I don't think you will be home yet. If you ever come back for a visit you know you have a place to stay! Keep working hard, I am sure you are. You are a great missionary and I am sure you are making a difference wherever you are. I know you made a difference in Stoney Creek!
Love,
The H Family
P.S. I am going to send a couple pictures in a separate email for you to see. 

P.P.S. Are you eating? Are you still picky? LOL  

    

Just got back to my desk and saw your email! So exciting. Thomas' email is  thomas.hobbs@myldsmail.net. He leaves next Tuesday for Uruguay. We have Elder Gomez and Thieme right now. They aren't you, you are still our favourite with Elder Catalin a close second. We do like them though. We were struggling with Elder Baird when he was here. A good missionary but drove us all crazy. We didn't shed many tears when he left. Does that sound bad? We love Elder Bybee too. I keep feeding the zone leaders because they really don't get fed. Elder Herbert is funny too. But like I said they aren't you. We keep hoping you will end up as the zone leader here and then we can have you for dinner. I still make my cookies for the elders. They seem to like them, a lot! Anyways I need to get back to work. So glad you emailed back. We miss you and hopefully we will see you again. Like I said we are going to Utah next summer but not sure when you will be home. We haven't decided when yet.  Keep working hard! Napanee never used to be a branch when we  lived in Kingston 20 years ago. All those members came to our branch there. If we are driving through on our way to Ottawa or Kingston in the next little while I will figure out a way to get you some cookies! 

All the best!

Love,

The Hobbs Family (Sister H)

Haha they were a family in Stoney Creek!! I love them so much!! Anyway, i'm doing really well. Elder Hafen is too! We are having a blast and making every second count! Time flies on the mission! It's weird to see friends going home in the mission and in other missions! I love you all! Hope you have a good week! Sorry it's a shorter email! Stay Gold!

Love,

Elder Beddes, Coco

 Yes, i've gained weight

October 11, 2016 That Was How I Knew

I didn't know that you got new callings!! Ward Clerk and the primary!! I wish you guys luck, you guys will do great! Thank you for the tips regarding my letter home, it helps a ton! So our week was one with a ton of ups and downs! lol i'll be honest the start of this week was one of the most shocking, unexpected, and sad starts of the week for me. We had lunch at swiss chalet (canadian restaurant) with Angie. We were all having a good time eating our food and then we asked her how her Book of Mormon reading is going. Then she pulls out The Book of Mormon, the triple combination, the pamphlets, and everything else we had given her and she had it all tied together in a ribbon and put it on the table. She said, "I no longer want to meet with you guys." She had went to go see her Aunt when she had a mini stroke for conference weekend and the aunt had given her a couple of books that had a bunch of Anti in it. We tried to resolve the concerns she had read but she wasn't having it. We tried to remind her of the feelings that she had, the progress she had made, and the things that she had learned, but said it was fake. It was quite alarming that she would say that she was 98% the church is true and that she is loving the things that were being taught and the spirit she was feeling. She was making true friends at church, ones she never had the chance the obtain her whole life, and then she runs into, what we told her to be careful and to stay away from, some anti. I could feel and see the coldness in her eyes as she walked out of the restaurant as if she felt accomplished and felt right about the decision that she had made. We had a long chat at that table about the whole thing. I was more saddened, frustrated, and ticked off that my trainee had to go through something like this. I was honestly ok, because I have experienced this on my mission countless times. I was of course saddened by it but felt more determined to work harder. On the other hand, Elder Hafen was having a hard time with it. But long story short, we felt alright about the situation and all is well. It was shocking, because we thought for sure she was getting baptized but that's alright. It's life. There's more potential out there. More souls to find. We feel more motivated. More determined and there's more umph in our steps! It was a great learning experience for us all and it was a spiritual experience for me to have a great convo with my companion bearing my testimony of the mission and giving him motivating and uplifting encouragement to him! I love him dearly and am proud of him! God has a sense of humor, after that experience we had with Angie, the very first door we knock on is interested in the Gospel! haha it was sweet! She owns like 5 dogs and she wants to know where her deceased husband is. I love bearing testimony of the Plan of Salvation and seeing something sparkle in their eyes as they hear and feel the Spirit. Other great things that have happened! Kathy and her kids came to church. Kathy hasn't come to church since 2004!! And Dominque and Zana loved it too!! They have a baptismal date for Nov 5th!! It's awesome, they are so smart and funny! Dominque reminds me of myself when I was 11 and Zana reminds me of Maleah! We need more children/youth in the branch!! So we are excited about that! They are doing really well, saying family prayer, studying the scriptures daily, and mormon messages as well!! Scott Avery is preparing well for the temple! He's getting more and more excited about it!  I love teaching about the temple! He should be going soon and I hope we get to go with him! He's doing really well, coming to church every Sunday and feeling the spirit! Shelley is coming next week, she found someone to work for her on Sundays!!! So excited about that as well! Evelyn Lovett and her children are coming to church and the kids are wanting to be baptized as well! So we should be having 4 baptisms by the end of the transfer!! So we are excited about the progress that Napanee has made!! I love this place and the branch!! I love building up areas as well,it's one of my favorite things! I told my mission president last time to send me to areas in the mission where nobody wants to go!! It's fun!!! My district is doing really well! Elder Ngerantar (malaysia), cattelain (utah), Hafen(Nevada), coffee(arizona), olson(calgary), Sister Garaki(tahiti), hamblin(idaho), and the Hatches(alberta)!!! It's a fun district and they are all hard working!!! Haha so i like to include something funny that happened in the week and me and elder h were talking about the week and really couldn't think of anything! Then yesterday we were visiting some members and we were walking out and I was shaking everybody's hand telling them goodbye and thank you and things like that and then I hear a THUMP..... thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Elder Hafen took a spill down the flight of stairs! HAHAHAHAHA it looked pretty graceful to be honest but everybody was freaking out about it, seeing if he was alright. He just got up, and he was alright! lol I was crying, and thought I was going to pee my pants! I couldn't stop laughing when we left the house!! Man it was good to laugh that hard! Well I want to share my experience of my conversion to the Gospel. I haven't really told anybody in the family or my friends back at home so a lot of people might be interested to know how I came to know that this church is true. Obviously I was born in the church and raised "by goodly parents" and was taught in the way that is  very pleasing to God! But I guess I was going through the motions of going to church, saying my simple nightly prayers, reading a verse from the scriptures a day, just checking off boxes on the check list for lack of better words. I knew that it was all good and that it was something that God wanted us to do but I didn't really know if it mattered. And I remembered my dad coming into my room while i was in bed getting ready to go to sleep. And we had a conversation about the church, the gospel, a mission, and other church related stuff. And he told me that I was doing what was right but I pretty much needed to find out for myself it was true and if it mattered. (I don't know if he remembers this) As he walked out of my room I had a strong impression to kneel down and ask our father in heaven if all of this was true and if it mattered. As I finished my prayer, an overwhelming feeling hit me. Now, I know that a lot of people say that it was an overwhelming warm feeling, or peaceful feeling and it can seem like the norm to say it and to hear about others experiences with it but mine was a little different. I received those feelings after getting thoughts of my family. Joyful memories that flooded into my mind and into my heart with an indescribable feeling of Gods love and care. I had thoughts of my sisters and I on the tramp playing together. Me and my dad playing catch with the baseball and him teaching me how to throw a curveball. My mother looking into my eyes as she sat beside me talking about the importance of the temple as we sat outside of it eating lunch. All of us together eating our ice cream in the van as we drove home from Farr's ice cream! So many fond memories had flooded into my mind!! And really That was how I knew that God had answered me. And from that day and that experience I knew that the Gospel and the church was true. Families can be together forever! And everything else fell into place, everything else clicked and made since!!! I'm grateful for our Heavenly Father who does answer our prayers! Who is there! Who truly cares! I'm grateful for his Son who came into the world to die for us! He makes it all possible!! And I am grateful for that experience that has brought me this far in my life! I love you all and have a wonderful week! I 'll be praying for you all! xoxo

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes           

Sweet poutine place we found!!

 

Found this in an area we cover!! In Bath! Apparenly 20 years ago Thomas S. Monson dedicated it.

  Yup that's right 

 

Elder Hafen

Fall!!!!