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

March 27, 2017 Choose the Harder Right

Hey! 

It's been a smoother week for me and Elder Myers! We are getting to know the area a ton more and the people we are teaching and the branch! It's been good, I've been learning a lot! We have two investigators that are looking really solid for baptism! One of them is having a mom problem. She is completely against her decision of going to church and getting baptized. It's a really weird situation that could take hours of explaining lol but the mother is pretty much holding her back from being baptized and our investigator is afraid that it'll split up the family or the parents will disown her or something. The other one has been super busy and hasn't come out to church yet which is saddening but he has set a goal to quit smoking by the start of April  so that he can get baptized. He wants his good buddy who is a member to baptize him. He's overcome drinking coffee this week, he's a doing really good job. He's come a long long way! 

The branch is awesome! We have a ton of great people that are really nice and are bringing their friends to activities and church! It's fantastic! My favorite person I would say is my branch mission leader. He's come back from his mission two months ago and we have similar personalities. He's taking us out for wings tonight so i'm pumped about that. He has subs too... so that brought me back. haha you guys apparently told him my birthday is coming up too so I wonder what he has planned haha he's a nice guy. He told me to tell you guys that if need to tell me or ask me anything don't be afraid to text him. He's a nice guy. 

We had a fun activity the other day. Battle archery! Tons of YSA came and we played dodgeball pretty much but with bows and soft arrows. It was really fun! A guy in the branch gave me the best haircut i've ever gotten. He just learned by himself too, it was really good! I was quite impressed with him. 

Kitchener is great! There is a really ghetto part of town and a really nice part of town! It's a pretty big area and we cover the whole stake. We've been getting fed a lot actually. I was expecting it and I honestly don't want to get fed. I know that shocking lol but i got to get rid of this chubby chub. But its good food. ;)

I don't know if there is much to add honestly. Busy schedule this upcoming couple of weeks. General conference which i'm pumped for!!! Stake conference. Zone conference. Going to the temple! Zone council! Tons of exchanges! Man i'm always on the move!! 

We taught gospel principles last minute yesterday! It was on agency! The gospel principle books are all so simple but it's profound how much you can learn from them! I didn't really realize how special and how necessary Agency really is in this great plan of salvation. There is always a consequence to your decisions whether they be good or bad. Choose the harder right, than the easier wrong! You'll be blessed! Love you guys!!

Forever and Always,

Coco

March 20, 2017 It Seems to Always Work With Him in My Life

Well well well what a week!!! I'm gonna be honest one of the more stressful weeks on my mission. You know how I am about change, I don't know if I'll ever really get used to it haha but it's always good for me. Keeps me not comfortable lol. Apparently I'm the only Zone leader in this mission since President Shields came in that has white washed to a zone leader area.. and I've done it twice! haha so that was pretty crazy when Pres. told me that. I don't know why he and the Lord have so much trust in me.. especially training a new zone leader. It's been good though. The YSA area has been nice to us! Kitchener is pretty big. I think there is 4 or 5 companionships in just Kitchener. All speaking different languages! Big zone too! 11 companionships, so one of the biggest in the mission!! The apartment is pretty nice, not the best but it's good! The YSA are really nice. We are treated nicely! We have some really cool YSA that are really nice and it seems like they do a good job with bring their friends to church and activities. YSA is known for the 3 week baptisms and I believe that! Miracles happen! We are working with a couple of inv. right now that are pretty solid we just need to set baptismal dates with them!

There's about three colleges here so contacting galore! Our church building is the stake center so it's big and it's awesome. Reminds me of Utah! The branch presidency is pretty cool and our branch mission leader is awesome! He's the one that sent you our picture! I really like him! We have three districts in the zone so lots and lots of meetings to go to. I don't know any of the missionaries in the zone really... boy I'm getting old. I don't know anybody in this mission anymore lol.

We were able to find two new investigators! One was a media referell who we are meeting on Tuesday who apparently already knows the Book of Mormon is true... so that's sweet! Thank you Lord! The other was found outside the library just thought I would start talking to her before she got into her car and she turned out to be interested! So sweet! Our zone got like 17 new investigators so that's sweet! The Zone is killin it!

Elder Myers is a good guy. We don't have a lot a like. He reminds me of my first companion! Really nice guy though. He's really really smart. He's 24. He went to California College, it's like 3rd in the nation for partying. His story is pretty sweet, I respect him a ton and am so glad that he's out on a mission. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering!! He's a good guy. I'm teaching him a lot and he's teaching me a lot. :)  

Well I've learned a lot about trusting in God and really relying on him. Cause I honestly don't know what i'm doing lol but it seems to always work with Him in my life. I couldn't thank Him enough. He's taught me a lot this past week about loving, caring, and relating to his children. I've been takin out of my comfort zone a lot a lot a lot but I wouldn't exchange my experiences and things I've learned for anything. I hope I filled you guys in as much as you would have liked me too! If not ask me questions! I love you and peace!

Forever and Always,

Coltey boy  

NEW ADDRESS:

310 Queen #610

Kitchener, Ontario N2G 1K2

Canada

 

 

 Elder Myers

 

March 13, 2017 Transferring to Kitchener, Canada

Hey fam and friends! 

This week has been pretty wild! Transfer calls were yesterday... we pretty much knew that I was leaving and so we were pretty depressed all day Sunday telling people that I was more than likely leaving. It's honestly one of hardest things for me on my mission is transfers. I get so attached to the people here and to my companions that it's hard to change and start over! Especially when you white wash an area and you don't know anything! Yup.. i'm white washing once again! I'm going to Kitchener YSA and I'll be training a new Zone leader! So that's quite the load.... I don't know why God puts this much on me all of the time, I honestly don't even know what I'm doing lol! So it's always exciting and nerve racking not knowing what's in the future. I'll be serving with Elder Myers. Elder Bybee served around him and really liked him and says that I'll like him a lot so that's good. He apparently is 24 or 25 and has only been out for like 11 months or something like that! That's all I really know about him! So it should be a ride that's for sure and I'm always really nervous when it comes to this! Pray for me! 

We did a lot of walking this week! It was really good, we talked to a lot of nice people! Talked to some crazies as well, so that's always fun! Our less actives have been doing really well and i'm proud of them! Man I love this area so much. I'm going to miss it so much! It's been hard saying good bye to a lot of the people i've gotten really close with! It was pretty neat to see how I've impacted some of the people's lives here. Makes me feel special! I'm grateful that I was able to reactivate some less actives that I hope and pray will continue to go to church and make it to their next saving ordinance! Was able to baptized Bryn as well! Plant a lot of seeds and impact some of the members lives here! Regained the trust of the missionaries in the Branch!

I have received a lot of weird news this past week... it's scaring me. My trainer just got engaged... some of my other friends from the mission or engaged. A lot of my high school friends are married... I realized that I only have like 4 and half more months of my mission... Elder Vargus who is one of my favorite missionaries of all time is going home this week!! So sad and weird! One of my past companions is going home, Elder brand!  It doesn't feel real to me! I don't like it!

Well  i'm keeping it short today! It's going to be total chaos for me today and the next couple of days so please wish me luck! haha i'm pretty nervous! But I know i'll be alright!! 

Forever and Always,

Elder Beddes, Coco jo!    

Ebe and Elder Bybee

 

"We got to see your son again last Monday. Took them out for lunch as I knew transfers were this week... We will miss him while he is being transferred further away. Hopefully he will be transferred to a closer place that we can get to again someday. We all played basketball on Friday at the church as well to hang out before he left today. Your son was the one who helped my daughter open up more at church and choose to be baptized and take the right path. Have a great evening!" (Napanee family)

 

 

 

:"Hey Sister Beddes, this is Landen Ince. Your son just transferred into our Ward. I just wanted to let you know he got here safe!" Colten's knew companion- Elder Meyers.

"The Elders came over for dinner and to celebrate Elder Bybee's bday. I played a song on the guitar and Elder Beddes asked if I knee Pooh Corner, which coincidentally I do. I played it and he was kind of singing along then got a little teary eyed and said that was one of his favorite songs ever. He is such a great kid and he's got the same tender heart as my son," 

"I'm really grateful to have had the chance to have him and elder Bybee in our home and feel of their spirits. Elder Beddes shared his favorite things that you did as a family. He said you would give each of the kids a chance to go out on Special Saturdays and eat somewhere special and they got to ask anything they wanted and then you would take them out for ice cream after. He said those were some of his favorite memories. He also just loves being together with his family. And that heaven wouldn't be nearly the same if he wasn't able to be there with his family. He encouraged my kids to take care of each other and enjoy their time together as a family and to never take it for granted. I am grateful for his words and example to them!" - Sister Takahashi (Kingston)

 

"We are going to miss having your son around here! But I know he is going to move on and continue to work hard and he will really bless the people of Kitchener. I'm grateful our paths crossed and we were able to have him in our home! We feel like he has become family to us! I am also grateful that I was able to meet you, for all that I have learned from you and the ways you have lifted me even though we have never met. I hope we can stay in touch." -Sister Takahashi 

 

 "When I told my kids he was transferred they were all so sad especially that we didn't get a chance to do his birthday party and favorite doors/dessert. So we put together a birthday in a box for him. We didn't get a chance to get it to him before they had to get on the road so we will mail it to him." -Sister Takahashi