Birthday Gift - No Longer a Teenager

Kia Ora Mother,

My emails are not vague they are just short. Anyways, now that I am twenty and feel exactly the same, i will try to change and send some longer emails. If time permits that is.

Thanks for the birthday gift. There was a lot of crazy stuff in there that I will probably not use in a while. We made the cake and a recent convert/ investigators house. It was great fun and I will send you some pictures if they ever give me any. Of course I didn't have my camera on me.

I will need to go get new shoes. I was playing a few weeks ago and stuck my big toe through the end of my other ones. Go figure. The rip is now getting bigger so definitely time to get new ones so I don't ruin these other ones completely.

I didn't get transfered and no new companion either so it is just the same as before. It was by far the weirdest birthday I have had so far because it was so close to a normal day. Not much was different, hence I feel the same as before.

We have two people set for baptism for August but one needs parent permission and the other we have a hard time seeing. We did have a new person come to church though that might go somewhere. We will have to see about that one.

Studies are going along well and I found a quote that was pretty good. "It is not by marvelous manifestations unto us that we shall be established in the truth, but it is by humility and faithful obedience to the commandments and laws of God." President Joseph F. Smith.

We come to find out god's hand in our lives not by seeing him but by feeling his influence and seeing the change that he does to us and those around us. We don't know it is windy until we feel it and see the change it makes around us. God influences our lives a lot more than we now realize and as we pay more attention to the little things, we piece together all of the pieces into one big puzzle of testimony.

I just love the gospel and how it makes people feel. It just makes sense every turn you make. I might not understand everything and that is where faith comes in. We don't know but our heavenly father does.

I hope you all are having a great week and I love you more than I can possible say through and email.

Love,
Elder Beckstead

Birthday & Aunt Katie's Wedding

Kia Ora Mother,

First of all, you would be proud of me because I got my birthday package but I still haven't opened it. I will wait until my birthday like a good little missionary. I am so glad for auntie Katie. Tell her to invite the missionaries over for dinner. It will be so nice to see everyone again in awhile.

But before that, I have an important work to do on this end of the world. We finally met our new mission president and he is really good. President Porter is back in Utah. They had their homecoming yesterday and apparently there were heaps of missionaries there to support them.

Lets see, we had a few investigators at church yesterday which was good and I hope they start to progress. This area has been really hard lately. I just think I need to pray more and try to get more inspiration. Something else that I need to get better at.

Well, Transfers are back again and I will let you know if anything changes. Probably a lot and nothing at the same time as usual.

Have a great week and I am glad you had a great time in Texas.
Love you heaps,
Elder Beckstead