Sunny Day

Kia Ora Mother,

That first picture is for Korin.

Elder Beckstead is a wanted man!

The next two are the same family that has had to be baptized in three different weeks. 5 out of 6 are baptized with one due this week. three got baptized last week which was very cool.

Something else that happened this week was that there was a zone conference. My first real one of my mission. It was a great experience. We have had a few miracles lately and we are desperately trying to complete them off.

One that happened yesterday was a man that was brought by a returning member to church. He was a catholic but is sick of it and he wants to be baptized. We had the first lesson with him yesterday and he is hopefully going down on the 11th of June.

We are also shooting for three baptisms this weekend although it might only be two. We are trying to find out where all of our investigators are. It has been incredibly hard to get them to church up here in the city. Why won't they just come? Oh well. there is always next week.

Beside that this week was fairly quiet. I have had fast food like 10 times last week and it was ridiculus. We will see how this week goes with members feeding us.

Elder Thomas and Elder Beckstead

Thanks for all that you do and I love you all heaps.
Love you mother heaps too.
Elder Beckstead

Another Week

Kia Ora mother,

I just looked at my time and I have 4 minutes to complete this email. typing slow is my middle name so lets see how much gets done. I think I am going to come home to Utah and ask where are house got moved to. So many changes seem to be happening. It is the same out here as we prepare for a new mission president and try to send president porter off with a bang. We have 6 set currently for the coming weeks with one this week. I am praying everyday that all will work out.

A few things about me this week is that I got soaked, no baptisms and come and see fireside for investigators put on by president and I finally got out a pair of thermal garments. Are they supposed to go to your ankles and wrists or like on my do they go six inches above the ankle and about halfway up your forearm. They kept me very warm though.

Thanks for all the updates and yes we just love you around us.
I better send this before it cuts me off.
Love you tons,
Elder Beckstead

Mother's Day

It was great to get to talk to Trevor. He sounded happy and glad to be a missionary. He assured his mother that he was keeping his apartment clean and that he was eating fairly nutritious meals :)

Trevor did say they had two baptisms this week (a 10 year old and an 11 year old).

We love him and are very proud of him.

Kristin & Ryan

Short Testimony

Kia Ora Mother,

I am grateful to hear your testimony and I want you to know that I know those things to be true as well.

I know you do things in spurts but I wouldn't have you do it any other way. Be consistent in Spiritual things but know that I love the way you love us and care for us even if it is sporatic.

This week was a manifestation of that talk. We had a marriage and a baptism this week of a Samoan named Fau. She is awesome and yet went through some tough times this week. We boiled it down to she hadn't been to church, prayed or read and that is why things weren't going right. You can boil most of your problems down to one of those three things not being done properly. Once she started doing those things, things turned right and the marriage and baptism went beautifully. She was confirmed on Sunday and things seem to be ok for the moment.

We also have a family that I wish the family would pray for. There last name is Teulilo. Two of the kids are scheduled for baptism this thursday and the rest are in the weeks to come. Pray for us and wish us luck.

Thank you for all you do. I love you tons and am grateful that I got the best mother in the world. I wouldn't have you any other way than sporatic and one with an excellent testimony.

I love you mom,
Elder Beckstead

Easter Sunday and transferred to Papatoetoe

Kia Ora Mother and Happy Easter!

What a message. How did you fit all that in one week. I am impressed. This week was jam packed full of craziness on this end of the world as well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the package. I am amazed that you got all that into that box. I know that you are the expert packer of the family now. I appreciate all that was in there and that is a cool shirt. Also, you would be glad to know that the emergency stuff is safely inside my backpack. I can't think of anything I need for my birthday as of now but I will keep you updated.

This week was an interesting one. It started off normal with last p-day which we played ultimate frisbee. It was one of the funnest I have had yet on my mission. I dove for a catch once though and I had mud everywhere after that. Ridiculus. Then we had a service project which took ages and again I got mud and dirt everywhere. We had to week this pretty big area in which the weeds were about 3 feet high. It was interesting to say the least. Then wednesday was transfer calls and district meeting. I was told I was getting transfered and so the long dreadful packing phase kicked in. So packing ensued and saying goodbye ensued as well. I do not like goodbyes much.

Thursday morning I woke up at six and finished everything else up. Then we drove up to Auckland. My companion wasn't at transfers because he stayed in the area I was going too. I am now in the Massey Park Ward and the Ashlynne Ave Ward which is in South Auckland in Papatoetoe (pronounced papatoytoy) and Mangare east. It is definitely a lot busier up here than in the country. A lot more traffic too. So getting settled in we met the few people we had set in the new area and started the process of finding.

We had a baptism in Ashlynne Ave ward of this awesome young man named Phoenix Chung. He is awesome and I am so glad I got to meet him. He was a miracle himself being found last Monday and already baptized. I am assuming that Andrea was baptized but I am waiting for proof next week.

The conversion story of them would take forever to tell so remind me over the phone in a couple weeks. The basics are that we found him tracting and he was baptized just over a month later. Then as we were meeting with him post baptism, he had a interview with the bishop. But he thought it was at the temple so he went up there. As he was there, we met up with his wife and began teaching her. From then on out it was history. She was baptized I hope on Friday last week and confirmed on Sunday. I will be excited to go be with them in the temple in a years time.

Well, one last thing before I go is that I have met a few people that knew Grandma and Grandpa. It has cool to meet them. I will have a great time up here in the city. The people are awesome and my companion is great so far. A little interesting but still good. His name is Elder Thomas and he is from Wellington. He served part of his mission in the West Indies but had to come back for some reason. Anyways, he knew Elder mayer from back home as well.

Love you tons, and have a great week. Talk to you soon.
Elder Beckstead

New week and quote on faith

Kia Ora Dad,

Don't worry about the long emails. They are great. Thanks for the quote. That does put it in a better perspective. i will try to have faith in the lords timing and not my own. That has been an issue for a lot of people lately here. Well, I don't have too much time here but we do have a baptism set for next friday which is great. She is the wife of my other recent convert Robert. I don't know if you remember him. Anyways, her name is Andrea and she is converted from Jehovah's witness which is incredible. There stories are just amazing about how we have found and helped both of them. Remind me next week and I will explain more for the blog.

Thanks for all that you do and will you tell Bro. Furr thank you so much for the email. I am grateful for the love he and his family show me. Tell him thank you for all he does and the example he is to me.

Thank you dad again for the music and I love you tons,
Have a great week.
Elder Beckstead

On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 4:07 PM, <krtxk@comcast.net> wrote:
Hello Elder,

How are things going? I have a quote for you from Elder Dallin H. Oaks:
"Faith in the Lord is trust in the Lord. We cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord’s will and in the Lord’s timing. As a result, no matter how strong our faith is, it cannot produce a result contrary to the will of Him in whom we have faith. Remember that when your prayers do not seem to be answered in the way or at the time you desire. The exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always subject to the order of heaven, to the goodness and will and wisdom and timing of the Lord. When we have that kind of faith and trust in the Lord, we have true security and serenity in our lives."

I thought the part about having faith in the Lord's will and the Lord's timing was so important to remember. We don't see the end from the beginning and it is easy to get impatient. I know that insight will help me in my life and I hope you remember and use it to help you on your mission.

We finally had some decent weather this weekend so we were able to have some soccer games. I'm sure it won't surprise you to know I spent most of the day down there (over 7 hours). Needless to say, most of us got our first good sunburn on the season. It was fun!

We hope your healthy and enjoying the uniqueness of a threesome companionship. We pray your investigators are progressing toward baptism, but remember it is on the Lords timetable, not ours. Keep up the good work and don't let satan get you discouraged.

Oh, a couple of updates. It was great to see Elder Paul Peay last weekend. He will speak next week (on Easter Sunday with Austin Jones). Austin goes into the MTC on April 26th. Jacob Thayne's speaking next Sunday too for his mission, and it is exactly at the same time ... ugh!

While I'm thinking about it, I got an email regarding scout stuff this week, and somebody replied to all instead of just to the sender. He mentioned that he and his wife were off to New Zealand on a mission. I, of course, emailed him and he is going to be the mission president on the other New Zealand mission (It's Wellington ... right?). He did say he is going with the new Auckland mission president (who is from Australia). The guy was pretty funny. He congratulated us on having a fine son that is serving a mission, and joked that if things get a little rough, he will help arrange an exchange at the mission border so you can serve in his mission :).

One other thing I wanted to tell you. There was this guy that I used to work at WordPerfect/Novell/Corel with. He was the one that I used to go to lunch for pizza every day with. I got a call that he had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Two days later he passed away. He has 5 children. One boy just got off a mission and another one that has his call. Then a 16 yr old and 13 yr old boy and a 11 yr old daughter. He was the coach of the Lone Peak Lacrosse team and was only 45 years old. It was pretty sad. Luckily we know this life isn't the end, but it seemed hard for his family that remains behind.

I had better go. This is getting long like Mom's emails. That's ok, if there is someone I want to be like it is your mother. She is amazing!!!!!!

We love you tons and tons and tons. We will pray for you daily!

Dad

Trials Before Blessings

Kia Ora,

This week was pretty good. Miracles happened and trials occurred. I will have to remember that trails always occur before some great blessings happen. I think we are in trial stage right now. We just have to endure them well with continuing prayers and we will obtain the blessings.

Conference was amazing. I learned heaps from that. I just hope I can remember what was talked about. I am physically doing well. I just got over a little cold but nothing major. Te Awamutu is doing ok. We had a great week up until this past weekend. It looked great for a few baptisms in the coming week but now looks like we have a real challenge on our hands. We will keep praying but no promises are forth coming. We have one really solid one for a week from Friday. It is the day after transfers which is a bummer but she is progressing really well. Do you remember Robert? This is his wife who grew up Jehovah's witness. It has been great to see the change in her.

I wish I had more time but my time is almost up.  Keep up the prayers on that end and we will keep up the prayers over here. I am glad that you are all doing well over there. The weather reminds me of what it is like over here as well except without the snow. It is just plain lousy going into winter.

Love you tons,
Elder Beckstead