Week 20 - GC District Rocks

Howdy everyone, This past week was pretty alright, not to much happened. We did a couple of services and tried to extend a Baptismal invitation.

On Monday, after pday, we had a lesson with Lawson and flinders and we were feeling really good about it, so we extended a Baptismal invitation for the second time. They said that they would think about it. They didn't say no. Hopefully we can get in another lesson with them and try to help them out a bit.

The highlight of the week was the interviews that we had with the mission presedent. It was nice to be able together with him and get some good advice. After the interview we went and had lunch with him and his wife. It was nice to have a free meal I got a pulled pork burrito 🌯 and it was alright. It was fun to eat out with the district.

A scripture that I found this week that stood out to me was Alma 36:

3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.

I love this scripture because it reminds us that if we put out trust in God he will help is while we are in our trials. I have been able to see this throughout my mission so far and that has shown me that this is true.

Sorry the email this week is a little short,

Emoji of the week: 🌱

Slang of the week: full as a goog. Meaning full to the brim.

TTYLXOX, See you next week,

Elder Brayden Beattie.

Week 19 - Fast Cars and Alpacas

 

Hello everyone, This week was pretty normal. We did a couple of services and I got to set foot In an absolute mansion.

One of the services that we did was for some really old people and we had 6 missionaries go to that one.  We unloaded 4 meters of mulch and spread it around a bunch of bushes around their home. They really wanted to pay us, but we told them that lunch would be perfect so they got each of us a sub from subway. It was pretty good.

The next day we had our district service at a stake service activity. This service was at a women's sanctuary and we did a lot of yard work. Some of the Elders and I had to dig a long trench in 38°c heat, I was sweating like a pig.

One of the bishopric in one of the wards that we are covering is like mega rich and has a mansion that he lives in. He was telling us that he likes this house because it is smaller then the last one that he had. I was like this is a small house, I wonder how big his other house was. He showed some pictures of his old house and it is like a super mansion. While we were there we talked about missionary work and about people we could visit.

Yesterday Elder Phelan and I had a really cool.street contacting experience. We were making an agenda for a meeting on Tuesday and I heard a car drive by that clearly had a turbo in it so I went by the road to go se it and he ad just parked this really nice nissan gtt r34. So we went up to h and started chatting about cars with him and we got his number and he said that he would take us on a drive later.

A scripture that stood out to me this week was Alma 37:41, which says:

41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey.

I love this scripture because it says that when we are lazy and slothful, the marvelous works In our lives will cease. I have seen this in my life many times where because of my laziness I have missed out on blessings.

Thanks for reading the email!

Emoji of the week: 🦥

Slang of the week: skint, meaning Broke, like out of money.

Talk to you next week,

Elder Brayden Beattie

Week 18

Howdy, hope ya'll are doing good. 

My week las week was pretty cool. It wasn't too crazy. We had zone Conference last week which was awesome, I got to see lots of missionariess and was able to talk to lots of them. There was a scripture memorization game and whichever district won the games gets to have a dinner to the mission presedent. And of course our district won, so we get to have dinner with the MP. Shoutout to Elder Mecham for trying to beat our district. 

Elder Phelan and I found a dam in our area, so we did some damage finding, trying to talk to a bunch of people that were there, sadly we found no success. One of the people that were there thought that Elder Phelan and I were a couple It was pretty funny. 

I was able to go to a baptism for one of the Elders in the district. It was a really good baptism and it was really easy to feel the spirit. 

Sunday was by far the busiest day of the week, we had two wards that we went to, then a 2.30, we went to a baptism for a little boy in the ward that just turned 8, then we had to help some very old people that were in the ward download the family tree app on their phone and iPad. It was really funny watching them get fascinated by downloading an app. After that we went to dinner and had enchiladas (not as good as moms).

After dinner we went to a lesson with Flinders and Lawson and taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ amd invited them to be baptized. They said that they would think and pray about it. We will see at the next lesson of they are interested. 

A scripture that I love that I was able to memorize this week was 3 Nephi 15:9 which says: Behold, I am the Law and the light, look unto and endure to the end and ye shall live, for u to him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life." I love that scripture because it tells us that if we endure through life and all of the trials we will recieve eternal life. 

Thanks for reading my email, I hope you have a great week! Feel free to email or message me on Facebook. 

Emoji of the week: 🤠 

Slang of the week: "Bag of Fruit" meaning: a full suit. Jacket, pants, the while deal.

Week 17 - Work Hard, Play Hard

For Elder Beattie's last PDay they were able to get out and do some exploring, move around and enjoy the nice weather.

Apparently on one side of the pathway was super rough water and the path acted as a water break and the other side was super calm water and super appealing.

I'll just start with Elder Beattie's letter home this week: 

Hello Everybody, this week has been pretty chill. Not much has happened. We did alot of finding, but we didn't have that much success through that. We had a couple cool experiences though. 

We did another service for a nice man named Monte, he always cooks us something afterwards and it is normally good food. We did a lot of moving dirt from one end of the yard to another. But we made it sort of fun, so it was alright. 

This past week we were able to chat with a nice old man named Bruce, his wife is a member, but he is not. While we met with him we were able to connect with him really well and we were able to have a great visit with him. During the visit, we just sat and listened to his questions and tried to answer them to the best of our ability. There were some that we couldn't answer, so we wrote them down and researched them and went back later in the week. We asked him if he was interested in taking the discussions and he said that the door wasn't shut to the idea. I guess that's a start. 

We also had an exchange with the Zone Leaders this week, so I was able to go out and learn how to be better at missionary work. After we went to our dinner appointment he took us elders to a nice spot that looks out at Surfers Paradise. It was stunning. 

Sunday was interesting, it was fast Sunday, so no eating. We also started something called a 40 day fast, where each member picks a day to fast on, over a time of 40 days. This was put on for missionary work, it was really cool to see all of the members that were willing to fast an extra day. 

Later in the evening while we were at our dinner appointment, there was a growl that was coming from a tree, so o went over to investigate and it turned out that a possum was just chilling there making noises to try to scare us off. 

A scripture that stood out to me this week was:

2 Corinthians 12:9: 

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  

I love this verse because it talks about how our weaknesses will be made strengths. This can sometimes be hard to accept sometimes, but it is like working out a muscle. When we pump that iron, it can be really hard at first, but of we continue to work out and keep training, it will become easier and easier. Just like working out, the more we work on our weaknesses, the more that weakness becomes a strength. 

Love you all so much ❤️ Elder Brayden Beattie 

Emoji of the day:🧃 

Slang of the day: Noah's Ark (Meaning: Shark 🦈) 

It seems that being in the same area since he got there has it's pro's and con's. He loves his companion and has a tonne of respect for Elder Phelan. The members are super great at feeding them and very friendly but they all seem to be sort of like me. My whole little community is built around my membership in the church so I don't really know people to refer the missionaries to. Without the referrals it's been tough finding people who want to hear their message and it seems to be getting a little discouraging and feeling very routine. The call home this week was great because we were able to brainstorm with Brayden different ways to engage with the ward members. We talked about the importance of reactivation and engaging the less active members because they've already made commitments and covenants and so helping to get them to church to partake of the sacrament is SO important to their salvation.

It'll be interesting to hear from him next week and see if they tried anything different and what the outcome was.