Small and Simple Miracles

We worked pretty hard this week on trying to do the small and simple things and we were able to have some incredible experiences. 

Last Sunday we were working hard and we were trying to decide who to visit because we had 30 minutes left before dinner. As we are deciding a young adult comes up to us calling us by "Elders" which normally means one of two things. 1. He's a member or 2. The missionaries have visited him. We start talking to him and he tells us he's a member and has a strong testimony of the Church and he's been inactive but has never doubted his testimony nor has he gone to any other church during that time. He said he wants to eventually be active again but he wants his family to come with him. He asked if we could start to visit him and his family. So we've been teaching him and his partner and they are so nice so we're excited for them. 

This last Friday the Fumigating guy came here to Trujillo to do our houses. He's from San Pedro and is Elders Quorum president in one of my comps old areas so they get along well and he's come to many of my houses to fumigate so I've talked to him a couple of times. But this guy has been fumigating the church's and missionaries houses in all of Honduras for about 20ish years so he's been here and all over plenty of times. He is such a good guy and is always asking about people in the area and how they're progressing (I don't know how he remembers everyone so well). As we're eating lunch he asks if the dad of the family that we eat lunch with is a member or still no. He says he feels like he should stay the day so he can have a minute to talk with the dad. He only had time in the moment so we invited him over and Amador (that's the fumigator's name) started talking to him pulling scriptures, talks and references out of nowhere and they were GOOD! We had a good conversation and we were there talking for about 2 hours. But I can tell you these 2 hours went by INSANELY FAST! We were really emphasizing about being and eternal family and being with their son that passed away in December. He was grateful for what we said and I feel like there was a small spark lit inside. Hopefully he will want to come to church because his wife and kids have been waiting too long to be sealed. The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight! 

Also that same day Amador stayed to go visit people with us and we didn't really have any set appointments and we saw how good of a lesson we had with that dad that we needed to take advantage of the time we had with him to help as many people as possible. We were able to visit multiple less actives and some investigators. We were visiting so much and I was so pumped that the hour came to play Basketball and I wanted to visit rather than play. That's crazy because I LOVE playing basketball. I look forward to it every week but the visit we had was AWESOME and the family was very grateful for our visit. Til next week we'll be balling.

Seeing these little miracles allowing us to be instruments in God's hands has brought me so much happiness. I feel a greater desire to keep helping people. To really help them understand where true happiness comes. The small and simple things really do allow us to be prepared to have God sculpt not only our lives but those around us to a better and happier one. Focus on doing the small and simple so you can see the big and spectacular miracles happen in your lives.

Elder Beardall

Born Again

Wazzzuuuuup! 

We were filled to the brim with things to do this week so we were all over the place.

Tuesday we had exchanges again. I was in my area with Elder Lopez and we worked hard. We were also able to plan an activity for the youth on the beach. We're pretty pumped and I'll update you all later.

Thursday we left early to get to Tocoa for zone Conference. This time I have my notes so here's some:

President Carlisle- 

"Sometimes we will have to suffer"

 Sister Carlisle -

"Now is the moment to act with Faith"

"Have a contagious, positive attitude"

Friday we were planning the Baptism, oh yeah EVONNY GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was super cool because she was super excited and all her family came! Her dad I think was nervous and said he wanted to wait a while. He may be ready for this week but we'll see. We're gonna go over tomorrow. The Zone Leaders had to come early to do the interview and they stayed over and it was a blast! After the baptism we all played bball because Friday is ball day so there were lots of people and it was intense! 

This week as I was reading the March Liahona that we got during conference, I loved the article from Elder Uchtdorf titled "Your Adventure through Mortality". I loved the whole talk and I highly recommend it. Two paragraphs that I loved were

"Don't get overwhelmed by the many large, difficult tasks of your life. If you commit to doing the 'easy' things- the 'small' things God asks you to do- and you do them as perfectly as you can, big things will follow.... Do these things even when you don't want to. These 'sacrifices' may appear to be small,  but they are important, for 'sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven'."

The people that I respect and want to be like do these small things. Yes sometimes they fail but they are constant and when we do them "big things will follow". We don't need to worry about the big things. As we do the small and simple things the Lord has asked of us, you will realize that the bigger things fall into place. As I've tried that these past couple of days there have been little miracles that testify to doing these simple things. It makes life way better and less stressful. Apply it and you'll feel your life is not only less stressful but you will be more successful. Try it! 

Elder Beardall

Written in our Hearts

Familia y amigos,

This week was pretty cool. There were lots of moments where we were guided by the spirit to do things and they were really cool and I thought to myself "I've gotta share this on Monday" and now my mind is drawing a blank. I've gotta write them down cuz they were kinda cool but on the spot I can't think. Maybe as I write they'll come.

The Lino Family is doing spectacular. This Friday they'll be baptized. The daughter is for sure and the dad is gonna tell us his decision this Tuesday (or tomorrow). We're pretty positive he's gonna say yes so you'll find out next week how things went! 

Oh I remember a cool moment/experience that happened this week. So Tuesday we were going to make an appointment with the Lino Family because they weren't answering our calls. We got "lucky" and one of our appointments fell through so we were going to visit other investigators but they didn't answer so we were gonna go visit other members but on the way we changed our minds and went straight to the Lino's house. We are walking and get to the front of their house and cruising around the corner comes my Uncle Thomas. Haha we usually visit the Lino Family with him so we get there the same time and we all have a good laugh about it cuz it was a big surprise. We were all saying that God needed us three there at that time so we all visited and it was good. To this moment we're not exactly sure why but it was cool to see how the Lord was working through us and inspiring us at every move. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

So during our companionship/language study yesterday my comp and I switched it up a little and for the language part we read a conference talk in English with the recording on in the background so my comp could learn how to pronounce the words better. I put it on shuffle and the first one that came up was titled "Try, Try, Try" by President Henry B. Eyering from this last conference. It was cool because my comp could learn how to pronounce the words and I could listen to a Conference talk so win win. I really loved towards the end of the talk when he said "As you help children of God in their troubles, your own troubles will seem lighter. Your faith and your hope will be strengthened." When we help others we realize that our problems aren't that bad compared to others. It's humbling and alleviating. Try it! At the end of the talk he also talked about doing things that could help us realize that "His name will be in [our] hearts and fixed in [our] memory." Is His name written in your heart and fixed in your mind? 

Elder Beardall

Learning and Balling

These weeks feel like they're flying. I feel like each week is like the groceries we buy at the store and each week is an item being scanned but obviously on those checkouts where the person does his job right. Weird analogy but it puts the picture in your head.

This week we had exchanges twice (one planned the other last minute emergency) with our boys from Trujillo. Learned a lot and I got to know them more. I got to meet basically all of their progressing investigators in one day and they were all so positive! Good experiences! 

Friday we were able to ball it up! We do every week but this week a ton of people showed up so we had some teams and it got competitive. It was super fun. There were some kids that we wanna start teaching that came so we'll keep you updated. My skillz have finally returned after about 18 months of nothing so I'm pumped now. It's such a good exercise too because after we finish our shirts and pants are pretty drenched and lately after we play we all go to the pulperia and mah boy Elder Beck and I get a liter of OJ and pound it. Awe man I love OJ! Deliciousness!

Saturday the other missionaries here had a baptism which was awesome. We got there right as they were finishing because we were walking. We were out at Guadalupe (45 minute bus ride from Trujillo) and we were waiting for the 2:00 bus that usually comes but we waited for 30 minutes and it didn't show so we started walking. We are walking about and hour and a half when we get to the halfway point and we see our Uncle Thomas. We stop and talk to him for a good minute and the he breaks it to us that if we keep walking were gonna get to Trujillo but it'll be dark and kinda dangerous so we called a taxi. Well we were far enough out that they charged us A TON! L200 is what he charged for the both of us. The bus is L30 each so L60. Yeah it definitely wasn't our day. But we barely got to the baptism and it was awesome! I love watching baptisms if they're one of our converts or not. You can feel the spirit and they look so happy and clean when they come out.

On our exchanges we had a cool experience. So we were going to get permission from the girls mom to be able to baptize her and we get there and they say she had just left. We then talk to the girl that came out and we teach her about the Restoration. We were teaching and the spirit was there guiding us what to say and man it felt super smooth. We were guided to scriptures that she needed and it was one of the best lessons I've had in a while. She was interested the whole time and at the end we invited her to read and pray about the book of Mormon and to listen for an answer. We also invited her to baptism there and then. It was so cool! Normally I wait until the 2nd or 3rd appointment to extend a date but we felt impressed to do it then and there. The cool thing was she accepted so openly and so we're pretty excited for her! I loved that experience because we were guided through the entire lesson and when we shared what the spirit impressed to us we shared and little by little she opened up. As we focus on listening to the spirit, we will not only have guidance in our lives but we will be able to find happiness and to be able to be a light for others.

Elder Beardall