Different Perspective

Hello Everyone!

It has been so good to hear from you and be able to respond week by week with all the miracles and blessings we get to see! Thank you, thank you for all the emails and letters I have received.  They really do lift me up and always make me smile!

This week I had a very neat exchange experience. I had the chance to spend basically two full days with this young Elder named Elder Pututau who is only in his second month as a missionary. It was a ton of fun because he, first of all, is extremely fit, so he really pushed me physically (we were able to find out that despite the wind and hills, we still can make it across town three times for our appointments, and still have time to contact others along the way!) and on top of that, he is super excited about the work and smiles absolutely non-stop. It was so great! Thanks to the renewal I received from his faith and love toward everyone, we were able to see some pretty incredible miracles this week. I was truly able to raise my expectations for this area and for myself based off of what we were able to accomplish.  it made me think a little bit about our lives, how sometimes we get into a little bit of a rut, still working hard, but putting limitations on ourselves based off of what we have seen happen in the past. Another missionary explains it better than me, so I will paraphrase what she (Sister Porter) said.

We are instruments in the Lord's hands, not just tools. Sometimes we see ourselves as tools, like a hammer, that the Lord just uses to pound and pound, but we have much more potential than that. Like a musical instrument, we can produce many different sounds. As a violin, the Lord may use another person as an instrument to make beautiful music with us, or He may just pluck our strings to play a different sound. He can use us to make different tones, rhythms, volumes and melodies. Our potential is much beyond that of a tool, if we just allow Him to take us and believe in ourselves. The way I see it, it is often just our doubts that keep us from allowing ourselves to be an instrument rather than a tool. 

So, on Saturday, Elder Bird and I got a call from a sweet member of our ward who needed some help digging holes to put her swing set in (so it doesn't tip over or something). We hurried over and had the chance to dig five or so holes (which was actually pretty amazing because there were almost no rocks, just a bunch of roots) and the miracle came after our labor. It turns out, she also invited Becky and Isaac a young, very recently married couple, to come too. Becky is the niece of the members who provided her home for us to stay in while I was in Wichita, and Isaac is not a member. Apparently, The member I stayed with told them I was a fantastic missionary, and to watch out for me, so that I could teach Isaac the lessons. Previous to this time, he was fine to come to church, but not to hear anything, until Becky said I was the supposed fantastic missionary. Anyway, he listen to a lesson, accepted a Book of Mormon, came to church, said he wants to be married for eternity, and said he will get baptized. WOW! I think the Lord definitely knows what He is doing. 

Also, we have an investigator going to school as ESU, originally from Finland, who said he is going to get baptized too. He is going to wait until he gets back to Finland so that he can have his family come and feel the Spirit, and hopefully have their interest sparked. We are so excited for him!

Love you all!

Elder Beckstead