October 30, 2017 - Holaa - San Luis

Hey everyone! love you all so much and am having a great time in Peru! 

So last Monday we had a family home evening with our pensionista and i had to give the message by myself and it went great. We just read in Alma about Ammon and I just talked about service and how important service is in this life! We are always looking for ways to serve people because that's the way to their hearts. So a couple weeks ago we found this 17 year old girl named Stanik that had so many questions about what church was true and other stuff so we have made a lot of progress with her.  She is gonna get baptized on December 2! She loves reading the Book of Mormon and goes to seminary every day which is awesome! This Saturday we had a cool activity at our church called puertas abiertas or open doors, we had so many invites that we handed out and told the members to do the same, it was basically just a tour of the chapel. So the time came and there were really only 30 people that came and we only got 6 references which was kinda a bummer but that's 6 more people to talk to! We also got pizza after which was awesome! 

Love you all and this gospel is so great! If you think about it we get so much more than everyone else and I just want to share that with everyone here! I love the Book of Mormon and sad that I only get a short amount of time a day to read it! 

Peruvian culture!

_Everyone thinks that we are always hungry so we get so much food!

_ they have this barley coffee that apparently isn't bad but they have it so much and I hate it!

Also my mom wanted me to send the letter I send my president every week that you guys will have to translate if you want.

muchos gracias presidente! nosotros pedimos para bautismo muchos veces en la primera lección pero la investigador no esta seguro. Muchos éxito porque tenemos una fecha este semana para Stanik Atoche!
Yo aprendo mucho sobre paciencia este semana. Como misioneros necesitamos mucho paciencia porque la investigador es en su propia tiempo. También es muy importante para nosotros a leamos Predicad mi Evangelio cada día. Este tiene mucho información que ayúdanos en este obra. 

nosotros tenemos 8 investigadores
_Celestino Marquina : iniciativa propia
_Javier : miembro activa
_Justo : miembro activa
_Deisy Felix : iniciativa propia
_Adrian Cuti : iniciativa propia
_Junior Velasquez : iniciativa propia
_Debora Velasquez : iniciativa propia
_Robinson : iniciativa propia

tenemos 1 nuevo fecha y también teníamos 8 investigadores asistir la iglesia ayer. 
_Stanik Atoche - 2 Dec!

Cada semana mi español esta mejor. Yo puedo entender casi todo en este momento pero es difícil a hablar porque mucho conjugaciones, pero cada día aprender algo nuevo! También es mas fácil a leer el Libro de Mormón en español cada día. 
Gracia por todo! Usted ayúdame mucho cada vez en este emails!

Elder Beck

Pic 1-2 Elder Luna and I

Pic 3 - Me, Elder Luna and our mission leader in the front and Elder Gunn and Elder Pacco in the back, Hermano Jonathan (Ward Mission Leader) and Hermano Esteban

From Tanner to our family - Well love you guys so much and please write me every week! I love it so much when I get to talk to you guys! I'm having an awesome time down here so you don't need to worry.  Cant wait for everyone of you guys to have the same experiences as me.  Well I got to go but talk to ya guys next week!

1- Have you been able to have a 1 on 1 interview with President Rios yet?  How did that go with him not speaking English? yeah but they are really short and i can understand almost everything at this point

2- Do you have any problems with the food and your system?  Is it affecting you or are you able to tolerate it ok? I've been perfectly fine with everything, I haven't had any problems with sickness or diarrhea, its been great

3- Do you write reports to your mission pres?  I remember Michael Jamison doing that and then sometimes sending them in his letters to get more details- would love you to forward them to us if you can so we can get more details into what you are doing day to day.  Yeah I can copy and paste them in but they are in Spanish lol

4- Any foods you been missing yet since Christmas is coming up? yeah all american food, but for Christmas can i get all the rest of my ties? I need more lol

5- How are your shoes holding up?  I love my shoes! there are great! yeah they are holding up just fine - yeah we walk quite a bit, just depends on the day. we don't have any more mobility money so we have been walking more, our area is huge!  It is about 10 miles across.

October 23, 2017 - San Luis

This week has been pretty crazy.  Last Monday we went as a zone to Cerro de la Paz in Chimbote and it was so amazing.  I will try to send pics because it was so cool. On Wednesday, Elder Luna was a little sick and so we didn't get to do much. I already knew he was super insane but when he's sick it's even worse. It was the funniest thing. On Thursday we had a multi-zone meeting with all the zones in Chimbote and the one in Casma. It was so fun to see some of my old group there! Also that night we had a fun trip with the people in my old group to Lima for our visas and that was super fun! 16 hours on a bus so we got to talk a whole bunch about our experiences. It was without our comps so we were all alone. That took up all of Friday. So my comp is super crazy.  He always wants to wrestle me and he's super big so if he's on top of me I can't do anything.  He's also super weak so I can just throw him off but it gets so annoying at times.  I guess I'm just supposed to learn patience.  Yesterday we had census from 7-5 so we had to stay in our apartments for all that time and I almost went insane! So that was super fun!

Well I love all you guys and I know this church is true! I love reading the Book of Mormon and I know that it's true also.  So glad I get to serve the people here in Chimbote, Peru!

Peru Culture

_everyone drives manual cars here and most of them don't know how to use them so it scares me so bad!

_all Latinos are crazy! 

_all the houses here are made out of cement and most just have dirt floors but they always have nice phones and TVs which is super funny

Elder Beck

Photos of Cerro de la Paz which was awesome!

October 16, 2017 - San Luis

This week has gone great and we have had a lot of success. We had 10 new investigators and 6 investigators come to church yesterday! My Spanish is still coming along and I can understand really most of what's going on, and I can teach the lessons pretty well now! Peru played Columbia this week for the world cup qualifiers and it was crazy, like always we couldn't do much because everyone is in their house watching it. The score was 1-1 and we were in the perfect spots to hear both goals -- the first in a taxi with the radio on when we heard that Columbia scored and that sucked but then later we were in a member's home when Peru scored and the husband smashed his hands on the desk and ran outside screaming with a horn. It scared me and was one of the funniest things ever. I love Peru!!! On Thursday I went on splits for the day with Elder Gonzalez our district leader and he's such a cool guy! I learned so much and I tried teaching him English because he's never had a North American companion so he's never had the opportunity really. I have had the chance to talk more in lessons which is awesome! I feel more comfortable expressing my feelings in Spanish and just talking in general! It's so weird on the mission what you like to do for fun! like reading the Book of Mormon. I feel like I never have enough time during personal study to read it because I love it so much! The stories and such are so cool and I look forward everyday for the time to read! But anyways I love all you guys so much and love getting your emails! I'm gonna try but idk if i can send pics this week with this comp. 

Peru Culture!

_a lot of words they add an ito or ita at the end which is so funny! my dad was telling me all about that but didn't realize till i got here! like they say ahorita or minitito its just so funny!

_they also say pe after a lot of stuff just for no reason. its short for pues.

_everything is made out of cement

Elder Beck

Some more information from his emails:  It's going great! I'm on now because our district is going to the Cerro de la Paz, It's supposedly super cool place that we had to get special permission to go to, you should look it up.  Yeah this week has been so much better and had a lot of success with lessons and such.  Elder Luna lives in Chincha, Peru where they are famous for eating gatos. He loves to eat and listen to music, there was a rock fest in Chimbotes Saturday and he was telling me all about the bands that were playing there because those are his favorite bands. I don't think he did scouting and not sure what he wants to do after the mission, I guess I need to ask him.  Every day my Spanish is getting better and better, I can understand about 80% of the words but sometimes its hard to put them all together if that makes sense. I am reading el libro de mormon everday and that has helped me so much with learning. My favorite things are when we have good lessons or just talking to people. Latinos are so weird but so funny at the same time so just talking to them is so fun. There are so many awesome families in our ward that we visit on Sundays often. On Thursday I went on splits for the day with Elder Gonzolez -  he's our district leader and that was so much fun! And I really like the food down here. Everyone has chicken but it's different every time! Yeah I've heard the first 6 months are gonna be painful and they have been but at times its super fun also, well love you so much dad and I always think of you because I know you have gone though some of these same things with the language and the culture.  My daily schedule - we wake up and exercise and go to eat desayuno at 7:30, then we have planning and study after that. then depending if we have citas after that we will go to those or have comp study or idioma study. then its just proselyting for the rest of the day. so lots of walking. then get back to our room around 9-9:30.   its great, shes so cool also, when i went on splits i went to another pension and it wasnt as good. ill get pics for next week.  I really hate paneton which is fruit cake and everyone has it down here. I really just like simple rice and chicken with some good sauce, but I'm kinda getting sick of rice for lunch and dinner every day! but i just have to get used to it cause that's me for 2 years.  We have to pay .50 soles per half hour to use the computers, it really is nothing.

October 9, 2017 - San Luis

So this week has been pretty good, lots of walking and lessons, I'm starting to talk a lot more during lessons which is great! my companion is still doing great but can't talk to him that much cause i don't really know Spanish and he knows little English. on Thursday Peru played Argentina for the world cup qualifiers and that was crazy, we couldn't get into anyone's houses cause everyone in Peru watches the game!! you could hear it from in the streets cause it was so loud. on Saturday we had a lesson with this guy named Rodrigo who is about 25 and I asked him to be baptized and he said yes!!! so I will have my first baptism on the 28th of October which is so exciting to me!! Well I love all you guys!

Peru Culture

_there are no stop signs where I am, there are just speed bumps everywhere which I thought was super smart

some pics, not very many cause there really isn't that much to take pics of, it's just a lot of dirt and shacks, also i forget I have my camera

Pic 1 - Dirt and shacks

  Pic 2 - Me with Inca Kola

Pic 3 - Pin in my house

Some more information from emailing with my family: I'm pushing through, the main problem is I can't really talk to anyone because I don't know Spanish, I feel kinda alone. but i know that I'm not.  its a members home, another member does our laundry every week also.  yeah Elder Gunn (was in CCM with me) has the same pensionista as us so i get to talk to him every meal.  yeah its going good i guess, its super ez to tune out Spanish because i don't get a lot of it so when people ask me questions its hard cause i don't hear them half the time, and they speak really fast.  yeah kids are always playing soccer, i want to play with them so bad!  just look up San Luis in Nuevo Chimbote, I don't really know our address or even they have real addresses down here.  We live in an area called Vista Alegre.  We are about a 10 minute walk from the church.  Our home has 2 levels, the members live above us.

"Mormon" CCM Group

Tanner was a part of the "Mormon" CCM Group - District 114 - 16 Agosto a 26 Septiembre 2017 - he blessed to be surrounded by such amazing men and women.  Last two pictures they are with their trainers.

October 2, 2017

Hey everyone, 

So its been a while since I've written. We are in an internet cafe right now and this comp is running off of windows xp right now so idk how pictures are gonna work but ill figure it out. 

So I'm safe out here in my mission and loving it. When we left the MTC we got to the Trujillo airport and we were all so nervous and tired cause we only got 2 hours of sleep the night before. we get out of the airport and there is my mission president and a bunch of elders waving flags and we all got pumped! so that first day we went to the temple to get a pic and other stuff like orientation and stuff like that. then was the time for new companions and areas. I was so nervous cause I didn't know what to expect. but I got so lucky. My new companion is Elder Luna. He is one of the funniest guys I know. He knows little English but we get along so well. He's from Peru and loves to joke and laugh. I am in Nuevo Chimbote right now. Its like 3 hours south of Trujillo and its beautiful here. It looks just like how my dad described South America with dirt and dogs everywhere. My shoes are already trashed and I need to polish them a lot down here. But I am having the best time down here. When we teach lessons he basically does everything and I just sit there and listen. This is forcing me to speak Spanish all the time and I have learned so much. I can understand about 75 percent of whats going on and I'm learning new words and phrases every day. I can't really remember what goes on everyday but it's going fantastic. I've mastered the contact and it's so fun just to talk to people and little kids. when we walk down the street all the people just look at me. one time a bunch of girls starting yelling, GRINGO. MUY GUAPO. it was the funniest thing ever. other than that I don't know what else has happened, just to let everyone know that I'm doing great. I know my mom has been worried cause its been 10 days since I've written. but Love you All!!!

Peruvian culture

_when they get married down here they don't change their last names so we call them by their first names. like Hermana Elsa and Hemano Julio

_people are always outside watering their dirt in the blazing sun which I think is funny

_there are a million mototaxies and taxies which we take everywhere but its so funny. the driving here is crazy and it kinda scares me but is also fun. 

_there are so many dogs and its kinda scary but also fun

Elder Beck

1- Me and Elder Lunas name tags

2 - My room

3 - Some of the streets here

4- Same

5- Same

6 - Today we played futbal here, love this place

7- same place

8 - me and Elder Luna

 

Pics after arriving in Trujillo

 Elder Howard is 6'7" (he wears a size 18 shoe) so naturally he looks like a giant next to Elder Beck.

Additional emails:  I love it down here so much, I actually can pick up most of what's going on but yeah I have to ask Elder Luna what's going on sometimes cause I can understand him. He also knows quite a bit of English because his trainer taught him a lot. but I don't feel stress down here at all, last night we shared a message to a less active family and me and Elder Luna both felt the spirit so strong that we were both crying when we were bearing our testimonies. it was so cool!!! also had duck yesterday which was weird but super good!!!  We live in our area which is nice, also the food is great, lots of them ask if I like the chicken like I have never had chicken before, its pretty funny.  Yeah so Elder Gunn is with me in my zone and we all played soccer today at the stake center, it was so fun and the people down here are the best!

September 26, 2017 - Arrived in Trujillo

Hey Mom, arrived in Trujillo and doing great! We just got orientation and now I'm writing you, we will get to meet our new companions today and will head to my first area. Super stressed right now about everything but I hope everything will be fine, I'll get to write more next Monday for my pday. 

Love you lots!!!

Elder Beck 

Pic in front of Trujillo temple

From mom:  We were ecstatic to hear that he had arrived and are looking forward to learning more about where he will serve and his companion.  I also found out two different things that I don't want to not document.  He served with Elder Howard (the tallest missionary on the far right).  This is what his mom said about the missionaries:

As we wait for our Peru 50 missionaries to arrive at their missions today, I want to thank all you moms of elders for something in particular you may or may not be aware of. I am a convert (since age 18) and have LOTS of temple work to do for my ancestors. They just keep coming and coming! My husband helps a lot, but until Matt received his endowment, there was no male church member able to do our ancestors' work! And the men's pile was so much bigger than the women's. So... I sent my son with a big stack of temple cards to catch up on my male ancestors' endowments - close to 80 I guess, because last week he told me that he'd run out of names! I thought it was more than enough to last his whole mission, but no! So, thank you, THANK YOU to your good sons (and to you for raising such wonderful young men) who have been helping us each week they've gone to the Lima Temple! I am certain they all will be blessed and watched over by some very, very grateful men beyond the veil who have been waiting for so long, and who are by now well aware of them as a group!!!

Also Kelli Murdock posted this who knows the Branch President's wife that served over Tanner while in the CCM.  Kelli wrote:  A tribute to our missionaries from Sister Halley (Branch Pres Halley wife). This was in her weekly update! We truly have such a great group of missionaries!! 54 Strong! I'm thinking we should create a group to keep track of each other.

"Sunday was our regular day at the MTC, except for the fact that we will be losing 54 of our choice Elders and Sisters who have completed their MTC training. We were touched to see many tears as we sang the familiar tune, “God be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.” Just looking at the companionships to see arms on shoulders and love expressed was quite the experience! Most of these young people didn’t even know each other six weeks ago, but many will remain lifelong friends. Marc and his two counselors interviewed most of those 54 missionaries during Sunday afternoon and the last few on Monday afternoon. It is hard to describe in words the transition that occurs in these young men and young women (most of whom are recent high school graduates) as they truly become men and women of Christ, ready to share His word with the people of Peru and Bolivia. It is nothing short of a miracle – every six weeks!!"

September 20, 2017

Hey everyone!

So this Friday for physical activity we were playing American football and I go to throw the ball to Elder Anderson and I threw out my arm really bad and I couldn’t use it for about 2 hours.  But playing football with my district is super fun.

Saturday was pretty awesome.  We had a proselyting activity where we went out with the missionaries on splits to go contacting in the Lima East mission.  It was awesome!  I went with Elder Hunt.  He’s from Salt Lake and he’s been out for over a year.  So we started at the chapel that they all meet in and we got on this bus.  The driving here is absolutely crazy so we get on this bus with twice the amount of people and we go for about 20 minutes into the city and we start knocking on people’s doors.  As we are doing this, Elder Hunt is giving me advice and helping me out with the language.  I can’t remember all the little details, but the people here are so nice and so willing to listen to us.  I realized that I can understand 60-70% of what people are saying which is awesome but I can’t speak that well.  We got 3-4 appointments down and we talked to probably 10 people about Jesus Christ.  Also there are so many stray cats and dogs everywhere just lying in the street.  It has gotten me more excited to get out there. 

Yesterday was hard for me because I was missing family and other things, but I prayed a lot yesterday and I decided to fast today so we will see how that goes.  But hopefully I can get peace and comfort as I am out here.

I finished the Book of Mormon this week and started again.  We watched a talk by Elder Bednar and he told us that we should get a new Book of Mormon and write a question that we want answered in the front and that has really helped me focus on the question and find specific things pertaining to that.  So that has been going well.  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I love reading it every day.  I love it out here and love all of you guys.

Elder Beck

1) Another district pic on the bus to the temple today

2) me and Elder Davis on the bus

3) Last time at the Lima temple before Trujillo!

4) Me and Elder Anderson in front of the temple.

5) Elder Call

6) Elder Boren

7) Elder Davis, Anderson, Beck, Call

8) Elder Harris (E'Sanchez)

9) Elder Harris again

My mom got an email on Sept. 21 from Faye Mayberry.  She said, "We were the witness couple for his temple session yesterday.  We are senior missionaries here.  He's a great guy and missionary."  This email made our day - so grateful for so many that think about us and send us texts or emails randomly.

September 13, 2017 - Para Mi Amigos y Familia

Hola todos!

This week I am going to go through the days to tell you some of the experiences I have had in order.

Wednesday – The new pricipiantes came.  We are now Avancados which feels weird because I have barely been here.  Ethan Pinkney is one of them so it was cool to see a familiar face.  We started teaching a new investigator, his name is Bonifacio.  He is 69 and is Catholic.  He’s a super funny old guy who likes to joke with us.  So we are working with 2 investigators now.

Thursday – We had an awesome experience as a district.  Elder Call’s eye was bothering him all day and he talked about it with someone.  They decided they were going to check it out at a healthcare because they said it might have been a cut on his eye that needed to be looked at.  So Hermana Moore asked us as a district to give him a blessing.  Elder Boren anointed the oil and Elder Anderson gave the blessing which was his companion.  But the spirit was so strong in there and it strengthened my testimony about certain things.  His eye is fine now but that was a highlight for me this week.

Friday – Can’t remember what happened, at least that what I said in my journal that day.

Saturday – Elder Oaks came to speak to us along with the Presiding Bishop and that was an amazing experience.  I was on the 3^rd row and it felt like he was staring into my soul.

Sunday – was another great day with a lot of great talks on Faith.  It’s a great reminder every Sunday of our Savior’s atonement and all he did for us.  I personally am so grateful for it.  I wouldn’t be here without it.  That night when we were getting ready for bed there was a group of white missionaries singing songs in English so on the opposite side a bunch of Latinos came out of their dorms and started singing songs in Spanish.  Me and my dorm joined the Latinos and at the end everyone joined a side and it was pretty epic and super loud.  We all ended up singing Called to Serve in Spanish and it was the loudest thing ever!  Then we all ended on that and went into our dorms.  Another great highlight of the week.

Monday – At the end of our district meeting we sang the National Anthem in remembrance of 9/11 and that was cool.

In the Book of Mormon this week I read about Christ coming down to meet them in the Americas.  He says so many awesome things in there!  I encourage everyone to read that part in 3^rd Nephi.  Also yesterday I read a lot about Mormon.  He is such an obedient kid with so much faith.  When He was only 15 he led the Nephite army.  I know that the scriptures will answer all of your questions that you will have if you search them diligently-  I know personally of that.  I know that I’m here for a reason and can’t wait to share the happiness that I know to the people of Peru. 

Love all you guys!

Elder Beck

 1) pic of our district on the bus, love these people!

2) another pic of us at the temple

3)Here is a selfie of our district at the temple, this is the first time they didn't split up our group

Here is a picture that Tricia found posted on Facebook by another mom.  This is Tanner with Elder Harris- apparently according to his mom he is a little bit crazy.

Here is more information from other emails we got this week:  everything is awesome, I am growing closer and closer to my companion and my district and they are some of the coolest people ever!!! I am feeling fine just a little stressed about Saturday. We are going for 5 hours on splits with missionaries in the area to proselyte but I know its gonna be fun. also the Spanish is coming along, I just need to make sure I am using it more often and talking to the Latinos.

September 5, 2017- Week 3

Hola familia y amigos.

It's so weird how fast these days are going by.  I feel like I just sent out last weeks email. But the ccm here is so amazing, the spirit is so strong here and the people are the greatest! Honestly I cant remember what is going on certain days because its the same routine every day except for our progressing investigators. Its really hard sometimes to teach people in Spanish but I know that the Lord is helping me through the whole thing. I can feel the spirit so well when we are bearing testimony to them and I know they can feel it too. Spanish is going great! I'm still so lost when Peruvians are talking to me but i can understand bits and pieces which is nice. I can't believe how far I've come in the language in only 3 weeks but I know its because the gift of tongues.

Sunday was amazing this week. It was fast Sunday so it felt super long but a lot of cool things were said. Sunday night we watched a devotional by Elder Bednar and he talked about a question that a lot of people ask him. How can I tell if its from the Spirit or its just me? He said to stop worrying about it! If we are keeping our covenants and keeping the commandments and just being good boys and girls then our paths will be guided and that was so awesome for everyone to hear that. If we just press forward then everything will go well. I know that's true and everyone just needs to make sure they are doing those things.

Today at the temple we did it in English which was a really nice not to have the headphones on. But the ccm president was the officiator and he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I also got some cool pics during the temple that I'm going to send a little later.

This week I have been reading in Helaman and the bravery and courage all the prophets have really amaze me. Yesterday I was reading about Samuel the Lamanite and how devoted he was to the Lord. I think I would be so scared if people were trying to kill me but he just stood there and knew that the Lord would protect him. I hope that I can  gain that much faith during my mission and throughout the rest of my life.

I'm so excited for everyone that's preparing for missions right now especially Mason and Clay that already have their calls to come out into the field. I'ts so great to always have the spirit and not worrying about the outside world all day. Love you guys!

Elder Beck

 1) pic of some cool flowers on the way to the temple in Peru.

2) flowers on the temple grounds

3)Another cool temple pic with the Peru flag in it

4) Pic on the bus to the temple. Love all of these guys so much!