Elder Beard

  We are thrilled to welcome President and Sister Hollingsworth to paradise. They are just wonderful and will be a blessing to everyone in the Florida Tampa Mission. Our hearts and prayers will continue to be with everyone in the great FTM -- Onward and Upward!

Transfer #10 here we go.   Hey Y'all, I don't have a whole lot of time this week, but there were some cool miracles that happened this week. I am excited to share them with you.   This week I was able to go on exchange with Elder Stowe and Elder Hoggan down in the Port Richey area. They are both great missionaries that have some great strengths. I am glad that they were there to teach me what I can improve on. I am excited to see what happens in the next few weeks.   Things are also going well here. This week we were able to teach Michael his last lesson that he needs to be baptized. He is a great kid. I am so glad that I got to know him. His parents aren't the happiest with his decision to join the church though and are making it hard for him to come to church on Sunday. I hope he will make it to the waters of baptism in a year.   We also were able to see some of the people Elder McCubbins met on exchange while I was in Port Richey. They seem like great people. Hope...

  Cool week of miracles! Hey Y'all, I hope things are going well for you. Hopefully things aren't too hot where you are at. It has been a bit cooler here since we have had rain every single day this week for at least a couple of hours. The rain does put a damper on what you can do as a missionary though.   This week started off well with Elder McCubbins and I having a great lesson with a lady named Aisha. She was just sitting outside and we decided to talk to her. She followed an eastern religion, but had heard quite a bit about our church. She was impressed by our resolve and how young we were and had us teach her 2 daughters right then and there. It was awesome. I am excited to keep growing.     Then the next day I was able to go on exchange with Elder Hird and Elder Stowe. We started off in my area which was nice. We were able to see my friend Carl who just got back from Kentucky. It was good to see him. He will be moving back to Kentucky soon though. I am excited...

Follow the Prophet Florida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Hey y'all, Man this week was insane!! There were a lot of great things that happened this week. It has been one of the best weeks of my mission.   We have been able to see some good things happen with the people we are teaching. One of the most exciting is that we were able to stop by the Deleonardis family. The mom has been wanting to quit smoking so Elder McCubbins and I were able to help her learn about the 15 step program and commit her to it. We are going to be following up with them about it this week. I am so excited to see how it goes.   Then on Wednesday we were able to go to the Temple. It was an awesome experience. I had another question in mind and again I was able to receive revelation to answer that question. I love the temple and the feeling I get when there. I know it is the House of the Lord. After that we were able to have the last zone conference with President and Sister Cooper. We talked about bapti...

Why I Believe!!!!!!!!   Hey y'all, I hope that things are going well for y'all. Things have been really hot here. The temperature has been about 98 degrees all the time. That has been an interesting challenge.   We started off this week by having a good district council. I had to give a training on Baptism and how to teach the doctrine of Baptism. It was nerve racking, but I tried to think what the Lord would have me share and I feel like that was it.   Then Wednesday we went to the Mission Leadership Conference and discussed what we can do to increase baptisms. It was an awesome time.   Then on Sunday we had the Why I Believe devotional down in Tampa. It was President Cooper's last one and it went really well.    Other than that, it was another week of roasting and trying to find new people to teach. I am excited to try again this week.    I gotta go. Sorry, no other emails today. Next week though. Until then, good luck and God Bless!   Elde...

Happy Memorial Day!   Hey Y'all, I hope things are going well for you. Happy memorial day to all of the veterans and families who have someone serving our country right now. I hope that y'all are enjoying your summer as well. Today it is 88 degrees outside with 59 percent humidity so it feels more like 95 degrees. Hopefully it isn't too hot where you are at.  It has been an interesting week full of dropped or rescheduled appointments. We were able to see some cool miracles though.   This week I started off by going on exchange with Elder Stowe from the Hudson ward. He is a newer missionary, but he is super sincere. We were able to go to a neighborhood where I ran into one of my friends Donny who I was teaching before. He is doing well, but was still kind of lenient about meeting with us. Hopefully a few more soft touches will do it.   Then I was able to have my last interview with President Cooper. I was able to ask him some questions to help one of the people we are...

  Transfers and finding solid people! Hey Y'all, I hope that things are going well for you. This last week has been interesting. I have been able to see some cool miracles though.   This week started out by dropping off Elder Case at the mission office to go serve in Lake Wales with my good friend Elder Dickey. I am excited to hear how he enjoys Lake Wales at a future date.   I then met my new companion Elder McCubbins. He is from the big island in Hawaii and has been out on his mission for almost a year and a half. He is really good at referencing our conversations to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am excited to see how things go over the next few weeks.   We were able to have some awesome lessons this week. One lesson that we had was with a man named Chris. He had requested a bible a few weeks ago and hadn't been in good contact with him. We were able to meet with him on Saturday and help him understand part of the Plan of Salvation and repentance. We are excited to...