BECK'S MISSION: January 2011

Well, it’s been a few weeks since you heard from us. I have taken over the blog and hope you enjoy hearing about our experiences from a “Sister’s” point of view. I am titling this segment Chicago & Time because I feel this city is taking all too much of our precious time. Let me explain. We all wake up in the morning expecting to accomplish a certain amount of things in the day. Let’s take a typical Monday morning. Monday’s are our laundry day. In S.L.C. throw in a batch here and there as you go around doing other things close at hand. Not so in Chicago. You haul five batches of laundry and your soap up 3 flights of stairs only to find that there aren’t 5 washers free. Down you go with the laundry (someone will steal it if you leave it) to do it all again in 45 minutes. If the washers are free and you get your clothing in you get all the way down the stairs and find one piece of clothing you forgot. So… up the stairs you go again … Because at $3.00 a load to wash and dry you are not going to forget anything no matter how many trips it takes to get every last piece in. Thus Time …. Something that really didn’t take any time at all now in Chicago takes ¾ of your day. My daughter Heather did remind me we could be in some country washing them by hand in a creek over rocks. Point well taken Heather.

Let’s talk about shopping for groceries. You have two ways to go about it. You can walk or you can take the car. You would think taking the car would be faster wouldn’t you. Not so in Chicago. Example…. Down 29 floors stopping 5 to 8 times picking up people as you go …5min. through the lobby …up 4 flights of stairs and 50 yards more… 8 min. Down 4 levels of parking…3min and yeah we are out of the parking garage. I could have been to Smiths and back in S.L.C. Here it’s all about how much you need to buy. If you know me, my thought is “the car I can buy more I don’t have to carry it home”, but, when I do get home I do have to get the luggage cart (thank goodness for that) and take it up the garage elevator, load it, take it down the garage elevator, though the lobby, up the 29 floors stopping 2 to 5 times, unloading and taking the luggage cart back down 29 floors stopping 1 to 5 times and riding it back up stopping at least once… thus…Time!!! Did I talk about traffic and parking? I could take 3 more pages on just that. When I think of all the things I used to do along with shopping and doing laundry all in one day it sometimes makes me go crazy. I thought the solution was getting up earlier, but, with all the walking and hauling we do in a day here, we just fall asleep earlier really getting no more done in the day. With just these vital things to do taking up half of your week, it doesn't leave all too much time for the things we came here to do.

That brings me to the heart of my thoughts today ……I take my thought to a talk I heard and quote from a very wise man……. I’m sure you have heard the statement “Life offers you two precious gifts- one is time and one is freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will.” We are free to choose with our time anything we want to do. I think of all the times in my life I wasted that precious time my Heavenly Father gave me. I wasted it on thrills, greed, or for base desire instead of doing things that would get me closer to returning to my Father in Heaven. I think we forget that every hour, every day, every minute is going to be accounted for to our Heavenly Father. Like the talk said we have to walk by faith and prove ourselves worthy to choose good over evil, right over wrong. Do we want eternal happiness or worldly amusement? I see the people of downtown Chicago going about their lives enjoying all the worldly things their little hearts desire mere minutes from their apts. They then go home closing themselves off to the eternal things that are the most important to them. A prophet of God has said: “Men are that they might have joy”- a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home and the fruits of honest toil. And most of all, to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, all his commandments and requirements. I know sometimes we think that it just too hard, that the requirements are too difficult to follow. I can tell you from my own experience I have had the pleasure of the worldly things but, they don’t hold a candle to the happiness I feel being here in Chicago doing the Lords work. Touching peoples lives and sharing with them Christ’s Restored Gospel. Seeing the joy on Yasna face when she understands that she can see and be with her Mom again in the next life. She is trying so hard to give up smoking because she knows it’s not good for her and it will get her one step closer to her baptism. Yasna understands overcoming habits will keep her in a better place. A place that will help her to have the spirit in her life.

Serbian Book of Mormon for Yasna

Terri is someone else we are helping. She has been inactive for many years and has always had a desire to go to the temple. Thinking her M.S. would keep her from going she just stopped going to church. She lives her life in a wheelchair. Getting ready for church takes herself, 2 aids and 3 hours of time. We have seen her at church every Sunday but one since Christmas. The joy Elder Beck and I get every time we see her wheel into church is worth any worldly pleasure we ever experienced. We see these people molding themselves into the people they know their Heavenly Father wants them to be. We hope we are here long enough to see Yasna be baptized and Terri go to the temple.

It is these small changes we see happening to people in Chicago that we know will help them find true happiness. The happiness that doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowds we see here in Chicago.

So as we think about our time here our Stake president tells us we have to help Chicago one person at a time. I guess we are doing just that. I just know our time is short. One year will pass and I don’t want to waste a minute. I think about the time when I stand in front of my Savior and I don’t want him to say I wasted too much of my time shopping and eating and doing laundry when I could have found more Chicagoans to share his Gospel with. We are all very naïve if we think we won’t be accountable to him with our time, however long it is, here on this earth.

So, we try to do all we can for all the areas we are helping. Right now we are a taxi service for the Elders on top of the teaching, FHE, temple going (both for us and helping the youth out with baptisms), and single ward firesides and service projects. Elder Swope has joined our Utah missionary foursome. Thank goodness he is also from Utah so we are now the Utah 5!!!! We have been helping him teach Christina. We have taught her all we can. She knows the Book of Mormon is true. She knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and the church is true. But, she is getting opposition from home and doesn’t want to make a stand. The elders have never asked her to have her husband sit in on a lesson. They have always given her the lessons when he has been at work. I hope she gets him to sit in on a lesson. We hope he does for no other reason than to see we are trying to help his family not harm them. We started teaching Christina when Elder Swope was with Elder Gonzales. They took Elder Gonzales to the Spanish side of the Mission and they gave him Elder Anderson. A few weeks later they took Elder Anderson to the Spanish side also and gave him Elder Painter. Elder Painter just turned his papers in and lives here in Chicago. But last Wednesday, on their P-Day playing basketball, he tore his knee up and went home. Elder Swope is now companionless and has moved in with Elders Buckway and Otto. Thus we are now the 5. We love him too. These 3 Elders are doing both areas and that is how we have become the taxi.

These Elders are doing amazing work and we love taking them anywhere they need to go. We hope the next time we blog that Yasna has stopped smoking. She wants to quit so bad. If we can help her, with the program the church puts out, and she is successful we will be soooo happy!

We continue to exercise by walking around Chicago first thing in the morning. Included are some of Elder Beck's photos, detailing that experience.....