1 Month!

Hey all!!
I hit my one month mark this last week!! How exciting! Only 17 more to go! This week was full of spirituality. On Monday we went out with our member and he taught us that if we are feeling anxious it's because we are living in the future and if we are feeling shame or guilt it is because we are living in the past. To feel our best self we just have to live in the present. Take each day an hour at a time so we don't get overwhelmed. At district training we talked about how confidence is key. If you bare your testimony without confidence, no one will believe you. But every time you are confident, the Spirit has to be there. And if you are feeling it, the investigator has to be feeling it. 

 

Sister Beckstrand does not have the gift of tongues and the Lord knows that. That is why I was called English. I started studying a little bit of Spanish this week and cannot speak a lick of it to save my life but I can now understand what the conversations are about and pick up words here and there. I did say a simple prayer in Spanish the other day for dinner, but had to read it. It will come eventually. We had a talent show with the YSA on Friday and it was good! A lot of people showed up and we were able to get a lot of less actives there. They made us do something so Sister Bingham went up and played the piano and I just held a picture of Christ. But here's the thing, it was on a keyboard and it didn't really sound super great so Sister Bingham just stopped halfway through and that was the end of it haha. I love her.  

 

We had stake conference yesterday and it was amazing. The people here have great testimonies. Our mission president and his wife spoke. They are some of my favorite people. They talked about when we buy a house we have to take care of it and if something goes wrong you have to call someone to come fix it. The same is true about our testimonies. We have to constantly be nourishing it, and if there is a leak we have to call our plumber.  He is waiting.

 

We met a Golden Gator this week! Her name is Andrea. She invited us in and as soon as we sat down on her couch she recognized the Spirit. We invited her to come do a chapel tour at the end of our lesson and her face lit up. Friday rolled around and it was almost time to go meet up with her so we called her to remind her and found out that we had her wrong number. So we prayed to know what to do and off to her house we went. We knocked on her door and met her little brother who said she was at work so off to work we went. As soon as she saw us her face lit up and she was so sad she had to work and couldn't come. We invited her to church and she said for sure! Well Satan is real and he is a real jerk. We got a text late that night that said she had to work until 5am and couldn't come to church. We called her the next morning and told her we could still do a chapel tour this Saturday and would love it if we came and visited her at work. Satan is a jerk but God is good.

I know this church is true. I know that as long as we are willing to rely on the Spirit and follow his council we will see miracles. The hardest part of a mission is learning to rely on the Spirit 100% but as long as we are exactly obedient to him, he will send miracles our way. I love it here in Florida. I love the Latins here. I love our YSA Branch and everyone I have met this week. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that through diligent study we can find answers and  come to know Christ more fully.

I love you all and hope all is well outside of Florida! I feel all your love every day. Keep being awesome member missionaries and go to the temple everyday because I wish I could.

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

DUCKS!
 They are seriously everywhere!

Me and my cute comp!

The picture with the food is my first taste of Cuba. The burger looking one is called Frita Cubana. The other one is basically an omelette sandwich but it was the best thing ever. I also had mamey juice. Mamey is a weird fruit. Look it up. It is wayy good.

 My cute Hialeah home and my new necklace

My Florida Sunshine for this week is...
RAIN! We had a tropical storm this last week. Super crazy! The one pic is out my window in the study room and the other is Sister Murdock backing out our Zone Leaders. It just comes down in buckets. I wish you could see it.