Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: Trust the Missionaries!

Hey everybody!

I hope everyone is doing well outside of mission life here in the FFLM! Life and work has been fantastic this last week!
Last Monday was Sister Bingham's birthday so we celebrated by playing some soccer and going to the pier! It was so pretty and nice to be normal for a little bit.

Tuesday we just did a whole lot of finding. YSA is tough because there aren't really apartments that we can go knock at so it's just a whole lot of OYMing at campuses.

Wednesday we got to watch the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. I love that even though President Monson and Elder Hales weren't able to be there we could still hear their words through others. These men are definitely called by God and we should be quick to follow their council. This week I read about Ammon and the scattered sheep. The servants of King Lamoni became worried and wept for fear they would be slain. Ammon raised their spirits and told them to go find them "and they rushed forth with much swiftness and did head the flocks of the king, and did gather them together again to the place of water." I think we as missionaries should be like the servants of the king. We shouldn't get discouraged because the flocks are scattered but we should rush forward to bring back those who are lost to the Word of God. I think there are many times we get overwhelmed with how much work needs to be done but we shouldn't get discouraged. We should just go and do.

At institute on Thursday we talked about missionary work. We read a talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson from April 2013 conference. One paragraph says, "If you’re not a full-time missionary with a missionary badge pinned on your coat, now is the time to paint one on your heart—painted, as Paul said, “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” And returned missionaries, find your old missionary tag. Don’t wear it, but put it where you can see it. The Lord needs you now more than ever to be an instrument in His hands. All of us have a contribution to make to this miracle." God needs us now more than ever. We don't have to be missionaries to rush forth to find those who are lost. God trusts the missionaries to carry out his work. You must also trust the missionaries! We can't do it without members help! The Lord needs all of our help.

On Saturday we met with Mary and talked about family history work and watch President Nelsons talk on the Book of Mormon. She loved it and we set a baptism date for November 18th. Please keep her in your prayers!

Yesterday we had 3 investigators come to sacrament! One of them told us he wasn't interested after sacrament. The other one has texted us that morning and dropped us but he came anyway! The other one was Mary. We love her so much. We are excited to see her faith grow and we know that her ancestors are on the other side helping her along.

I love the work here. The FFLM is the best mission in the world and has the best missionaries in the world. The storms that come our way have nothing on us. We know we must be like Samuel the Lamanite and stay on the wall as long as we possibly can before returning to our land. God will protect us. I am so grateful for your prayers, love, and support. I love you all and hope you are going to the temple all the time and just being awesome. Keep doing it!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: The Pier!! It was so nice to just see the water again and be so close!