Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone that is just chillin in snow right now while I'm sweating! How was your Christmas? Life here in the FFLM is just as awesome as usual. 

 

Last Wednesday was transfer day! We woke up and finished packing and packed it all into the car and headed up to the Plantation chapel to find our new comps. My new comp is Sister Smith. She is from Sandy and is just the greatest human ever. This is her fourth transfer here in Sunrise so it's cool to have her already know the area. After unpacking and buying groceries we went out knocking and then we had Book of Mormon class at the chapel. It was a ton of fun! Basically whoever wants to come comes and we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and then talk about it. I learned a lot that night and met some of the branch which was nice.

 

Thursday we had our first District Training. My new District Leader is Elder McCombs. He was in the chapel with me during the Hurricane so it's fun to be back with some people I know! He got really sick during DT so we didn't exactly do much and he is feeling much better now. We just have to keep an eye on him to make sure he is okay. While we were knocking we met a super cool guy named Bill. He is a big red neck and was your typical biker when he was younger. We have learned just as much from him as he has from us. He is quite fun. He has problems with his heart though and has surgery on it soon so he is scared of coming to church but we are helping him. We had dinner that night with Sister Smith's recent convert Claudio. He is just awesome. He used to be a part of a drug cartel and has just flipped his life around and loves the missionaries and we love him. He bought us all perfume for Christmas. 

 

On Friday we went and did service at a food bank so we basically just boxed up a whole bunch of food so people could come pick it up. It was really fun and we got to listen to music which is always a plus. The sisters came with us and had to leave a little before us but as they were leaving the lady in charge locked the gate behind them so when we left we found ourselves locked in. So after taking a lap around the building to see if there was anywhere else out, we found our way up a tree and over the fence. It was quite an adventure.  We were planning on having a member come to a lesson with us that day that ended up not working out but we knew that our goals were the Lord's goals so we just kept praying that we would have a miracle MPL happen. As faith would have it, we went to go visit one of our recent converts and her mom was there who isn't a member! We were able to share the restoration video with her and the family was able to testify why the church was true. It was a really neat experience. I am excited to start teaching Marcia about what her daughter and grand kids now love. 

 

Saturday was full of a lot of stuff. We met with Bill again and shared the Restoration. The first vision has so much power. It was quite a sight to see and 6'5" big guy listening so intently on these little sister missionaries. He loved it and we just love him. We met a lady while we were knocking who went to the temple open house and said she was not impressed. We were taken back and just did not know what to say. That is the first time I have heard someone tell us they didn't like our temples. It was something else. We also went caroling that night at Walmart which was neat. I had only gone door to door caroling before that but it was really cool to see everyone stop and listen and we even had a guy take a Book of Mormon off of the little table we had set up. It was awesome. On our way home we tried to drop off a box of presents to one of the sister members but it didn't quite work. The little girl walked outside as we were getting to their house so I just kept walking with the box (overflowing with presents) like I was going to the next house and just hid behind a wall for like 10 minutes. It was worth it though to see the smiles on their faces while we were watching from the car. My favorite part about Saturday though was that I was able to share the First Vision for the first time. I have been really struggling with memorizing it because we never did in the MTC but I finally did it and just felt so much peace doing it. I know for a surety that this church it true. 

 

Sunday was fun. We had a combined sacrament meeting with the other two branches. With everyone there we were about the size of a ward! It was really fun. I was able to meet some more of the branch which was cool. I am really excited to serve my next 6 weeks here in the Sunrise branch. That night we were able to go over to the mission house with a couple other zones for Christmas eve. They had made treats for us and we just all got to get together like a big family and sing Christmas Carols and just be together. We had a mighty prayer that night with the whole mission. I love President and Sister Garns. I am so grateful to have them as my mission president. We opened our Christmas pjs that night and took pictures. It was fun.

 

CHRISTMAS!! We woke up yesterday and opened our presents. Thanks to the whole family! I loved all your notes and gifts. Real heroes don't wear capes. You guys rock. We got together as a zone for breakfast at a members house. It was cool to be a part of their Christmas traditions. On our way home, our District Leader texted us saying that his companion, Elder Boss, hadn't received any presents for Christmas. So we stopped by family dollar and bought them matching pj's and just some little things that we knew he would love. Once they got done talking to their families they came over and opened their gifts from us and it really looked like Elder Boss was going to cry. It was cool to make his Christmas just a little more special. It was probably one of the best Christmases I've ever had. Just seeing him smile a little brighter was awesome. Then I got to come talk to the fam! It was so nice to see you all and hear your voices! And that's awesome that you guys have snow. I definitely miss the snow. We went caroling door to door one last time after skyping. It is so fun to bring that spirit everywhere we go. One lady made us come into her backyard and sing to her party. It was fun. Then we went over to Claudio's with a bunch of the missionaries for dinner. It was nice to all be together again. We were going to take a group picture but didn't get the chance to. Sorry mom.

 

That about it for this week! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and hope your New Year will be just as exciting. Even though Christmas has passed, don't forget Christ in all you do. He is the reason for everything. Make sure you make time to go to the temple this week. I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: Our cute Christmas tree! With it being 80 degrees all week, it was nice to have something to feel like Christmas

 Christmas Eve at presidents and all of us in our Christmas PJs

 Our goofy district leader and his even goofier companion. Elders McCombs and Boss. These were the Christmas pj's we got them. And then me getting to talk to you guys!

 Don't mind how tired I look! But Christmas morning was a blast! This is a picture of some of the Elders that were at the members house that morning for breakfast. I can't name them all so don't ask me.

A Week in a Trio

Hey everyone! This week has been quite a fun one here in the Sunshine State as we are getting closer to Christmas! It is actually pretty weird because it is only cold like every three weeks for about 5 days but everyone has decorations up so it must be coming. Christmas in the heat is quite an odd experience but I love it nonetheless. 

Last Thursday was Sister Louissaints last day here in the FFLM. Because of the Christmas season they sent home all the returning missionaries a week early to make sure they all had flights. So we woke up Thursday morning and helped her finishing packing. We did some last minute things for her and then headed up to Plantation to drop her off. It was very sad to see her go but we got to have Sister Brown join us in YSA cause she didn't have a companion anymore. So we got to be in a trio for the last week of the transfer and cover both areas! It was super fun. And because we were in a trio I got the back seat all to myself :) We went to our last night of Institute that night. I am going to miss President Beesly's classes. He is amazing.

 

Friday was a day of finding. We knocked, which is super fun in a trio, and taught some lessons but didn't quite find the elect. That night we were invited to the Miami Lakes ward party. We as missionaries got to pass out food. It was a lot of fun. They are a Spanish ward so it was fun to just smile and wave :) I have gotten quite good at that here in the Hialeah Zone where literally everyone speaks Spanish almost. I love it. We got cute Elf aprons and hats to wear for the party. It was a lot of fun.

 

Saturday we knocked for about 4 hours. We went from one area to the next in Sister Brown's district and knocked in everyone's areas. It was pretty fun. I have learned enough Spanish to do a door approach but then my comp has to take over after that if we find Latins (which happens a lot). Every time we talk to someone though they find out I can't speak Spanish, they say something, and then everyone laughs and looks at me. No one ever tells me what they say so I just keep smiling. It is something I have learned to live with out here. During our full day of knocking we found a street vendor! Uncle Kyle told me I needed to buy a certain fruit (I can't remember it off the top of my head) but he didn't have it. So we just bought a pineapple instead. He even cut it up for us and put it in a bag. Probably not super sanitary but they tasted quite good. That night we got to go to the Hialeah Ward Christmas Party. Another Spanish ward but their investigator came and he speaks English so it was cool to talk to him. 

 

Sunday we had a full day of church. We went to the Hialeah ward council at 7:30 and then stayed at church until we had to go to our Branch council at 11:30. We stayed there for an hour and then ran home to eat some lunch before going to our branch at 1. We had a really cool Christmas program in sacrament and heard some beautiful songs. We had a Linger Longer after church. Food is always good. That night we were able to see Lucas again! We taught him the Restoration and he loved it! He also gave us doughnuts which was fun. I am sad that I don't get to keep teaching him but I am excited to hear him progressing. 

 

Yesterday was our last full day of knocking here in this area. We had a blitz in every district and had a dinner appointment with one of the members in the Hialeah ward. We had FHE at President Beesly's home to end our night. He is so awesome. Everyone was there which was a Christmas miracle. It was nice to get to say bye to everyone one last time. Derek gave us presents which was super nice of him. So now we have some original "U" swag. It's great. We headed home that night and cleaned our house while waiting for transfer calls. Sister Beckstrand is heading up north to Sunrise and my new companion will be Sister Smith. I have only heard good things about her and I am excited to be sharing a branch with the AP's!

 

That's about it for me this week. Next week I will be skyping home for Christmas. Not sure what time. But P-day will be on Tuesday cause I'll be skyping Monday so expect an email on Tuesday from me. I hope everyone is putting in all their efforts to Light the World before Christmas on Monday. I also hope you are all going to the temple! Take advantage of it! You will regret it later if you don't. I promise it will bless your life. I love you all and hope you have an awesome Christmas! Talk to you next week!!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: The street Vendor! They are seriously on every street. I love it. And the fruit is soo good! Don't mind the awful picture of me. 

Us at the Miami Lakes Party 

Last day with Sister Louissaint

 

Trio and more from the party

Why We Tell The Story

Hey everyone!

I hope this week in the real world has been a great one as we are getting closer and closer to Christmas!
Don't forget to go Light the World with everyone you see! This week has been a pretty long one for us.

Last Monday we had a zone activity with the Fort Lauderdale zone. We played some ultimate Frisbee and passed a rugby ball around. That's always fun.

Tuesday we had our last District Training for this transfer. We talked about charity. It really is a neat thing. We were committed to pray for charity in every prayer we said. It has been cool to see this week how praying for charity has helped me love every single person we talk to so much more than I did before. I invite you all to try praying for charity in your morning prayers. I promise you it will not only help you have more love to those around you but it will make you more happy as well.

Wednesday was just a normal day of missionary work. Nothing fun really happened. I developed a love for knocking as we knocked our hearts out. But our efforts are never wasted!

On Thursday we met Leo. We were just knocking and he opened the door and it was hot so he was willing to stand outside in the heat with us. He plays baseball and is going to school so he always has afternoons off. It has been a lot of fun meeting with him and answering his questions.

Friday we had a companion study with our District leader. We talked about how when you play any sport it is 5% physical and 95% mental. The mission is exactly the same. Yeah it is hot and humid and there are mosquitoes but when it really comes down to it, it all depends on our thoughts and spirituality. We have started working on dropping all mental limits so we can make room for faith and miracles. We went caroling as a district that night. Our zone is pretty mixed with English and Spanish so our Zone Leaders made papers with the lyrics in both languages for a couple of songs and we switched off at different houses. Lets just say that Jingle Bells should not be sung in Spanish. It was quite fun though.

Saturday morning we woke up and it was cold!! We got in the car and it said 51 degrees!! It was such a great day. We did a lot of knocking in the cold and couldn't feel our fingers but it really brought the Spirit of Christmas that we are used to. We saw a lot of miracles that day as we were able to share the Light the World video with almost every person who answered the door. It was quite a miracle.

Sunday took quite a turn on us. We got a text from Mary right before church. She told us that she loved us and that she respects what we do and understands how hard our work is (she sells insurance door to door) but that she just wants to continue to pursue the Catholic church right now. She told us she really loved the family atmosphere she felt at church and we were heart broken. But her time will come. We are just sad we wont be there to see it. 

Because we don't really have investigators right now we have just been knocking really hard. Monday was no exception. However, shout out to Derek Hernandez who fed us that night! He made us some awesome pizza and some of the best hot chocolate I have ever had. It was picture worthy.

Yesterday we had our Christmas Zone Conference!! It was so good! Elder Foster from the Area Seventy came and spoke to us. President Garns talked about faith and how none of us would even be on this Earth if it weren't for the faith we had before we came down here. Faith is what moves us when we don't feel like moving. Elder Foster talked about how we can use family history work as a way to help our members. He also talked about how we are all on this Earth just so we can tell our Father's story. He also invited us to find our part of the story and make it personal as we share it with others. It made me think of Once on this Island when it says" Life is why, pain is why, love is why, grief is why, hope is why, faith is why, you are why we tell the story. So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow. It will help your heart remember and relive. It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow and forgive." I invite you all to find your part of the story and what it means to you to be a part of this wonderful plan. And then share it with someone! In person, over text, on Instagram or even Facebook. And don't forget to go to the temple!

I love you all! I am so grateful for your love and support. Keep being awesome and keep loving and serving everyone you see!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: The weather! It has been nice and cold. And of course, we had hot chocolate with some biscotti as you would. And this is the hot chocolate Derek made for us.

Zone Activity last week

tag pic

Best picture we got from caroling

Fun pic

Got to see Sister Bingham at the christmas conference!

Sister Louissaint goes home tomorrow. We will miss her!

Fishers of Men

Hi all!!
This week has been awesome! And guess what, it's December!! Weird. If someone told me that here I wouldn't believe them unless they proved it on a calendar. It has been a weird holiday season this year but I have loved every second of it.

Last Monday we had a district activity at the church and our Branch President walked in and handed us an iphone. It was Mary's. She had left it at the church on Sunday after church and we got put in charge of getting it back to her. Really weird to have a smartphone in my hand again.

 

Tuesday we had District Training and interviews with President Garns. I really love that man. He is awesome. Our training was on saying meaningful prayers. Our prayers have a lot of power but only if we give them that power. I suggest that everyone should take just 5 minutes before you pray at night and think of something spiritual that happened throughout your day. I promise it will help your prayers be more meaningful and from that will come answers to your questions.

 

On Wednesday we set out just as any other day. Headed to the church to do some stuff on the computer and as we pulled in, we realized we left the GPS at the house. Well, we were about 30 minutes away from the house and didn't really have enough time to get back. We went out knocking with our District Leader so they met us at the chapel and we just followed them. Well, when we were done we were going to head back to the house and as fate would have it, Sister Beckstrand took a wrong turn and suddenly we were lost in Miramar. We were on our way to Homestead and we couldn't find anywhere to get off. So after a tiny bit of panicking we said a prayer and eventually found the I-75 and were on our way home. It is way harder to tell where you are going without mountains. You should all consider yourselves lucky. Lesson learned: never forget your GPS at home. 

 

Thursday we found a super awesome girl named Kennisha. We were able to share the #LIGHTtheWORLD video with her and she loved it! We haven't been able to meet up with her again yet but are working on it. You should all pray for an opportunity to share that video with someone this week. It really is a neat experience. Everyone knows Jesus Christ and we are all striving to be a little more like him every day. 

 

On Friday we had exchanges!! I stayed here in YSA and Sister Louissaint came and joined me. It was an awesome day to say the least. We went out knocking with her District Leader and the last people we talked to were cleaning fish. Well as conversation would have it, we found out they had just caught these 8 HUGE snapper fish down in Homestead the day before. They also have a good friend who is part of the church so we got to talk for a bit. As we were leaving the mom asked us if we wanted to take some fish. Another lesson learned: if you don't respond immediately, they will assume it's a yes. So she went inside and got a garbage bag and sent us home with their two smallest fish. They had already been gutted but we got the joy of scaling them! It was a lot of fun. Sister Louissaint grew up eating snapper and knew exactly what to do. A lot of fun memories were made and fun pictures were taken. 

 

Saturday we had a crazy miracle happen. We still had Mary's phone and we were finally over in her area where she lives so we decided to make a pit stop. She lives in a gated community and we have never been able to get in but the Lord was on our side and we got in!! Mary wasn't home but we were able to meet her mom and dad!! Ahh! We have been trying to meet them since Irma and we finally did. They are so sweet and even sent us home with some really good Hatian food. Hopefully they will start to support Mary more in her journey in the church. 

 

Sunday was wonderful, as most fast Sunday's are. The Christmas Devotional was really good. It is always sad to not be able to see President Monson but I know that he is still leading and guiding us every day. If you didn't get a chance to watch it, I recommend you do so now. It was really good.

I hope everyone is doing well! Don't forget to go out and light the world this holiday season! I know as we strive to be like Christ we are promised so many blessings. Keep going to the temple. Keep being awesome. 

 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: These tiny bananas! We have a banana tree in our back yard and I love it!

This week Sister Schiers and I wrote our testimony in the back of a Book of Mormon and but the light the world card on it to give it out to someone we met. 

 

These were the smallest ones they had. Crazy. 

 

 Look at those teeth! I loved scaling this. Way more fun than you would think. Made me think of Uncle Charles the whole time.

PENNY - Sophie forgot to tell everyone that they are having Zone Conference next week so her P-Day will be on Wednesday next week.  I also told her to send me some selfie's of just her because I didn't have any.  I love her companions, but it would be nice to have a picture of just her.  She's darling and the queen of Selfie's.