Venice of America

Hello outside of the mission world! How have you all been?? This week has been great!

Last Tuesday we headed down to Las Olas. It is basically like the tourist street of Ft. Laud. There are are museums every other store and it is just a lot of fun. After walking around down there for a bit we went to the beach and saw the International Swimming Hall of Fame. If I would've had more time I would've gone in and checked it out. Another time. That night Claudio and John took us and the the STL's out to a cute place called Beehive Kitchen and then took us up to the top of a parking garage to see the view. It is really so beautiful here. I love it so much.

Wednesday we had a zone training up in Coral Springs. We talked about forgiveness and how it is a big step in the repentance process. Forgiveness is liberating and we can forgive ourselves then it is that much better. I saw a Mormon ad one time about someone holding a rope. If it starts to pull away it is going to hurt your hand, cut it up, and give you blisters. But as soon as you let go, your hand stops to hurt. That is how forgiveness is. It was a good training. That night we had Book of Mormon class. We had the most people show up so far this transfer. It was awesome. Learned a lot of stuff about 2 Nephi 2.

Thursday was just amazing. We had studies all morning, went knocking for an hour, and then met Claudio at Shernette's house to go to the TEMPLE!!! Shernette is a recent convert and so are her two kids. Her son Jamari is 13 and wasn't able to go to the temple last time they went so it was his first time! He was pretty nervous but ended up loving it. I love going when it is someone's first time. The temple really does have a special spirit that just makes you want to be better and always be there. If you haven't gone in a week, go tomorrow! Schedule it in your phone right now as you are reading this. I promise you that it will add blessing in your life that you are searching for right now. Christ is mindful of you. Let him help. Go to the temple so he know you are ready for him. It was also Sister Smith's year mark today we celebrated by watching Legacy that night and making cookies. Fun times.

Friday was full of a lot of service. We went to go help one of the sisters in our ward, Sister Brady, move. We all got there at 8 but her husband wasn't there with his Uhaul yet so we waited. Once he got there we followed him to the storage unit to help him unload and then headed back to the house. We waited for another half an hour and then the owner called and said he couldn't find the key. So we went home and studied instead. We went and did more service that afternoon at the food bank and then pretty much just knocked and tried to visit people after that with no luck.

Saturday morning we headed up to the Coconut Creek chapel to knock with their young women. They had a missionary week and wanted to end it with the missionaries. They invited us because we are the only missionaries in the zone so we got to go. There were two young women with us and they were super cool. One of them could speak Spanish and Portuguese. The first house we knocked on only spoke Portuguese and the YW just took over. It was a cool thing to watch happen. She is going to be an awesome missionary one day. If you guys are ever sitting around thinking of something to do, go knock with the missionaries! It is a lot more fun than you think and I promise you will have a great time. That night we went knocking and we were prompted to go to a trailer park. It looked really Spanish but we were determined so we parked, prayed, and off we went. The very first door we knocked in had an 18 year old girl who opened and was excited to hear a message in English. As we taught her the Restoration our love for Rykell just grew and grew. She accepted it and is excited to try and get work off to come to church. We knew after that that she was why we needed to be there at that time. 

Yesterday was a pretty normal Sunday which is always great. We went and visited our friend Bill from a while ago and he was doing great. Had surgery on his heart and is still scared to come to church but we are going to help him overcome obstacles and he will be there next week. 

I love this gospel. I love being here in the FFLM (friends for life mission) and reaching people every day. Go to the temple. Say your prayers. Read your scriptures.

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: CANALS! They are everywhere! Venice of America. I love it. Always reminds me of dad.

Some pictures from Las Olas.

 

More Las Olas

TEMPLE!!!

 We headed to the beach after Las Olas and to the International Swimming Hall of Fame. It was a museum and cost money so we didn't go in but I did see a real life swimming pool.