In the Words of Bon Jovi...

WOOOOAAAH  We're halfway there!!!  WOOOAAAH livin' on a prayer!!!  Man I don't feel like I have been out for 9 months and yet, here we are. Halfway baby. This last week was a good one.

On Tuesday we mostly packed and got ready to leave our area of Sunrise. It was honestly a pretty sad day and I miss that area and everyone there like crazy. We had a zone activity and then once p-day was over we went to say bye to some friends. We went to Shernette's house first and we all cried together and then we went and said goodbye to Susan before heading to dinner with Claudio and John and the Sisters at Cheesecake Factory. It was a good night to get together one last time to be able to remember just how lucky we all were to cross paths and how when we get to see each other again it will be a very happy day.

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early to head to the beach to watch the sunrise one last time in the area of sunrise. We went with the sisters in our sisterhood and enjoyed being around each other. We went home after that and loaded up the car. We had to take two trips because we only had one car and 3 of us were leaving. Transfers was great. It was so nice to see everyone again and reunite with Sister Goldstein!! This transfer is going to be great. We then started our hour and a half drive home. It was a party. Once we got into our area we unloaded, shopped and then headed to the chapel. Not only is it the chapel we went to for Hurricane clean up but it is right across from the Miami Dade campus so we parked there and headed over to talk to some people. After being on campus for a bit we headed back over to the chapel for institute. Brother Beesly is our teacher and I am so excited to have him back. He was our branch president when I was in Miami Lakes YSA. I also got to meet some people that I had seen before and was reunited with old friends. I am really going to love it down here.

HUMP DAYYYYY!!!! Thursday we hit our halfway together!! That was pretty cool. I didn't think that would ever happen but it has and we are stoked. We had District Training on being bold and loving all at the same time. Great way to start off the transfer. Then we headed to University of Miami which is only about 15 minutes away. It. Is. Huge. I am used to my little Dixie State. UM is like something you see on movies that I didn't think was real. It takes 15 minutes to walk in just so you can find people. It is so awesome. We had a lesson that night with our friend Kaity. Her nanny growing up was a Mormon so she kind of found us. It was fun to meet her and start teaching her. We had our member Hannah there with us. She is from Sandy and is best friends with Sister Bingham so it was fun to already have a connection with the branch. We are so excited to help Kaity on this journey that she is on.

Friday was a pretty much a typical missionary day. Something I forgot from being in a small area and also being on bikes is how much time you spend driving in YSA. Everything is always forever away from where you are so it takes at least 15 minutes to get anywhere without traffic. We are learning how to use out time wisely.

Saturday morning we had a district blitz. It is getting hot my friends. Summer in Florida is among us and I can't wait to take it head on. But, summer also means hurricane season which means lots of rain which I am PUMPED for. After our blitz we headed to UM to have another lesson with Kaity. This time with our member Liz who is seriously awesome. We taught Kaity about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she told us she wants to be baptized because she wants it to be her choice. We are just working on when we can help her reach that goal that she wants. We are so excited for her. After our lesson Liz took us out to dinner with Derek at a Peruvian Chinese place. It was so good. I am so excited to have Derek back so he can introduce us to good food places :) After dinner we visited some less actives on our way home. There is a lot of work to do here and I am so excited to be a part of it.

Sunday I got to meet the branch! It was branch conference so we had a lot of members there. The spirit in this branch is so strong. I love every second of it and it has only been one Sunday. After church we had dinner at a member house with Elder Lorimer and Elder Norman. I was with Elder Norman in the MTC so it is a lot of fun to be serving around him again. After dinner we spent the night at UM. It is nice to have people live on campus but finals is next week and everyone is going home so it has been hard to find people we can work with. We are going to keep having faith though that everything will work out.

I love being here in the FFLM, aka the best mission in the world. I am so happy to be back in YSA and keep on keeping on with the work. I hope you all are working just as hard back at home! The work can't be done without the members so please help your missionaries! They need you as much as you need them. Also, I'm living alone now and don't really talk to anyone. I'm not asking for letters but I promise I will write you back if I do get one :) I hope you all have a great week this week!! Keep reading and praying and going to the temple. God will bless you for it!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: These are your typical g-whips here in Florida. Saw them everywhere in Ft. Laud.

Our last night with Claudio at Cheescake factory

 We went Sunrising with the sisters our last morning together. It was a bitter sweet moment.

Transfers
Sister Bingham and I

Sister Reidhead and I saying goodbye to Sister Tyrrell

Reunited with Sister Goldstein!!!

 

HUMP DAY!

How nice it has been to be reunited with this weirdo after being apart for 9 months! 

No better way to celebrate half way!!

Hip hip hurray for hump day!

Ending of Another Chapter

Wow. What a week it has been. So much has happened so lets start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. 

Last Monday was so fun. We went down to Hollywood and did some souvenir shopping and enjoyed the views of the beach. That night we biked up to Sister Johnson's house for Family Home Evening with the recent converts in our branch. It was a 3 mile bike ride for us so not bad. But about halfway there we turned a corner and we couldn't see what was on the other side and, surprise!! There was another biker. We crashed into each other but we were both good and continued on our way! FHE was good and we had a great bike ride home.

 

Tuesday after our studies we went and knocked some streets and then started our 9 mile bike ride through Ft. Lauderdale to a members house for dinner. It was one of the coolest bike rides I have ever been on. I felt like I was in a movie biking through the big city. We were greeted at the Barkley's by some nice chicken pot pie. After a short lesson and taking pictures of the view from their 9th floor apartment on the beach, we started our journey back home. We talked to some awesome homeless people and enjoyed the nice Florida air. Then we got to a park and part of the sidewalk was closed off so onto the grass we went. But when Sister Beckstrand went to get back on the sidewalk, I guess my bike didn't want to. I hit the sidewalk and according to Sister Reidhead I "very gracefully laid my bike down." It didn't feel too graceful. I just stayed on the ground for a minute because we could not stop laughing. It was pretty ridiculous. But I hit my knee pretty hard on the ground so the next 5 miles were not super fun. We got home around 8 and I just had to put some frozen peas on my knee cause I couldn't really move. I guess I'm not meant to bike. 

 

Wednesday morning we had Zone Training. We once again talked about the power of the scriptures and why we should use them to teach. We should also be so diligent in studying them. Not just on a mission but every day of our lives. They hold truth and guidance. I promise you that if you will read your scriptures every day, God will guide you. It might not be how you want it to be or where but He will have a hand as long as you are wiling to trust him. We had dinner with Claudio that night at Ihop for the last time :( It was pretty sad. I will miss it there. Claudio bought us a ton of food so we took most of it home and had breakfast for the rest of the week. Then we went home and changed into dresses and the Sisters picked us up and we headed to our last Book of Mormon class. Everyone came so that was super cool! It was nice to all be together again. 

 

Thursday we saw some miracles. We went to go visit our friend Janice because she didn't come to church. She talked about how she and her dad have never gotten along because he isn't very nice but he saw her Book of Mormon on her chair and picked it up and read some of it. She said when she got back she tried to take it away from him but he really wanted it. She told us that it was the coolest thing she has ever seen. She had never seen her dad be so genuine about something in her life. He was feeling pretty sick that day so we couldn't teach him. However, we did go right inside and give him his own copy so he could start reading :) The Book of Mormon contains so much truth and power. If you aren't reading it daily, please do so!! I promise it will bless your life. That night we had a super awesome lesson with our friend Lydia and even set her with a date! She kept talking about how it was a test of her faith. We promised her it is what God wants her to do. We left to go visit someone else and she called us as we were locking up our bikes and told us that she wasn't ready for all this and would call us when she was. We were pretty heart broken but we know she is in God's hands and He will take care of her.

 

Friday morning we had a comp study with our District Leader. We talked about boldness and love and how they go hand in hand. The best way to show someone you love them is to be bold with them. Then it is clear what needs to happen and they can feel that you are convicted in what you say. So next time you need something, be bold. It works. After that we spent two hours putting in our area book in the phone and we finished it!! I am so happy to be done with that. It is so nice to have everyone in your area in the palm of your hand. Having technology is really helping with hastening the work because now we don't have to spend time looking for who is closest to us. The app will tell us who is around us and where we can go. It's awesome! That night we found a super awesome Peruvian named Tina. A couple months ago she saw the hour long Restoration movie and loved it. She was kinda busy and her husband wasn't home so we testified and told her we would come back. Then we tried to visit every person that we could think of but no one would answer the door. So we started to call every person on our area book just longing for someone to teach a lesson too and no one would answer. It was only 8:30 and we still had a half an hour to go so we prayed and finally someone answered. We were off like the wind!! We visited our friend Rick and were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and leave him with his own copy. 

 

Saturday we had an extra friend with us all day! Her name is Sabrina and she is a Laurel from the Ft. Lauderdale stake. They had mini missions that day but not enough Sister Missionaries in their stake so we got to help out! It was really fun to have her with us and hear her testimony. It really helped me to understand the importance of who I represent and what it is I am here to do. We were able to teach Janice again. Sadly her dad was in the hospital for something with his heart but Sabrina was able to connect with Janice in the Bible and softened her heart to wanting to come to church! It was the coolest thing to watch. We gave her the address again and pulled it up on her GPS so she knew how to get there and then we went out and kept knocking doors. We had a district blitz so we were able to knock with everyone. After dinner we tried to visit more people but they all fell through so we kept on knocking. We were all getting a little discouraged so we prayed in our hearts and were led to our new friend Wayne! He agreed with the teaching of Christ and told us to come back again to keep talking about his favorite person, Jesus Christ.

 

Sunday morning we walked into sacrament and the Elders pulled us aside. There are pros to sharing a ward with the Assistants. They told us that our area of Sunrise was going to be closed so we better start taking pictures with whoever we want pictures with. I knew it was coming but didn't think it would be so hard. President Turrini had us bear our testimonies because he was pretty sad to have to give us up. After church we went and told Shernette we would be leaving and had one last lesson with her and then we had dinner with the Turrini family. We had whatever kind of meat you can think of. President Turrini is from Paraguay so he loves to grill and he does a great job. I will miss my Sunrise family. They will always have piece of my heart. That night we went and saw Tina again. As we walked up we could hear a party going on. We knocked and her husband answered and right away invited us in! His best friend  was over and they were having karaoke night. They invited us to sing but we just sat back and enjoyed the entertainment as we waited for Tina to come out. We were able to clear up some doubts about Joseph Smith and we left her with a Book of Mormon that she was excited to read. 

 

Yesterday we had a zone wide exchange. I got the chance to stay in Sunrise and Sister Dees joined me. It was my last full day of missionary work here so I was grateful I got to stay. We went to service for our last time with the Elders and took some pictures and then we went and knocked in the rain. That was pretty fun. We found this super awesome 90 year old who knows that God has kept her alive this long for a reason. We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and she was excited to read more about it. Then we had dinner with the Malinconicos and FHE at their house with Ninie. Everyone was supposed to be there but they all had stuff come up. We talked about enduring to the end and then had some cupcakes and headed home for our transfer call. They are closing the area of Sunrise. Sister Reidhead is going north to Wellington in the Jupiter Zone and her companion is Sister Hammond. I am going all the way south to the Miami South Zone and serving in Snapper Creek YSA with Sister Goldstein!! I am so excited to head down there and be in YSA again! 

It has been a fun 4 months here in Sunrise. It has been my own little Route 66 and it will forever have a piece of my heart. I know God has a lot of things in store for the next couple months and I can't wait to find out what. But in the words of Dr. Suess, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." I love you all back at home! Keep being awesome and keep doing what God wants of you. Have a great week!!

 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: lizards!!! We have to avoid them on our bikes. They get pretty big. This guy is the only one I have a picture of.

The Malinconicos

Ninie and the Elders, Hatch and Overy.

Mini Missionary Sabrina!

Sister Brady (our grandma)

Working the grill at the Turrini's

Service with Elder Watkins and Mickleson

Views from our member's house

Tag pic

3rd crash

Zone pic

House fam❤

 Penny's side note - I was told that Sophie now hold the mission record for most crashes while in the mission.  She must have an equilibrium problem.  And I want to go on record that she was not the one driving the car when they got in the car accident, so hopefully she will have one in her new area.  She's not safe on a bike.

Closest Thing to Swimming

Summer is fast approaching folks and that means so are the Florida storms! Oh how I have missed them and I am so excited for them to be back. 

Last Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Sisters so Sister Dees came to Sunrise with me for a day. We had District Training that morning and talked about meekness and humility and the importance it is for not only us to work on those things but our investigators as well. Change is a huge part of the plan God has for us but if we aren't humble then nothing will ever change. after that we went to visit some friends and knock on doors. Around 4 we got a call from our District Leader saying they just got a Tornado warning on their phone and wanted to make sure we were okay because we were on bikes. Well we could tell a storm was approaching but we never thought we would see a tornado in Florida if it wasn't part of a Hurricane. So we went and grabbed our bikes and went to visit a less active member that lived pretty close to where we were. As soon as we knocked on the door the rain and wind picked up so much and she let us right in. Well over the next hour we experienced an Irma 2.0. The wind was crazy and there was hail everywhere. She wouldn't leave until it passed and we were so grateful for her. I know that God will always give us refuge from the storm. Whether physical or spiritual. When we are struggling, as long as we show God we have faith in what he can do, we will always be protected and he will take us under our wing. On our way home we stopped and talked to a homeless guy named Frankie. We taught him the restoration and he loved it and had a huge smile the whole time. It was awesome. But we found out that he is staying in the other Sister's area so we don't get to teach him. But it was one of the coolest experiences I've had so far.

 

After having a great Tuesday, our Wednesday was pretty uneventful. We knocked and knocked and knocked and knocked and the only person we talked to was the guy that drove by and told us to stop and go home. So we finally went and visited our friend Janice. She is pretty cool but it was a pretty interesting lesson. We were finally able to share the restoration with her and as far as we know she liked it. She wasn't able to come to church this week though so we are going to go see her tomorrow. That night we got dinner at Petes-a-place before Book of Mormon class. It was some of the best pizza I've had since I've been here. Book of Mormon class was awesome like always. 

 

Thursday we had a Sisterhood exchange! I got to go down to the area of Hollywood North with Sister Richardson. Sorry mom, I forgot to take pictures of that day. It was fun. They are a Spanish area so it was fun to put my minimal knowledge to work. That night Sister Richardson got sick but it was a great break to be off of a bike. Their house also is awesome and they have a canal in their backyard so that was awesome. 

 

Friday morning we exchanged back and then had studies. After knocking in our area for a little bit we biked on over to Sister Tyrrell and Sister Dees's area for a district blitz. I got to knock with Sister Tyrrell and almost everyone we talked to was Jehovah Witness. They were all pretty nice though. That night we were able to go visit our friend Gladys and her daughter Gabriella. They loved the idea that there is a prophet on the Earth today. They are from Peru and are the cutest little family ever. We are excited to be working with them. 

 

Saturday brought the heat. It was humid, it was hot, and we have the tan lines to show it. After some awesome studies and putting some more of our area book in the phone we went to visit our friend Clarence. He is so awesome. We taught him about the Doctrine of Christ and were able to set him with a date for May 12th! He loves the Lord and we love him! Also, that day was weird because we realized that it is almost May and it freaked us out. It feels like just yesterday I was skyping home. Now I get to do it again in a month! Ahh crazy. After Clarence we went to see Lydia. She is a ball of light and loves everything we teach her about. She accepted baptism so now we are working on a date and helping her come to church! 

 

Sunday was awesome. We taught Gospel Principles and talked about the importance of sacrifice and how much it means to our Father in Heaven when we will sacrifice what we have to make time for him and make him a priority in our lives. After church as we were riding our bikes home we were about 5 minutes from home and we stopped at a stop sign. The car that was coming stopped for us so we went to go. Sister Reidhead was a little ahead of me so I was following behind and as soon as I went to cross the street the guy driving pulled forward. My brakes have been slowly dying so I tried to swerve but his car best my front tire and I fell over. He stopped and got out and felt really bad. I am 100% and when we left Sister Reidhead and I just laughed at the luck we have had this transfer. I'm glad it happened to me and not Sister Reidhead. I'm pretty sure it has been more eventful than my first transfer with the Hurricane. The Elders came and picked up our bikes for us because mine wouldn't move and we walked home. After our studies we walked over to Shernette's house but she was sick so we tried to visit someone else but they weren't home either so we walked back home. By then the Sisters were home and I was able to borrow Sister Tyrrell's bike and we are all good again :) We honestly didn't have much else happen the rest of the night. We went to visit Martyn and in the midst of us talking it started to downpour and the thunder and lightning followed. We talked for about 10 more minutes and then Sister Reidhead and I biked home in the rain. We were soaked within 3 minutes. Closest thing to swimming here on the mission. You can bet your bottom dollar I loved every second of it :)

 

I love every second of being here in Florida. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary right now especially here in the FFLM. I know this is where God needs me right now and I am so excited to continue to help the work progress. I hope you all have a great week and make time to go to the temple!!

 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine -

Petes-a-place! We drive past it every time we go to the chapel and have always wanted to stop. So we did! It's an awesome Italian place with all sorts of food. It did not disappoint. 

#1 My broken tire

#2 &3 Sister Reidhead and I :)

#4 Your face after your friends accept baptism

#5 The scene

 

 

 

When it Rains, it Pours

And when it pours in Florida, you are instantly drenched. Well with all that has happened with losing a phone and getting in a car wreck this transfer you think God would give us a break. We did too. 

Well last Monday after biking to the church to email, Claudio took us to lunch after at Flanigans. We have gone before and it was going to be great. But I was instantly stuffed just after the appetizers. And then I started to really not feel good. So the bike home was pretty awful and I didn't even eat my food. Just took it to go. We got home and I took a nap and it was worse when I got up. But we had friends to go see. We saw Martyn and he had us write a song with him. It was pretty funny but the whole time I felt like dying. So we went home after that and as I was laying on the ground we came to the conclusion that I got food poisoning. 

 

So Tuesday morning I called the nurse and confirmed it and we took a sick day on Tuesday while I tried really hard to not die and just slept until I couldn't sleep any more.

 

Wednesday morning I woke up fresh and ready to go. We had District Training at the chapel that morning at the chapel. We talked about how important it is to leave commitments with people. They aren't just a favor we ask of them. It is a call to repentance. When the Prophet commits us to read more or pray more, it's not only an invitation. It's a call to repentance. A change of heart. That night Sister Dees got sick so they gave us a ride to Book of Mormon class so we didn't have to ride our bikes all the way there again. It was a fun time. But the Bug continued.

 

Thursday was a pretty normal day. They have switched out a chapter in Preach my Gospel to help us plan more effectively. So that has been cool to use and see it work. That night after dinner, Sister Dees and Sister Tyrrell called us saying they had eaten something weird for dinner and Sister Tyrrell wasn't feeling well so Sister Reidhead went out with Sister Dees and I stayed home with sick Sister Tyrrell. Fun times over here.

 

We got a lot done on Friday. We had service at the food bank and spilled rice literally everywhere. We had to clean it up really fast so no one saw haha. Good times. Then we hopped on our bikes and set off for an awesome day. Our first stop was with our friends Edgar and Clarence. We were able to teach them about the Restoration. They are from Jamaica and always ask us questions that they don't like about other churches but then like it about our church. I love being able to talk to them. Then our next stop was our friend Janice. She is so cool. She loves her handwriting so she rewrote, word for word, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. It has been a lot of fun explaining the church to her and being able to practice using scriptures so we can be on the same playing field as each other. 

 

Saturday was pretty normal. We have a canal right behind our chapel so we went and had lunch there. It was a great time. Then our day was full of biking and visiting friends. Nothing too crazy happened. On our way home that night we were literally 5 minutes from the house and it started to sprinkle a little. But in Florida, when it rains it pours. So 30 seconds later there were just buckets coming down on top of us. We booked it to the house as fast as we could but we were still soaking wet when we got home. Great end to an awesome day haha. I really love the rain here. 

 

Sunday was awesome. We had an Easter program. My favorite part was when all 7 of our primary kids went up and sang the song Gethsemane. They did so great and it was so powerful and really helped to feel the Spirit. Oh! And our friend Martyn came so that was super awesome. He gets really deep in his questions and our little branch knew exactly how to take care of it. That night we went to our little neighborhood we have been working in and we found a mom named Bianca who almost died 3 months ago and is just so ready for the gospel. We are excited to keep teaching here. That night we biked 2 miles home in 7 minutes. New record. Mostly because we were trying to outrun the rain.

 

That's about it from the Sunshine State this week. I hope you are all having a great time at home! Keep reading the scriptures and talking to your Father in Heaven. He wants to hear from you. And don't be scared to make that sacrifice of time to go to the temple. 

 

I love you all and hope your week is awesome!!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: turtles!! We see them all over here and I finally got a picture. They are cute little black things and I love them.

Result of biking in the rain and our pic on a bridge

Our chapel canal and lunch 

Something on that table gave me good poisoning. I think it was the jalapenos. 

Our mission biking day!

 Penny's side note - Sophie sent the picture above and Claudio sent me the picture's below.  It's no wonder she got sick.  He said that she was popping Jalapenos. 

 What a great group!