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.