Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: 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.