Oyster Stew

This week was quite the week but at the same time it was pretty normal and missionary like. 

Tuesday we had District Training and we talked about how we need to raise the bar and be more diligent. It made me think of a quote mom put on our locker one year before a swim meet. It said, "When your arms hurt, pull harder. When your legs hurt, kick faster. When your body hurts, swim stronger. When your lungs burn, don't breath. You can rest when you are finished." I think that can apply in anything we do. When we do something or go anywhere we should take all of us. Be focused on your task at hand and don't stop or let up. In a swimming race it is very easy to lose by .001 seconds. If you let up by the smallest degree, you will lose. We have to put our entire selves into what we are doing so we can have the best results. After District Training we went to see our friend Nemisis at work. She is not our investigator because she understands Spanish better but she is YSA so she comes to all of our events. She is from Venezuela and is only here until July when her visa is up so we have been trying to make her feel as welcome as we can here. Then that night we went to go see Kaity!! She finally got back in town and got all settled in in her new apartment. She invited us over and we helped her finish unpacking and had a good time. 

Wednesday morning we headed over to Miami Dade for a lesson with our friend Mikhaio. It was supposed to start at 10 but he didn't get there till 11:30 so we didn't have as much time to talk to him as we would have liked but we taught a powerful lesson. It was a testimony builder to me that as long as the Spirit is with us, it will touch the hearts of our investigators. It's truly a blessing to have the Spirit with us 24/7. We spent the rest of the day talking to people on campus because it was the only day it didn't rain this week so we actually had people to talk to while we were there! That night before Institute we met up with Kaity. Mostly to make sure she came to Institute. It was a super good lesson. We talked about the importance of having faith especially when we pray. Kaity had a lot of comments and loved the class so that was a tender mercy for us! We had a birthday party after for some people in the branch and included Kaity cause her birthday was only a week away!

Thursday we went to Miami Dade to find some people and we ran into our friend Skylar! She sat down with us and we started teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were reading 2 Nephi 31 with her and at one point we asked her if Eternal Life is something she would want. She thought for a second and then opened up about some pretty crazy things that have happened in her life. We testified of the power of the Atonement and talked about the Plan of Salvation for a moment before her dad showed up and she had to go. Something I have realized out here is that people just so quickly tell missionaries their entire life story. It's great for us because then we know how to teach to their needs but it's still a little crazy. It always helps me to realize that I am representing Jesus Christ and me standing there with people would be kind of like if He was there Himself. It always causes me to pause and reflect on how I am doing. That night we had dinner with Sister Goodman. She fed us spaghetti and it was honestly so good. I think that was only the second time I have had spaghetti out here so it was super awesome and we had a good night. 

Friday morning after our studies we had a Sisterhood Conference! So basically, we got together with the sisters in our area for lunch and talked about the things we learned at zone conference.  Because Elder Klebingat was the main speaker he really followed the spirit. Which was super awesome but it led to two totally different zone conferences. So it was cool to hear how everyone took everything in.  Then we went over to the campus to talk to some people and we met up with our friend Emilio! We met him earlier in the week and decided we were going to teach him the Restoration but then we quickly learned that he doesn't really know a lot so we had to slow way down and take it one step at a time. So we talked about prayer and having faith. It was a humbling experience to realize that some people really have no idea what you are talking about. That is the joy of being a missionary I think. You get to bring the good news of the Gospel to every single person you talk to. I love it.

Saturday I hit my 10 month mark!!!! Holy Cow. Time just keeps flying but I wish it would slow down. Ugh. There is so much work to do! Saturday I woke up and felt like I had been hit by a ton of bricks. Something has been going through my body and is just working its way down but boy has it been a struggle. As we were studying that morning I was reading a poem I got from Sister Noftle a couple transfers ago. I don't know the title so I've titled it "Oyster Stew."

There once was an oyster whose story I'll tell,

Who found that some sand had worked under his shell.

Just one little grain but it gave him a pain,

For oysters have feelings that are very plain.

Now did he berate this working of fate,

That left him in such a deplorable state?

Did he curse the government, call or an election,

And say that the sea should have some protection?

"No!" He said to himself as he sat on the shelf,

"Since I cannot remove it I think I'll improve it." 

Well years passed by, as years always do,

Till he came to his destiny - Oyster Stew!

But the small grain of sand that bothered him so

Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.

Now this tale has a moral, for isn't it grand

What an oyster can do, with a small grain of sand?

And what couldn't we do if we'd only begin

With all of the tings that get under our skin?

There is your food for thought this week. How you can you change the things under your skin into a pearl? I promise you it can be done in any circumstance. We had a district blitz later that day and we were going to do it at Miami Dade but there was not a single person there. So we tried UM but no one was there either. So we found some apartments and went knocking. Sister Goldstein went with Sister Remund and they found us a super cool friend named Ricardo. 

Sunday was a great day. Summer in YSA is really hard as far as finding goes. There are not many people on campus and if they are there they want to be there for the least amount of time as they possibly can. So it is hard to find people to teach in the summer. But God knows we have been working our hardest so he sent our friend Anthony to church! Anthony was found by some sisters a while back with one of our members. Well, he was given the day off and decided to dedicate it to God so he came to church and stayed all three hours!! He really liked it and he loved everyone there so that was really awesome. After church we had dinner with Andrea and her family. Andrea just recently got home from her mission in Montreal, Canada so it was really neat to be able to talk to her and find out more about where Josh is going. That night we went to UM to try and find some people but there wasn't really anyone. We did see some flying fish and lots of frogs and ducks though!

Yesterday was memorial day! Instead of having family home evening that night we decided to do a BBQ at the Nilsen's! It was so fun. Most of everyone came and so did our friend Ricardo! He had a great time and got to know everyone really well. We were very happy that we were able to see the branch take him under their wing. I love being in YSA for that reason alone. It is so easy to feel welcome with people that are in the same boat as you are. This Sunday I invite you to sit by someone you don't know. Make them feel welcome. Don't push anything but just be a friend. A true minister of Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have a great week! Keep being awesome. Keep praying and reading your scriptures. I can promise you that any doubts you have can be cleared up by God. I love you all!!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 Florida Sunshine: it comes from my campuses this week! Water Polo!!!! Each campus has their own pool just for water polo and they are always practicing. Always brings a smile to my face :)

Our Sisterhood: Me, Sister Goldstein, Sister Pacheco, Sister Jolley, Sister Thorne, Sister Gonzalez, Sister Dalton, Sister Remind

A baby frog we caught on campus

Also there are a million snails and slugs here when it starts to rain!!

Natural Habitat

Wow. What a week. Sorry this is coming so late. We went on an adventure this morning that I will tell you about later on in this email. So keep reading :)

Last Monday, as we were emailing, we had an investigator show up that neither of us had met before. She went to church growing up, but had things happen in her life that made her turn away and her family was never baptized. We were able to share the Plan of Salvation with her and it was a really cool experience to have with her and to take the time out of p-day to share the gospel. That night we had FHE at the church and we played some basketball and chair soccer.

 

Tuesday morning we had a comp study with our district leader. Those are some of my favorite meetings. It is just so cool to be able to sit down with other missionaries and get insight on something you have been practicing but learn new ways of doing it. 2 heads definitely work better than one. We talked about leaving commitments with people and how they need to be clear so they know what we are asking them to do. Then we put it into action and went and taught our friend Isabella. She actually didn't have a ton of time and neither did we but we stopped by anyway to talk to her and see how she was doing. We were able to teach her a little more about the Book of Mormon and she was excited to read it. That night we had dinner with our member Andrew Munson. He and his sister made us salmon with this sauce stuff on it that was very salty. After trying it, his mum pointed out that it is just supposed to be sprinkled on so we all laughed and scraped off most of it because it was pretty strong. But it was still good!! It rained all day that day and it never stopped. That night we exchanged with our sister training leaders.

 

So Wednesday we had exchanges!! I stayed here in Snapper Creek and Sister Gonzalez joined me. It was a lot of fun! It was a super pretty day an honestly a little stressful but it was good. We started out the day going to Miami Dade. We had a lesson with our friend Mikhaio so we went to find him but he wasn't there. So we talked to this guy named Bob instead who isn't YSA but during our conversation, Mikhaio showed up and apparently they are friends so I guess it was meant to be. We mostly talked about repentance and then we had to get going.Then we went to see a referral we got named Xavier. He is pretty cool! We taught him the restoration and he was very quiet but he understood it all so that was cool. Then we went home and had a comp study on raising the bar. If we don't raise the bar how will we ever know our potential? When you train for a race you don't only swim the amount you will race or only run 3 miles. You go above and beyond so when the time comes that you have to race it is a piece of cake and you can put more effort into it. How can you raise the bar in your own life? That night we had institute. We talked about tithing and it's importance. Pretty good lesson. That night we exchanged back and I got Sister Goldstein back :)

 

Thursday morning we met our other friend Amber (not the one from Monday) on campus. We were talking about the Book of Mormon under a covering while it was raining when we saw a huge flash of lights and heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my entire life. It seriously sounded like someone was banging on a timpani as loud as they could right behind us. Needless to say, we went inside after that to finish our lesson. That night we had dinner with President and Sister Schmeil (our branch president). It was really good. They are from Brazil and we found out they have been in Florida just as long as we have! So that was fun to hear. 

 

Friday was pretty normal except for our lesson with Isabella. It was really good! We talked about the doctrine of Christ and it was really cool to see her heart open as we talked using the scriptures. The power of the Gospel is amazing. I love seeing it work in other people's lives. That night we had dinner with our member Katie. She is pretty cool and took us to this way good pizza place that I can't actually remember the name of but it was good. We were able to tell Katie about what it is like to be a missionary. It really got us thinking about our missions and I have realized that I wouldn't be anything without my mission. I love it here and I love being able to serve the Lord.

 

Saturday we woke up nice and early to get ready for Zone Conference. We had to be at the Miami Lakes chapel by 8:30 because Elder Klebingat of the 70 came! He is basically the only one that talked the entire time. He taught us so much but the thing I liked the most was basically about how safe it is to use the scripture. If you can share a scripture and teach a principle based on it, you will never be wrong and the spirit will always be there. We didn't leave zone conference until 5pm so we were pretty tired. We went out to eat with Kevin and his little sister. They took us to Panera and we had some soup and were able to figure out some things with the branch.

 

Sunday morning we were texting our friends reminding them about church and Mikhaio texted us right back saying he was going to be there!!! We were so excited!! He came and loved it!!! He could only stay for the first hour but the members embraced him and he kept saying how nice everyone was. The speakers were very inspired and I was so grateful that God made everything work out. It is thanks to him that our friends can learn and grow. That day basically everyone got a new calling so we had a lot of people to set apart so it was really nice to see the priesthood in action. I am so grateful to be a part of the true church on Earth that has the authority of God that we can access at all times. That night we had dinner with the Browns. They had some friends, Brittney and Lee Pixton, visiting from Raleigh that know my fam! So that was crazy. Then we headed over to UM. Just as we were pulling up it started pouring rain. There were only like 5 people on campus so we talked to all 5 of them, jumped in some puddles, chased ducks, got soaking wet, and then headed home from a day well spent. 

 

Then this morning we woke up and got ready and went back to the Brown's! We got to go with them to the EVERGLADES!! It was so much fun. It was pouring rain when we first got there so there weren't very many people there. Then we got to the trail and it stopped raining. It was perfect weather. For us and the alligators. We saw 14 of them!!!! That's right. After being in Florida for almost 10 months I finally got to see the thing that Florida is known for in their natural habitat. There were trails to walk and lots of animals to see. The gators were nice and active and it was such a party. It was awesome and so worth it. On our way back home we stopped at a place called "Robert is Here" and got some fruit smoothies. I got a Mamey one. That is easily my new favorite fruit. 

 

I love it here more and more every day. I love the people. I love the work. I love the Gospel. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love all of you!! Don't forget to pray, read your scriptures, go to the temple, and have a great week!!

 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: GATORS!!!! They were everywhere! It was so fun to see them in their habitat and not have to go to the zoo to see it. They are pretty big. These ones were pretty small. 

More gators

And More Gators

Everglades!

This bird swims to get its food and then dries it's wings like this.

 Robert is Here had a little farm in the back with a million turtles!

 Also this cute plane that we had to take pictures in

Robert Is Here shakes 

Some fun facts!

Rainy day on campus

Gator skull

Happy Mothers Day!

Wow. What a week it was. It was so nice to see everyone yesterday and talk to the fam. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for you!! This week was a pretty normal missionary week for the most part.

Tuesday morning we had Zone Training with everyone in our zone. The Elders down in Key West are in our zone so Zone Training was probably the only time we will get to see them haha. We talked about the importance of setting dates. When Christ came to visit the people in America He showed up, introduced himself, and then invited every single person to repent and be baptized. If that's not bold I don't know what is. As missionaries we represent Jesus Christ. We are his disciples and strive to become more like him every single day. The best way to do that is to invite others to repent and be baptized. We have the authority to do so as his servants and so that is what we must do. It was a great training and we were so excited to put it to the test. Later that day we had a lesson with our friend Kaity with our member Owen. It was one of the most powerful lessons I've been a part of on my mission. Kaity has been through a lot in the past couple months and is really struggling knowing that she can overcome these things. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and we really connected with her on our own personal experiences to help her understand that we are never too far lost. Because of Christ's sacrifice for EVERY single one of us, it is never too late to turn around. With our training in mind we really focused on Repentance and how as we change, Christ's atonement changes our lives and invited her to be baptized. She is so excited for her baptism on June 9th and so are we!! We had dinner later that night with the Nipper family. They are so awesome and love Disney so we are all friends :)

  

Wednesday morning we had our normal studies and went out to find new friends. Graduation was last week and summer classes don't start until next week so the college campuses have been very bare. So it has been hard to find. We have been focusing a lot on our less active members and ministering to them this week. We did get to meet with our friend Isabella though. She didn't have a lot of time so we shared a video with her and helped her understand who we are as missionaries. We are excited to see her again later this week. That night we had institute. Freddy from the Miami Lakes YSA was there so it was fun to see a familiar face. We had almost 30 people in class which is a lot compared to our usual 10. I love when people come home for the summer from Utah!! We had an awesome lesson on setting goals. As missionaries we set at least 4 goals a day for different things. Nothing happens in our lives if we don't have a goal. Now, I know some of you may be thinking, "Geez Sister Beckstrand. I really don't like goals. I'm going to skip this." But wait. I can promise you that you make goals every day!! Whether it's telling yourself you'll wake up after the 6th snooze, or you're going to get an A on a final. Every goal takes some sort of preparation. Our ultimate goal here on Earth to receive Eternal life so there are other goals we need to set in order to get there. We have to be praying and reading our scriptures every day.  We have to perform saving ordinances. We have to become like Christ daily. We have to endure to the end, it's not a checklist. Setting goals is so important now so when the time comes to make a choice, we will know what we want and where we want to be. 

 

Thursday morning we had to go to the eye doctor for Sister Goldstein. She has been getting bad headaches and her body has been weird and we can't figure out why. We thought it might be her vision but the ophthalmologist told us that it wasn't that so we are still trying to figure it out. I also came to the conclusion today that I will never be able to live in a big city because I can't handle traffic. I can handle inching along and taking forever. I can't handle other drivers who, no matter how hard you try, will not let you get over so you can get off your exit or turn. It drives me bonkers. In YSA we have to drive a lot. We cover a huge area so everyone is pretty spread out so we spend at least an hour and a half total every day just getting from one place to the next. Bah. That night we had dinner with our member Kevin and his family. I think I mentioned last week but Kevin served in St. George back in November so I love being able to have someone know exactly what I'm talking about. He served a lot of his mission in the St. George East Stake! His mum made us some really good lasagna and we shared Elder Holland's video "Wrong Roads". Go watch it if you haven't seen it in a while. Sometimes God puts us on paths we don't expect and maybe never understand why but God knows so we really have to trust him. Pocahontas once said that "The right path is not always the easiest." So if we are mad at God for the path you are on right now, take a second and think of what you have right now that you wouldn't have if you were on another path. Always remember that God is the one in charge.

 

Friday morning I was very distracted with Hercules stuck in my head for some reason or another. So in the midst of my studies I related it to the gospel. Sometimes we are just going along with life not really knowing what our purpose is. We feel a little out of place and know there is something missing. So we ask our dad and God answers us and lets us know what our divine potential is and we then have the motivation to go out and do it. So we set out on a journey to improve ourselves and we eventually get where we wanted to be in the first place but it still feels like it's not enough. Then it is up to us to figure out what God wants of us. As soon as we give ourselves up unto him, the faster we can figure it out and find the things that are missing in our lives and find our full potential. Challenge God, let Him help you. I promise He will. That day as we were knocking we found a girl named Samantha. She is awesome but is really struggling physically right now with some sicknesses but said that she has some Mormon friends that she really loves and would love a Book of Mormon. We gave her one right then and told her to call us when she starts getting better. We were instantly grateful for her friends who were a good example so she would be willing to talk to us. You never know who is watching. People know you're Mormon. Be a good example so the missionaries who find your friends will be grateful for you. 

 

Saturday brought the rain. And it is here to stay all summer. Which means it is going to start getting a lot more humid. I'm so excited. We had a pretty busy day lined up for us on Saturday but a lot of things fell through. However, we were able to have an awesome lesson with our new friend David and our member Andres came. We were planning on teaching the Restoration because he has come to institute so we wanted to explain some things but God had other plans. We sat down at Starbucks and he immediately started asking questions about the Plan of Salvation. So of course that is what we taught. Sister Goldstein had her puzzle pieces there and he was really into the whole thing. We were glad that God made the decision of what would be taught. He knows us all perfectly and knows what we need. Just listen. 

 

Sunday morning we woke up and starting cutting hearts in favor of Mothers Day! We decided to write some notes to our Florida mums :) We first went to Kevin's Mum. She does so much for us and is always willing to feed us. We heart attacked her door and left the card and ran. We could hear them inside the whole time so it was pretty scary but we did it! She called us later saying we made her day. Then we went to the church to have correlation and then went to Sister Nipper's house to do the same thing. She feeds us every Tuesday and her kids are the sweetest things. She texted us later and let us know how much it meant to her. It really helped me to realize just how far a little act of kindness can go. It also made me realize how much I love my Florida mums and how grateful I am for all of them. Then we went back to the church for church. Joseph, one of our members, and I sang "Love is Spoken Here" in sacrament. It was pretty terrifying but it wasn't awful haha. During 3rd hour we all made cards and wrote letters to our mums. It was a fun time. Then that night we had dinner with Brother and Sister Nilsen and their son Kicker. I ate more food last night than I probably have all transfer. But it was good and I don't regret it haha. They are the cutest family and we loved being with them. We wrote Sister Nilsen a note and bought her some chocolates. And then we got to Skype home!! Woohoo!!! It was so nice to see all of your smiling faces :) It felt super normal and then we were right back to missionary work after. Next time I skype home I will only have about a month and a half left. Ahhhh! I'm not gonna think about it. That's still 7 months away. 

 

Until then. Keep reading your scriptures. Keep saying your prayers. Keep making an effort to go to the temple and share the gospel with a friend this week. I love you all so much and hope your week is just as awesome as you all are!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: these trees!! I have no idea what they are called but they are soo awesome. Sometimes I wish we could go walk through them but we never have time.

Because we were all in the same place at the same time, we took a picture. From left to right starting with Elders: Elder Bishop, Elder Masbernat, Elder Te Hira,Elder Andres, Elder Hafen, Elder Taylor, Elder Mendoza (in front), Elder Mata, Elder Lorimer, Elder Loftus, Elder Norman

Sisters (left to right): Sister Jolley, Sister Pacheco, Sister Dalton, Sister Thorne, Me, Sister Goldstein, Sister Gonzalez, Sister Remund

SKYPING

My cute comp and I

This little girl is one of Sister Nipper's daughters. Her name is Abby and she is so sweet. She bought these goggles at Disney World so of course we had to take a picture together. 

Sister Goldstein had to make some phone calls when we were out so I took some pics. UM for life!

 

The Coconut Girls

Hey there sunshine!! This week was great! I am loving it here in Snapper Creek YSA and being back with my comp :)  

We started out the week on Tuesday with district training. I love my district. They are super awesome. We talked about setting expectations with people. If we send a kid to the store with money and don't tell him what to get then what is the point right? We have to do the same thing as missionaries and in our own lives. If we have something we are learning or something we want to accomplish, we have to set expectations and a vision or else nothing will ever get done about it and we will just keep wishing. Then after that we headed over to Miami Dade across the street to talk to some people and put our training into action. We were able to find a new friend named Makhaio! He is awesome. He is originally from Ogden, Utah but moved here when he was little. We were able to set expectations with him and answer some questions about the church. He was really excited that we could have answers for him. It was a big testimony to me that God puts us where we need to be right when we need it. For Makhaio, he moved here from Utah but God needed him to meet us that day. It was cool. 

 

Wednesday afternoon we went and visited our friend Daniel. He had a kidney transplant last year and hasn't been back to church for a while because he was sick before everything happened and he is still trying to get his strength back but we were able to talk to him about how the Book of Mormon can help him and he was excited to read even though he would much rather play video games. So my first invitation for all of you is when you want to sit down and waste time watching TV or playing video games or reading a book, read a chapter in the Book of Mormon first. Later that night we were able to go out with our member Kevin to visit some people. Kevin served his mission in St. George! So it was really fun to be able to talk about home and have someone understand everything haha. He picked some coconuts for us that we were able to take home and then we ended the night at institute.

 

Thursday we met our members Liz and her brother Joseph at Miami Dade for a lesson with our friend Dave! Dave is literally so cool. My favorite fact about Dave is that he is from Montreal, Canada!! So he will be my link to Josh while I am here :) We taught him the Restoration and he loved it and our members invited him over for dinner and we invited him to pray about being baptized. Later that night we went back to Miami Dade with more members, Andres and Ben. We had some lessons set up that fell through so we had a mini blitz with them and talked to everyone we could. Andres is preparing to go to Africa in 5 weeks on his mission and Ben just got home so it was a cool experience for them both. Then that night we cracked into our coconuts! Sister Goldstein has a machete and she taught me how. She went first and did it way faster than me. But because I took so long our neighbor came out and we were able to have a good conversation with him and get to know him. He owns the only store in the mall that sells lottery tickets so everyone refers to him as the "Loto Man". He decided to start calling us the "Coconut Girls" cause he couldn't remember our names haha. But it was a great night. 

 

Friday morning we went to MU for a lesson with Kaity. Our member Owen came with us and it was cool. We were planning on teaching the Plan of Salvation but ended up teaching about fasting and tithing. For some reason she really opened up to us that lesson and felt a lot more comfortable. It was something she needed to hear. It was a huge testimony builder to me that this really is the Lord's work and as we tune into the Spirit, He knows exactly what every person needs to hear. I love being a missionary!!!

 

Saturday we had a district blitz and then headed over to Liz and Joseph's home for dinner with Dave. We had a great time! Derek Hernandez cooked for us and we had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were able to set expectations with him and help him realize why we were there. We also were able to set him with a baptism date of May 26th!! We are soo excited for him!

 

Sundays are the best days. After some studies we headed to church for our meetings. Kaity texted us saying she couldn't come so we were pretty heart broken but were still counting on Dave to be there. Well, we started and he still wasn't there. I had a lot of faith though that he would. So as we sang I bowed my head a prayed and prayed that he would come. And he did. And he had a great time! He loved getting to know everyone in the branch and I loved learning that I can literally rely on the Lord for everything because it is all in his hands. After church we had a potluck to break our fast and then Sister Goldstein got a really bad headache and wasn't feeling too great so we ended the night so she could get feeling better.

 

I love being a missionary and I love being able to give everything to God every day. My second invitation is to keep praying. If you don't feel like praying, pray until you feel like praying. Mum always said, "Work hard. Pray harder." I know that as we pray like everything depends on God and work like everything depends on us, miracles happen. I have seen it happen here and know it can happen to you. I love you all! Go to the temple and read your scriptures! But most importantly, have a great week!

 

All my love, 

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: coconuts!! They are everywhere! Very much Florida. These are the ones our member Kevin picked for us. They are quite tasty.