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!