Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: 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.