Monday, May 7, 2018

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.


 

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