Winds in The East, Mist Coming in,

Like somethin' is brewin' and bout to begin. Can't put me finger on what lies in store,

but I fear whats to happen all happened before. 

 There are changes coming and also storms haha. A great time here in the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission! 

 

Last Wednesday we woke up as normal and got ready and had studies and then headed to the church for district training. We talked about diligence and love and how the two go hand in hand. In the mean time we also had our interviews with President Garns. We talked a lot about our goals and ways to accomplish them. So over the next couple week I am going to be focusing on memorizing scriptures and using them at every opportunity so they can stick in my head and be a good use. We also had a training from our zone leaders on repentance and how important it is for not only us to understand how repentance works but for our friends to understand it as well so they can have full access to the power of Christ's Atonement that was so freely given to us. That night we had Institute at the church. We talked about being financially stable and trying our hardest to not go into dept. Sometimes it is necessary but we should still be trying so God can help us. And the best way to do that is to consistently pay your tithing and make sure you are following God's council in your life and doing what He wants you to do.

 

Thursday morning I was reading the story of Joseph in Egypt during my studies. Joseph had a pretty hard life. His mom died, his brothers hated him, and he was stuck in prison for a couple years because everyone forgot about him. But Joseph never lost his faith. He kept praying and eventually he got out and was able to be an amazing instrument in God's hands. I have a quote on my wall that says "God found Gideon in a hole. He found Joseph in prison. He found Daniel in a lion's den. Next time you feel unqualified to be used by God remember this: He tends to recruit from the pit, not the pedestal." Life is hard. No one said it would be easy. But if we remain true and faithful, God will always keep his promises with us and make sure everything works out alright in the end. We had a lesson with our friend Emilio later that day. Our member Katee came with us. It was a cool lesson. We took our zone leaders advice and had an entire lesson on repentance. Because Emilio doesn't have a lot of religious knowledge it was cool to see everything click inside of his mind as we taught him. We then saw Kaity later that night with our member Liz. We finished the rest of the Plan of Salvation that we hadn't taught yet and the Spirit was so strong. We started to talk about temples and she loved the idea of everyone getting a chance to be with God. We talked about how we can also be a family for eternity and she immediately asked us if she could still be baptized on June 9th. She was so excited! She hasn't come to church yet though and she has to 3 times before baptism so that is our next step with her.

 

Friday was the first day in June. We quickly learned that the first 2 weeks of June are the hottest. It hasn't started to rain quite yet so it's dry but it reminds me of home. It's only been 94-96 this week so it really isn't that bad but hurricane season has officially begun so we are starting to prepare now and we can feel a shift in the weather. We saw Kaity again and taught her the commandments. I remember going with the sister missionaries to a lesson when I was younger and them doing the hand motions for the commandments but I could never remember them. Luckily, Sister Goldstein knows them so we got to learn together haha. Then we got to see Emilio again with Katee. One of my favorite lessons so far on my mission. We talked about baptism and the Holy Ghost. He was smiling the entire time!! He had awesome comments and we were happy to answer his questions.

 

Saturday morning started bright and early with service. We pack up bags of food at a Methodist Church and hand them out to the people that come through. It's pretty fun and they feed us doughnuts so it's a win win for us. After service we went home and had our studies and then went knocking with the other sisters in our district. It was pretty fun. We talked to a bunch of people. But other than that it was a pretty normal and boring day in the missionary life haha. Always have to have those once in a while. 

 

Sunday. What a blessed day. We woke up and got ready and then headed to the church for our branch missionary correlation and then had branch council. I had to use the bathroom the entire time so as soon as we got done we shook hand and were heading out when I walk to the door and see Aunty Jo standing there with Uncle Kyle. My eyes got huge and I couldn't believe that they were actually standing there in front of me. Biggest surprise ever. I gave Aunt Jelly a huge hug and needless to say, I didn't end up using the bathroom for 3 more hours. They were here for Kyle's job and showed up for fast Sunday with the YSA :) This was Uncle Kyle's first area so he just kinda wandered around the entire time haha. It was really nice to have them there though. We had to teach Gospel Principles last minute so it was pretty all over the place but pretty good. Sadly Kaity wasn't able to come to church but we are going to get her here next week!! After church we had a farewell party for Andres because he leaves to the Ghana MTC this Thursday and is serving in Sierra Leon Africa. We are super excited for him.That night we went to visit our friend Nemesis. She is here from Venezula and has been for a few months. She has taught herself English and is taking the lessons from the Elders. However, Sunday morning she ended up in the hospital and had to have surgery. She is currently staying with one of our members though so that night we stopped by before we headed home to make sure she was okay. It was nice to be with her and to see how much love our branch has for her. 

 

Yesterday morning we started at the Doctors office for Sister Goldstein so she could try and figure out what is wrong with her head. After that we came home and had our studies and then went to the church to have a district blitz at Miami Dade. Well, during the blitz we got a call from President Garns extending the call for Sister Goldstein to train and for me to become a Sister Training Leader. We both accepted but got a little stressed. We finished the blitz and did some area book stuff and then had dinner with the Nipper family. When they found out we both might be leaving their daughter Abby gave me a build-a-bear that I am taking home with me. They are the cutest. We stopped by to see how Nemesis was doing again and then we had FHE at the church and played some minute to win it games. It was a ton of fun. We headed home and waited for the dreadful transfer call. Sister Goldstein is going up to the area of Tamarac in my last zone. I am staying in Snapper Creek with my new companion Sister Dees and we will be serving as the Sister Training Leaders. I am so excited and so ready to see what the summer has in store for us here. 

 

I hope you all are having a great time as the summer is starting!  Amidst all your activities and vacations, make sure you still have time to read, pray, and go to church. And take advantage of all this time to attend the temple!!  I love you all so much!  Stay awesome! 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: Parrots! We have a bunch of little ones that live in a tree by our house, like a hundred of them. But every once in a while on campus we will see these 3 big guys flying around and getting their exercise. It's awesome!

Our awesome branch :)

Other member Nicole who wasn't there for the group

Visiting Nemesis with Liz and Joseph

 

Aunt Jelly and Uncle Kyle! 

Sister Goldstein and I

 Penny's side note...Here are some picture's that JoEllen sent to me.  Saturday they went to a temple session where they saw a couple in that looked really familiar so they went and talked to them to see who they were and found out that they were President and Sister GARNS!!  Oopies!!  They had a nice conversation about how the FFLM was Kyle's mission and about how wonderful they all thought Sophie was.  As soon as JoEllen got out of the temple she tried to call us but no one was answering, but then she realized it was because we were all in the Timp Temple at the very same time with Josh taking out his endowments for his mission.  Nice to know that clear across the country we were all doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing.   It was very reassuring to me today that she was called to be a Sister Trainer.  I thought maybe she would get in trouble.  Not that she had any idea.  Anyway, they found her apartment Saturday night but didn't knock.  Just took some silly picture's and got giddy knowing that on the other side of the door was their niece serving the Lord.  Hopefully asleep. They also went to find Kyle first apartment when he was a missionary there and they said that Sophie's building was much nicer.

Kyle's first chapel is the same one that Sophie is currently serving in but different wards!  Kyle loved going around to the different places in his area and meeting up with old friends.  They even had dinner with some friends that said that they fed the Sister's the week before and of course had no idea that the were feeding his niece.  But they do now!  It was so funny and was such a great experience.