365 days = 1 YEAR!!!

What a week full of miracles!! God just keeps doing his work here in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission and I am so grateful that I just a front row seat at what is happening. 

Last Monday we had a lesson with our friend Ed. He came to church on Sunday because he wants to go to BYU but needed an interview from our bishop so we met up with him before FHE. It was a really neat lesson. He is going back to Peru for 3 weeks right before he moves to Utah but we got him all excited about learning more there. We then played corn hole for FHE!!! It was so fun. Brought back lots of memories from Pine Valley! 

 

Tuesday was pretty good! We had a pretty normal day to say the least. We got up and had studies and then headed to Miami Dade with our member Grant for a lesson with our friend Derek. He was pretty late so we got to talk with Grant for a bit. It was a good time. I love the members in this branch so much and I'm grateful for the things I have learned from them. Derek came and I honestly don't really remember what we taught him off the top of my head. The lesson was all over the place. But at the end we testified that what he wanted in his life would come through being baptized. He was pretty skeptical about it but we read from the Book of Mormon with him and bore testimony and he is looking to be baptized on August 18th! Sister Dees and I are excited to help him along this process. That night we had dinner with our member Andrew. He made us some really good sweet potato chili. I never liked sweet potatoes but something that is cool about a mission is that it changes your taste buds so much. It's probably from all the burning hot beans and rice. 

 

Wednesday morning we got up bright and early to get ready for Zone Conference! I love zone conference. It is such a spiritual boost for the transfer. Smart that we do it right at the beginning. We talked a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, it is what we talk about all day as missionaries.  We have really been trying to focus on memorizing scriptures and having good role plays. The AP's asked us to do a role play at zone conference about a week ago and they gave us a scripture to practice. Well, the scripture didn't really make sense so we had no idea what to do but we practiced and practiced and hoped that God would take care of it. Well, once we got there and saw the scripture on the board, it was not the same one they gave us so we basically just winged it. It could have been way better than it was but that's what practice is for right? We made up for it by singing a musical number after lunch with Elder Te Hira and Elder McCombs. Hopefully it helped everyone forget about our awful role play lol. Once we were done we headed home and spent some time at Miami Dade. There was basically no one there so we headed to Institute. If you are in high school or college and you aren't going to institute or seminary, change that right now! You are missing out on a lot of answers that God wants to give you! I promise you will not regret dropping a class to make room for God. 

 

Thursday Sister Beckstrand hit her 1 YEAR MARK!!!!! HOLY COW!!! A year ago I was where Josh is. So weird to think about that. It seems like I was there like 6 months ago. Not an entire year. But I am so happy that I am where I am right now. I couldn't picture it any other way. I will always hold the things I have learned in this last year dear to my heart. I wouldn't want it any other way. We saw miracles stacked on miracles!! We had a blitz on campus that morning and we found 4 new friends which was awesome because we had been kinda struggling all week and were really only teaching Derek. I love when God makes us busy. A busy missionary is a happy (and stressed) missionary :) After our blitz we had our studies and then had one of the coolest miracles happen thus far on my mission. We have a member in our branch named Kara Kushma who has been dating this kid named Ernie for a while. Ernie was taught by some Elders last year but never got baptized because he got really busy. Well, when I got to this area 4 months ago I thought he was a member because he knew so much about the church. I was shocked that he wasn't. Well we never asked to teach him because we had heard a lot of different things about his situation but we finally talked to him and Kara about it and he said that he would love for us to start teaching him! So Thursday we went to Kara's house and got to know Ernie. We hadn't even really started the lesson yet and we were just trying to figure out what it was like last year with the Elders when he goes, "I felt like they were trying to push me but I really feel like I'm ready to be baptized now." We were so excited!! We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he said that baptism would mean that he was officially a part of the church he's been going to for the last year. We extended a baptismal date for August 18th but he moves to Orlando on the 17th for school. So long story short, he is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday! A lot of work for Sister Dees and I but he is so ready and so excited!! Year mark miracles!!! I wish it could happen more often.

 

Friday was a busy day as well. So busy actually that we didn't have time to even eat. But that's okay because we decided to fast that Ernie would be able to come to church because he said he might have to work but we knew he needed to be at church to get baptized. So we started out our day with a fast and our studies and then headed to Miami Dade to talk to some people. Well, once we got there it started pouring rain. It was so crazy. After being there for a bit we went to see Devin! It had been a hot second since we had seen him but we wanted to see how he was doing. We aren't really teaching him anymore but we want to make sure he knows he is still welcome so we had a short lesson with him and then headed to see Derek. Our member Jeff came with us. We had it at the mall because it was a good halfway point for us. The struggle with Derek is that he uses the bus to get everywhere so we never know if he's going to be on time or not. Well, we had time to talk with Jeff for a bit and then Derek came. We were planning on teaching him the Plan of Salvation but we didn't have a ton of time and he kept asking us questions about commandments so we taught him the Word of Wisdom instead. He didn't like it very much and we haven't had the chance to really talk to him since then so we will see what happens. Then we headed to Kushma's to teach Ernie again. We showed up and they surprised us with dinner! God always takes care of his missionaries :) We taught Ernie the restoration. Well, he mostly taught us. It was a really good lesson. We asked him about church and he said things weren't looking too hot but we had fasted so we had faith that everything would work out on Saturday and then we left to go knock with the sisters.

 

Saturday morning we headed down south to surprise the sisters. We bought each companionship a jug of chocolate milk and wrote reasons we love them all over it and then Sister Dees dressed up in her cow suit and we knocked their door. It was really fun to see their reaction and we got chocolate milk out of it. Always a good time :) Then we visited some members down in their area that we hadn't met yet and that hadn't come to church in a while. Everyone was home which was also a miracle! I am so happy that God trusts us to take care of his children at this time. I hope I can keep doing what he asks me to. That night we had dinner with Kevin and his family. They cooked for us and it was so good. My body, however, felt like nothing from the last couple days had been digesting. But it wasn't anything a good sleep could take care of. We had a blitz that night and the sunset was gorgeous! If I moved back to Florida it would be because of the people and the sunsets. They got me sold every time.

 

Sunday morning we were super excited for church. Ernie hadn't given us an update yet so we just kept planning and studying with faith. Then, about 5 minutes before we left the house, he texted us saying he got work off so he could come!!!! We were basically bouncing off the walls we were so excited. The power of fasting works. I have a testimony of it. When we give up our need for food, God blesses us with our need of spiritual strength for ourselves and for others. Needless to say, church was awesome and Ernie was there :) We had dinner that night with the Kushma's and Ernie and were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation. It has been really cool to see how much Ernie already knows just by coming to church and going to institute. I invite you all to invite a friend to church this week! You never know how much it could change their life. The worst they could say is no. 

 

I love being a missionary and I am so grateful that I get to be a missionary at this time. I have learned so much this past year and I'm excited to see what the upcoming year has in store. I love Florida and the humidity and the mosquitoes and the creatures and the people all so much. I hope I can stay here for at least another transfer. This place has my heart right now. I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to go to the temple!

 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: The grasshoppers! They are literally so huge and we have seen a ton of them lately!

The singing squad: Elder Te Hira, Sister Dees, Myself, Elder McCombs

Sister Dees and I

We love you MOO-cho!

The sunset

Our district <3

 

Beautiful Savior - Voice 008.m4a

2 MB Sent by mail

Save to OneDrive - Personal Saved to OneDrive - Personal.

Canceling...

 

Paul Blart Mall Cop

Hello! I cannot believe I am beginning transfer 9!! That is so crazy! If I could just rewind about a year and stay here forever I would absolutely love it. Also, it's almost August and that is super crazy too. This week was really good but it all flies by too fast!

Wednesday morning we woke up and had our normal studies and then headed to transfers. We were having an STL meeting with Sister Garns so we needed to be there. There was a group of 22 missionaries that went home so it was really nice to see them all one last time here in Florida. They will be dearly missed but hopefully we can carry on their legacy! Also, Sister Reidhead is training this transfer so it was really fun to get to see her again! I love that nugget!! Our meeting was good. We are changing a lot of things here in the mission and are really trying to focus on ministering to every single person. Whether they are a missionary or not. It's been good but it's hard because it takes that much more reliance on the Spirit. But God is good and everything is possible through him. We got home later that day and spent some time at Miami Dade. We ate dinner with the Nilsens and then had a super great time at institute that night. We talked about how every single person on this Earth will go through their own trials that only they and Christ can go through. It was really cool.

Thursday morning we decided we would try and get creative and it didn't work. There is a Tri-rail here that we see every single day and one of the main stations is right next to the University of Miami. We though we would try to go talk to some people there. Well, we got there to find out that number one, you have to have a pass to even get into the station. And number 2, there was no one there. We thought about buying a pass and just riding the bus back and forth for a while and talk to the college kids that got on but then we grabbed a map and there wasn't even times of when the tri-rail would ever be around! So, we left some cards on the desk and headed to find a neighborhood to knock in the mean time. We had district training later that day. Because we lost so many missionaries this last transfer, we picked up a lot and will be getting a lot more this upcoming transfer. So we have a lot of newbies in our district and it is so much fun! We talked about being able to listen to the Spirit and to our friends. At the first Girls Camp I went to with my dad when he started testimony meeting he said something that I have never forgotten. He said that when it got quiet that we shouldn't be awkward but we should be listening for the angels. Well, since being on my mission I have come to realize that those angels are the Holy Ghost teaching us as we listen. I have grown a deeper appreciation for silence on my mission because we know that the Holy Ghost is the teacher so we have to give him time to touch the hearts of those we are teaching. We have been working a lot this week on being able to listen to the Spirit while we are teaching so we can give the message they need to hear. After District Training we headed over to have a lesson with our friend Derek at Miami Dade. He had a bunch of questions for us and it was really cool to apply the things that we learned that day and let the Spirit do the teaching. He has such a great desire to want to follow Christ and do what is expected of him. I love being a missionary!

Friday morning we had ZLC. We met up with the Zone Leaders and the District Leaders in our Zone. It was a good time to come together to talk about the vision that we have for the zone and what we expect for this transfer. I can tell this is gonna be a good one. We finally are for sure singing at Zone Conference this upcoming week so after ZLC we practiced our song. Pray for us. Then we went to Miami Dade for a bit to talk to some people. We have been trying to get super creative on how we talk to people so we tried to start with videos and then we found out that my phone wasn't working so it didn't quite work. Good thing we are missionaries though and know how to just figure it out anyway. We went home later that day to do studies and then we had dinner with Kevin and his family. Something that Sister Dees and I have been doing this week includes our member moments. We made a fortune teller (those things you fold when you get bored in sacrament or at school) and we put questions and a challenge to go with it that pertain to the Gospel on the inside. At all of our meal appointments we have the members play it and they ultimately choose their own question and challenge. It has been the coolest miracle to see that as they testify to us it is something that is so touching to them and helps them want to show others about it too. 

Saturday morning started bright and early at the Methodist church handing out food. I love being able to go there with most of the zone. The staff there are all really fun too. We have a mall like 5 minutes from our house and on a Saturday Sister Dees and I realized that there would probably be a lot of YSA there that we could talk too. Well, upon showing up we realized neither of us had any cards so we had to head back to our car to get some and then went back to the mall and were so surprised at how many people there were. Well, we hadn't even been there for 5 minutes when a legit mall cop, on a Segway and everything, kicked us out. We couldn't get over the fact that she had picked us out among the sea of people.  We were dying the rest of the day and couldn't stop making Mall Cop jokes. Great times as a missionary. That night we had a blitz with our district.  I got to knock with Sister Chugg.  We go home together but she is a Spanish missionary so she came in one after me.  It was really fun to get to know her.  That night the only people we talked to were either drunk or high.  I love Saturdays.

Sunday morning we were feeling a little defeated.  We had called all of our friends to make sure they  were good to come to church but no one answered their phones.  Well, we headed to church with a lot of faith hoping someone would come.  Well, once we were done with all of our meetings, we were in the chapel and our friend Derek showed up!  Turns out, he lost his phone and that's why we couldn't get a hold of him but he came anyway and stayed all 3 hours.  It was so cool how much happier he was after church and how much he liked it!!  After church we had dinner with the Brown family.  Sister Chugg's birthday is today (Monday) so they decorated it all for her and we had cheesecake.  It was a great time!  That night we went knocking with Sister Dalton and Sister Holbrook who is brand new so it was really fun to finally meet her!

I love being a missionary and being able to share that love with new missionaries is one of my favorite things!! I love Florida.  I love the humidity.  I love being a part of the Lord's work.  I also really love the Book of Mormon!!  Take the time to read it this week!  I promise you wont regret it!  Also, say your prayers and go to the temple!  It will bless your life!!  Stay awesome!!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: South Dixie Highway ❤ takes me home :)

4 Generation picture from transfers 

Sister Smith!!

This Elder was in Josh's zone in the MTC!

Birthday dinner with Trevor, Sister Chugg, and Sister Remund 

"Feed my Missionaries"

- Probably somewhere in the bible

What a week it has been! We seriously only ate at home for breakfast this week. We had dinner and most lunches with members.  It was so awesome! I literally love the members in this branch so much! 

Last Monday after p-day was over we went to Miami Dade for a little bit before FHE. We didn't really find anybody but we did talk to a guy named Derek for a hot second as we were leaving.  Literally for probably 2 minutes because we were on our way out; gave him a card and told him to check out the website. Then we headed to FHE at a member's house because we were going to do family history work and as we pulled up, Derek called. He told us that he has some questions and wanted to meet up. What a miracle. So we set up a time for Friday and ended the night with FHE.

Tuesday morning we went to Miami Dade to talk to people. This week for some reason was pretty hard to find. No one wanted to listen and they all said they were busy. We finally came to the conclusion that it must be midterms for the summer semester or something. Then we headed to District Training. We talked about serving with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. It was probably one of my favorite training's. It made me reflect on the sports that I played growing up and how my mission is like a championship game and I have to give it my all clear up until I'm home. After that we ran to Publix to get some food before heading over to Graham's house. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and boy am I grateful for technology and the videos the church has. We were struggling helping him understand dispensations but there is a video on lds.org about it so we pulled it up and it connected everything together. I am so grateful we have smartphones that we can pull videos up like that on. After our lesson we headed to our member Michael's house for dinner. We ate outside but it looked like it was going to rain so he brought an umbrella and held it the whole time. He is so awesome. We had some awesome spaghetti and then got back to work. We talked to a few of his neighbors to end the night and then headed home. 

Wednesday morning we had our normal studies and things and then had lunch with our member James! He is super funny and took us to Pei Wei. I had never been before and it was pretty good! I love being able to see how much the members find missionary opportunities and love to talk about them. They do it so much! I am not lying when I say this Branch is literally the best. After lunch we had another lesson with Graham and this time our member Andrew came with us. We were planning on teaching him about prophets I think but then the Word of Wisdom got brought up and plans change. I love when God does that. Andrew was a huge help, being a convert himself, and Graham really felt like he could overcome some problems he was having. We are excited to keep helping him along this process! After our lesson we headed to UM to find some new friends but most the people there were for a summer high school program or orientations so we didn't really find anyone. That night we had dinner with Kevin before Institute at Earls. Institute was good. We talked about Eternal Marriage and the best way to keep a marriage happy. Communication is key everyone. Never forget. 

Thursday we decided to try and start our day at UM to see if it would make a difference on who was there but it didn't.  Lol.  We tried our hardest though and then went home to have our studies. After some planning and goal setting, we went to Miami Dade to find and we ended up talking to this guy named John who wasn't interested in coming to church or learning more but he had really good questions and we planted a really good seed. Sister Dees and I both felt like he was why we had to be on campus that day. We had dinner that night with President Schmeil and his family. Elder Lorimer and Elder Gorze also came so it was really fun. Elder Lorimer goes home on Thursday and he will be truly missed :'( He is such an awesome Elder. After dinner we went to visit some members. No one was home but the sunset was incredible. I know God put us in that neighborhood that night so we could have the best view of the most spectacular thing in this world:)

Friday was normal morning but we had lunch with our member Hannah and her roommate Liza. They both play volleyball at UM so Sister Dees was really excited to meet them. I always feel so tiny around them because they are soo tall. Esta bien. After lunch we headed over to UM and weren't seeing much success until we met Alex. She had been taking an exam on her laptop and we scared her so bad. We felt bad but she took the time to listen to us and had a lot of questions. She mostly believes in philosophy but it was cool to see her heart change as we talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and everything it entails. We had to leave but would've loved to keep talking to her but it was time to go see Derek!  So we headed down to Miami Dade and were able to meet with him. The lesson was kind of all over the place but Derek said that Satan was trying to stop him from coming but he knew that was Satan so he did everything in his power to meet with us. It was really cool. I love this gospel and being a missionary!!  After our lesson with him we had dinner with Kevin again at a little pizza place by our house that was honestly super good. After dinner we visited our member Chris and his family who had just got back from a wedding up in Orlando at the temple of one of our members! From where I am to Orlando is like St. George to Lehi. It's also the same distance from where I am to Key West and let me tell you, people go on trips all the time. I was always lucky to go like twice a year but it is a monthly thing down here. Everything is so far apart so they just go!  It's always worth it.

Saturday morning after our studies we had a district Blitz!  It was the last time our entire district would be together due to transfers so it was really nice to be around everyone. After our blitz we went and saw Devin. The branch pitched in to buy him a quad because he always comments on ours. So we gave it to him because his birthday is coming up and he was super grateful for it. It helped him feel a lot more welcome to come back to church. After our lesson we headed more into Homestead. Actually, we went straight through Homestead and ended up in Florida City. Just south of Homestead, just north of Marathon which is the start of the Keys. There is a Miami Dade campus there we wanted to check out. There was no one there because it was a Saturday but it was nice to see. We wanted to knock around it but we quickly learned that Florida City is not quite as nice and safe as Homestead. So we went to the chapel down there instead and knocked in that neighborhood. We had dinner with our member Grant literally out in the middle of nowhere. He basically lived in the everglades he was so far out. But it is a really nice area and his family was so awesome. After dinner we visited some people on the area book because we knew it would be awhile before we got back down there and then we took the hour drive home. That night we had a mission conference call where we heard the news of the passing of Elder Augustin. He had been home for a bit and had an accident in a river. I served with Elder Augustin for my first 3 transfers. It was hard to take the news. We dedicated all of our work in the mission on Sunday to him. You could definitely feel the spirit of unity as we worked. 

Sunday morning we were really excited for church because Graham was coming!! The only other time he had been was up in Orlando. In the YSA up there most of the members are in Disney University and can't go to church in the morning so they have special permission to do a night sacrament and that is what Graham went to so it was really different to him. He really liked it though! We had a potluck afterwards and he was going to stay but ended up having to leave because his mom was in town so we stayed and ate with the branch. After we went to our member Trevor's house because he had invited a friend to dinner and we wanted to say hi and invite him to activities. We thought we left the church late enough to be safe but when we got there they had just finished praying and hadn't even ate yet!  Dinner round 2. If a Latin family starts eating while you are there, you better make room because they wont let you refuse. We were so stuffed. But Trevor's friend Luis was super cool and is waay good at the piano. We ended the night digesting and knocking. Always fun.

Yesterday morning we had our normal studies and then headed to UM. Our member Grant was going to feed us lunch before our lesson with Alex but he ended up getting caught up in the hospital because he had an x-ray on his foot so we decided to have lunch after the lesson. We went ahead and met up with Alex. We explained more simply and in order the Plan of Salvation. She had a lot of really good questions and the lesson didn't end up getting over till like 2:30. So we went to meet up with Grant and didn't have lunch until about 3:15. Then we went to campus to find more friends! We found a super cute girl named Kelly who has been looking to find a place to go with her boyfriend!  We told her about the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to have her own and to start reading it. We had dinner with our members Kara, Sam, and Nicole at Kara's house. They made us breakfast! It was so good. I haven't had real breakfast food like that in a while. Then we headed to FHE where we mostly hung out with the branch and ate ice cream. The branch was more worried about transfer calls then I think we were. I am happy to say that Sister Dees and I get to stay together here in Snapper Creek YSA! :) This is Sister Dees' last transfer so there is a lot of work to do. We are beyond grateful that we get to stay.

I love being a missionary. I love this branch. I love the heat and humidity of Florida. I love all of you! Don't forget to go to the temple this week! It's summer now so you should have plenty of time ;) Have a great week and stay awesome! 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand 

Florida Sunshine: The flags at MDC!  There are a ton of them all over.  I think it's from all the countries?  But I'm not 100% sure and I only know like 6 or 7 of them but they are always fun to try and guess.

Sunset :)

Super cute painting at Hannah's appt.

Elder Lorimer's last District Training

Trying to find YSA to teach during the summer be like...

Gyu Kaku

Man what a week it was from day 1! 

Monday we had an activity with our zone. We had like a make shift tri-wizard tournament with fighting dragons and everything. It was super great and a ton of fun. Once p-day was over we had a  lesson with our friend Graham. He was taking the lessons up in Orlando from some sisters up there but recently moved down into our area so we get to continue his conversion process. He is super awesome! We talked about the Doctrine of Christ. I love when things light up inside someone. Graham was really understanding what was going on. It was awesome! Then he even stayed for FHE and we played sardines! It was a ton of fun. I love my little Snapper Creek Branch. I honestly never want to leave. They are awesome.

Tuesday morning we headed over to Miami Dade nice and early. It was really cool because we have been trying this new thing where we show people pictures of Book of Mormon stories and have them explain it to us and then we read them the story from the Book of Mormon. It has been a miracle to see just how easy they accept it and want to learn more about it! Then we headed over to the church for interviews and for District Training. In our training we talked about how we can use our spiritual gifts to help people. My favorite thing about gifts is that we had them before we even came down to this Earth, we just have to figure out how to use them here and then they will bless us so much. I have a goal to learn how to do that better. After our interviews with President Garns we had a district blitz on campus and used Book of Mormon pages and pictures. At the beginning of my mission it was a real struggle for me to go from just talking to talking about the Gospel. I have since learned that the easiest way to do that is by talking about the Book of Mormon and just jumping right into it. Then as they talk you can get to know them and it all ties together so nicely. After our blitz we headed to a lesson with our friend Courtney at this place called Gyu Kaku. We didn't know what to expect. We showed up and it was basically an Asian cuisine place but the cool part was that all the tables had a grill in the middle so they would bring you your meat and you would cook it yourself. Pretty cool! Well, Sister Dees and I both got something they just made in the kitchen so we could focus on the lesson and not on cooking. I got some noodles and Sister Dees got a rice bowl. Then we had our lesson and all was well. Afterwards we were headed down to see Devin when I look over and Sister Dees is sweating while driving with her had on her stomach and breathing really hard. Basically, it looked like she was giving birth and luckily the church wasn't too far. Long story short, we made a pit stop and never made it down to see Devin. Food poisoning will do that to you. 

Wednesday we had some appointments set up and Sister Dees said she was feeling better so we headed out. But when we got to campus we realized the it was the 4th of July and no one was there. Well, the Killian ward was having breakfast so we went and got crepes, bought some soup, and went home so Sister Dees could rest because she was still pretty wrecked. That night we did get some studies in. We were sitting out on our balcony that night talking about what we had learned in our personal study and it was so cool. We could hear fireworks from every direction but couldn't see any. It made me remember my experience from the 4th last year as we were at Uncle Steve and Aunt Juanelle's house watching the fireworks. I realized that I don't remember actually watching the fireworks because Abby and Isaac and I were talking about missions the whole time. That night was 3 weeks before I entered the MTC and it was the first time I felt 100% about what I was getting myself into and knowing that it was what God wanted for me. I know all 3 of us were changed that night for the better. If any of you are thinking of going on a mission and aren't so sure, just do it. I wasn't so sure until I was almost set apart. It will be the most rewarding thing you will ever do in your entire life. 

Thursday was a little crazy. (Shout out to Elder Beckstrand for entering the MTC that day!!! And Sister Dees' brother Dylan!) We started with a lesson with our friend Rebeca. It was honestly really weird and I don't know what to say about it. After that Sister Dees wasn't feeling too hot. We stayed on campus because we had a few more lessons but they eventually fell through so we went home to rest before we headed down for Devin's baptism interview!! We met the zone leaders there and he passed!! We were pretty excited. We shared a message with him real quick because we didn't have a ton of time but we were all so excited for the baptism! 

Friday morning we woke up nice and early to get ready so we could head up to the mission home for MLC. We talked a lot about accountability and how everything we do must be in tune with what God wants and we have to mean what we say and then go out and make it happen. It made me reflect on the goals that I was setting and make me realize that I have to put more effort into making sure God and I are on the same page exactly so we can make the greatest miracles happen. It was a really good training. It took us a minute to get home but we changed and then we went to see Devin again. We talked about the importance of going to church activities and not just making sure God is in our lives on Sundays but that He is there every second of every day. After our lesson we had dinner with Kaity.  It was nice to see her again after awhile.  She isn't interested in the message but we are still friends and she still loves us so it was fun. :)

 

Saturday morning we woke up nice and early to head down to the Methodist church to do service!! I love being down there. Sister Dees and I got put in charge of signing people in this time instead of handing out the food and it really tested my Spanish skills. Turns out I keep getting better lol. I am far from being anything close to Spanish but it is there a tiny bit haha. After service we ran home and showered and changed and started making sure everything was still good for the baptism. We headed to the church for a lesson with Courtney but he called saying he didn't want to meet with us anymore. So we texted Devin saying we were super excited for him and he texted us back saying he wasn't so sure. We had a pretty long phone call after that to talk through it all. It came down to him making the decision that it wasn't his time and that he wanted to wait and make sure it was his time. We did all that we could and now we have to leave the rest up to him and our Heavenly Father. We spent the next 45 minutes calling people to cancel things and then we had to take our car to the shop so we finished calling people there. Once our car was done we went knocking and found a new friend named Tyrone. He is super cool! We were able to share the Restoration with him and then we headed home to do some studies.

Sunday was pretty normal. Nothing too crazy happened at church. After church we had dinner with the Browns in the Country Walk ward and then we went knocking with Sister Thorne and Sister Remund. It was a fun time! 

The work here is still work and I still love every second of it. I am so grateful for my family for supporting me out here and especially grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to be here in the FFLM (aka. best mission in the world). I love you all!! Keep reading, praying, and going to the temple!!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: Bird Road! It's the top border of our area and we cover everything south of that. I love when we get that high up cause there are so many actual birds. 

Other pics ( i honestly didn't take a ton this week for some reason)

Sister Smith and I at ZLC. It was really nice to see that human

Also, when President Garns tries to get in on it. I love him!!

Tri-Wizard Invitation. It's the only picture I have of it.

Good Luck Elder Beckstrand!!

I can't believe that it is already July! June just flew by. Already halfway through the year and I don't know what to think about it! This last week was awesome and suuuper busy.  

Tuesday was my 11 month mark!! I never thought this day would come but aqui estamos. We had district training that morning on teaching those who are ready to hear the message. Studies show that a person has to hear about the Gospel eight time before they accept it so get out there and start telling your friends so when the missionaries knock on their door they will be ready. We didn't really do anything crazy the rest of the day that I can remember...

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Coral Reef Sisters, Sister Dalton and Sister Villanueva. I went to their area with Sister Dalton. They are serving in a bilingual ward so half of the people we talked to that day were in Spanish. I got to read a lot of Spanish scriptures which was really fun. The only thing I really remember in my Spanish class in high school is how to read and pronounce things so every time I would read something they were always surprised that I didn't sound like a gringo lol. We had ward correlation later that day with their ward mission leader who has a son serving in the mission Josh is going to. We met them last week because we tried to visit their son because we thought he was a less active but it turned out that he is in Canada so it was cool to see them again! That night we exchanged back and I headed back to Snapper Creek with Sister Dees :)

Thursday  morning we had a comp study with our District Leader, Elder Lorimer, about how to be Christlike Leaders. It was something I really needed because I am still trying to figure out his whole Sister Training Leader thing. I am so grateful for the leaders in the church whether they are auxiliary leaders or the prophet, they are all so important in helping the work progress here on Earth. After that we had a chapel tour with our friend Courtney. He was a miracle. Sister Goldstein and I found him at UM about a month ago and gave him a card. After district training on Tuesday he called us saying he wanted to learn more about the church. So he came to the church and we showed him around. Chapel tours are some of my favorite things because it gets rid of any concerns our friends might have about coming to church. We saw Devin that night and we talked about having charity and serving others and how they go hand in hand. It was a cool lesson because that is what we were planning on teaching and then he brought up the topic. God is good. After our lesson we booked it to the sisters house to exchange once again with the other sisters. It was late and we were in a hurry to get home. Sister Remund came with me to Snapper Creek :)

Friday morning we woke up and got ready and then headed to the church where we had another chapel tour with our friend Maria. She has been through quite the amount of churches so it was cool to have her all to ourselves. She had some concerns but we talked about how no matter what our concerns are, God can always clear them up as we turn to him in prayer. We can be taught things all growing up but you will never have a testimony for yourself until you kneel down and ask God. After her chapel tour we went and taught our friend Michael about forgiveness and then headed back to the church to have a video call with Devin but as soon as we got there our new friend Graham texted us telling us he was almost there. Graham just moved here from Orlando and was taking the discussions up there and we get to finish them with him down here :) We had set up an appointment the night before and I had totally forgotten. But it ended up being okay. God was in the details and made sure we were in the right place at the right time. Graham is awesome :) After our lesson with Graham we went home to do our studies finally. Around 7, Kevin and his mum and neighbor came and picked us up and took us to dinner at this place called Earl's in the mall. We had about a half an hour wait time so we took a little stroll around the mall with Kevin while we waited. That place was ginormous. I couldn't get over it. We got to see some super awesome Teslas. The future is among us! Dinner was super awesome but it took a bit longer than we thought. It is a rule to be home by 9:30 and we didn't leave dinner until 9 so Kevin ran us home to get Sister Remund's stuff and then took us to the church to exchange back and then we booked it home and were home just in time to realize that we still had the sisters keys. They drive a Malibu and the car never turned off so they didn't need the keys to get home. We were home on time but had to get up nice and early the next morning.

So Saturday morning started with a trip down south to return their keys and then we headed to the church for a comp study with the AP's. We talked about the Atonement of Christ and what kind of role it plays in our missionary work and in our lives. We were the motivation for Christ during the hardest part of his mortal life so He should be our motivation as well. After our comp study we were supposed to have a lesson with Courtney but he had to reschedule so Kevin took us out to lunch instead. We had some really good Chicago Pizza. Then we were running a little late to our lesson with Amelia but she ended up cancelling on us as well so we headed to the blitz. When we first started knocking the sky was nice and blue but about 20 minutes in, these clouds role in from nowhere and the bucket at the Washington Rec Center just dumped and never stopped dumping. We went from dry to soaked in about 20 seconds. It was awesome. Not gonna lie lol. After the blitz we headed down to see Devin and get his baptism all planned out! We are so excited for him to take this huge step in his life!! Then we read 1 Nephi 17 with him and he was so blown away with Nephi. It was soo cool to see that from an investigators pint of view. Then after the lesson we went to the church so we could order him his own quad with the branch council with his name on it and everything :) Then after that we were going to head home but as soon as we stepped outside we realized that the keys were inside on the desk. Our study stuff was in the car. And we were stuck. So we called the Elders and went and sat in the sun while we waited so we could continue to dry off. For those of you think that Utah is bipolar, come spend a day in Florida and it will change your mind. I promise.

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready, had our studies, and then headed to the church! Man I just really love Sundays on the mission. They are your most stressful and stress relieving days. For those of you that have served a mission, you can probably relate. Devin came to church!! Yeah Devin!! I just love that guy. He is so awesome. He last minute didn't have a ride so he texted us and luckily one of our members was able to pick him up on the way! I love our branch. They took him right in and we didn't have to worry about him one minute. It was great :) We finished planning a few things for the baptism and then he headed up with the branch after church for a regional potluck and fireside in Plantation. After church we ate dinner with some members and had tacos!!! I think that was the first time I have had tacos here in Florida. No joke. Then after we went knocking for a bit and found these awesome guys. One of them is from Uruguay and the other was from Argentina. They are trying to learn English but speak mostly Spanish so Sister Dees spoke the majority of the time but I was impressed with how much I understood. I was able to follow along in the lesson and even say a few things. It was awesome! The guys were both super surprised every time I said something cause they didn't think I was following what was happening haha. That's what you get when you serve in YSA most of your mission and are surrounded by Spanish 24/7. Man I love Florida.

I love being here and being able to serve my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. Shout out to my little bro that gets to join me this week as a missionary!! I am super pumped for you Joshy!!  More than you know. Serving a mission has been the greatest decision I have ever made in my life. The things I learn here in Florida I know I wouldn't learn anywhere else. If any of you are thinking about a mission, don't think. Just do!!  I promise you it will change your life for the better. Canada is about to get one of the greatest missionaries I know and I am so jealous. Good luck Elder Beckstrand :)

I hope you all have a great week!! Keep reading, praying, and going to the temple. And stay awesome!

All my love,
Sister Beckstrand <3

Florida Sunshie: My district :) Seeing these guys all the time makes me so happy! I love being in Florida and I love even more the people I get to be with while I am here :) These pictures were taken after our blitz in the pouring rain!  

First: (left to right) Elder Acosta, Elder McCombs, Elder Gorze, Sister Remund, Sister Dees, Sister Thorne, Me, Elder Te Hira, Elder Lopez, Elder Lorimer

Second: Elder Te Hira, Elder Lorimer, Sister Dees, Sister Remund, Sister Thorne, Elder Lopez, Elder Gorze

Sister Dalton and I 
Sister Remund and I 

Album Cover

Our new Tesla ;) (jk) 

Dinner with Kevin's Fam

Kevin's mum, Sister Remund, and myself

DEVIN!!