Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: 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