Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: 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.